How Ambivalent Identification with the Vatican Influences Church Members’ Involvement Behaviors

Abstract

Due to recent scandals, members of the Roman Catholic Church may find themselves torn between a cherished faith and inadequate actions taken by Church hierarchy developing an ambivalent identification towards this hierarchy, as exemplified by the Vatican. At the same time, they may continue to positively identify with other foci of the Church, for instance their local parishes, with which they have a sense of familiarity, and the very well regarded leader, Pope Francis. We examine how ambivalent identification with the Vatican may associate with members’ involvement behaviors (e.g., praying, evangelizing, and monetary contributions) when they positively identify with their parish and Pope Francis. Based on a survey of church members (N=445), we found that ambivalent identification with the Vatican has a positive association with two of the involvement behaviors (praying, evangelizing) when identification with the parish is high. In contrast, and contrary to what we hypothesized, the association of ambivalent identification with the Vatican with these behaviors (praying, evangelizing) is negative when identification with the Pope is high. Our results shed light on how members may respond to ambivalent identification with one target, when they positively identify with the other, and emphasize the importance of understanding members’ identification with other targets in shaping the relationship between ambivalent identification and involvement behaviors.