A Brief Read-ahead for the Bishops' Fall General Assembly

One of the first things you are amazed by when hired to be a CARA researcher is the vast amount of data CARA has collected about the Catholic Church since 1964. We often dream about a time when we can catch our breath and do a book or perhaps five books. But more often all we have the time for is a brief blog post (we're too busy doing applied research for our clients).

At staff lunch a few years ago, former CARA researcher Jennifer Zanini Greely proposed an idea for the use of a specific CARA database dedicated to the bishops of the United States. Catholics often don't know their bishop well (similar to their knowledge and awareness of their representatives in Congress). Jen thought of a practical tool that might help Catholics know more about the bishops... baseball cards. Sadly this idea has never developed. However, below you'll find an analysis of that database by CARA researcher Melissa Cidade that will tell you what you would know if you had a complete 2010 collection of U.S. bishop baseball cards.

Do you know where your bishop was born? When he was ordained? Who appointed him bishop? What is special about his name?... To start just click on the right arrow below (to move forward; the left arrow to move back). 

Photos courtesy of tuppus, rachaelvoorhees, and n0mkj at Flickr Creative Commons.