Lived Practice of Catholicism in the U.S.
(032:054) Instructor: Heather Hartel

Syllabus
Policies & Requirements
Class Schedule
Assigned Weekly Readings

Assignments
Presentations
Book/Movie Review
Field Report
Final Paper

Description
As part of your final portfolio, the field visit and interview is a 2-3 page report and is based upon at least one visit to an organized activity, meeting, school, shrine, Catholic bookstore etc. of your choice. You might choose to give an oral report on this. You may not interview family members or go to an event at your own place of worship for this assignment since the purpose of this assignment is to expose you to things with which you might not be familiar.

Wherever you choose to visit, you should conduct at least one interview with a group member, an organizer, an educator, a priest etc. How you interview the person and what you choose to ask them is up to you, but you should get 1) some general background and demographic information from the person (where they grew up, what their job is, how long they have been Catholic etc.), and 2) you should be able to get some sense of what the activity, place, ritual etc. means to the person, how they became involved in it & why it is important to them.

Requirements
Write a well organized, short and to the point report on your field visit and interview The key word here is report, so focus on your observations, not on your opinions or personal experiences. Make sure you identify the place and date(s) of your visit, and provide the name of the person you interviewed. Try not to go over a length of 2-3 pages. Some tips to do this include:

1. Do not add excessive narrative to your analysis, such as "I walked into the church and three people greeted me" or "I sat next to an older woman who looked very nice." Leading the reader with some narrative will be necessary; it just should not substitute for your observations.
2. Avoid comparing what you observe to your own religious practices, such as "In my religion we sing songs accompanied by a piano, but the service I attended did not have any accompaniment." While these kinds of comparisons are useful for your own personal understanding of the practices you are observing, they are not necessary to report your observations.
3. It is not necessary to report everything you observed or your entire interview. Limit your report to distinctive traits/patterns observed during the visit and interview. Distinctive traits/patterns means things that are SPECIFIC to them--something that makes this particular place, organization and person unique. The fact that everyone was dressed up is not necessarily a pattern SPECIFIC to the group under observation. The fact that everyone holds hands during the opening prayer might be. The observation that the person you interview has six grandchildren is not necessarily unique. The fact that none of these grandchildren are Catholic, despite having gone to Catholic school is. The observation that a person wears a crucifix around their neck is not necessarily unique. A story behind the crucifix, where they got it, who it was blessed by, or who gave it to them is.

Evaluation

1. Consultation: Did you email me some idea of what you would be doing for your field report sometime before April 13th. (1 point)
2. Organization, Clarity & Concision: Have you been able to organize your ideas, present them in a clear manner and with concision? (5 points)
3. Observations: Have you successfully chosen representative distinctive observations to report?  (6 points)
4. Originality: Is there evidence that you sought out a unique site, group, event etc. for your visit or did you just go to mass and interview the priest? (3 points)