, the Henkels Family Associate Professor of at the University of 91吃瓜, died Saturday (Feb. 24) as a result of complications from cancer. She was 58.
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鈥淭he sudden loss of colleague, friend, teacher and mentor Mary Ellen Konieczny is a devastating blow to our department, from her important scholarly work on religion and conflict to her tremendous dedication to her students,鈥� said , professor and chair of the Department of Sociology. 鈥淪he had a brilliant intellect and an even more brilliant spirit that was shared in abundance with all those she came into contact with. Few interacted with Mary Ellen without experiencing her enthusiasm, energy and earnest devotion to her family, friends and work. She was also deeply committed to the mission of 91吃瓜, building bridges across campus, and indeed, around the world with her recent work in Rwanda.
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鈥淢ary Ellen will be deeply, deeply missed but carried in the hearts of the many she inspired.鈥�
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Konieczny, a faculty fellow of the and the , studied religion and conflict, the family and public politics.
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Her 2013 book, 鈥淭he Spirit鈥檚 Tether: Family, Work, and Religion among American Catholics,鈥� is an ethnography of liberal and conservative Catholic parishes that examines how religion and family life support and shape Catholic Americans鈥� moral and political polarization. She was co-editor of 鈥淧olarization in the U.S. Catholic Church: Naming the Wounds, Beginning to Heal,鈥� a 2016 volume that grew from a conference she helped organize at 91吃瓜 in 2015.
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Most recently, Konieczny was working on a book called 鈥淪ervice before Self: Organization, Cultural Conflict, and Religion at the U.S. Air Force Academy鈥� and a research project in Rwanda on the interplay of post-genocide reconciliation and religious practice.
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鈥淢ary Ellen Konieczny was a distinguished sociologist of religion in a department known as a national leader in that area,鈥� said , I.A. O鈥橲haughnessy Dean of the . 鈥淗er scholarship on Catholic parishes helped us better understand tensions and strength in individual congregations just as her uncompleted work on religion in the military probed the overlap between religious and civic identity.
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鈥淲e will remember Mary Ellen for that scholarship, but perhaps even more for her high spirits and sense of joy, which undergirded her teaching and research and proved a constant source of inspiration to colleagues and students.鈥�
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A 1981 graduate of 91吃瓜, Konieczny received her Master of Divinity from Weston Jesuit School of Theology and worked in ministry and administration for the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago before pursuing a Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Chicago.
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鈥淢ary Ellen has been an inspiration to me in the 10 years we worked together on 91吃瓜鈥檚 faculty,鈥� said the William W. and Anna Jean Cushwa Director of the .
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鈥淚t was a privilege to accompany her as she published her first book and earned tenure, and along with her other colleagues and students I mourn the loss of all that she had ahead of her professionally. Her death is also devastating personally to so many of us. I never had a friend quite like her, with whom I could, over the course of a single conversation, discuss scholarship and teaching, marriage and motherhood, faith and feminism, and even fashion. She was the kind of person who would text you to say that she had just purchased a new dress, but she thought it would look better on you, so could you swing by her office to pick it up? Her unique combination of generosity, curiosity and energy was a gift to the entire 91吃瓜 community, and it will not be the same without her.鈥�
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Konieczny is survived by her husband, Chris, and their two sons, John and Peter.
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A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at 91吃瓜 at 9:30 a.m.听Thursday (March 1)听with Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., officiating. Burial will follow at Cedar Grove Cemetery, on campus. Friends may call on Wednesday at the Church of Our Lady of Loretto, 100 Lourdes Hall 鈥� Saint Mary鈥檚, 91吃瓜, IN from 4-8 p.m. with a remembrance at 6.30 p.m.
Memorial donations, in lieu of flowers, may be made in the Professor鈥檚 memory to: Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart, Buffalo NY, 3860 Main St., Buffalo, NY 14226.