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(1935-1996) Member of the sociology faculty, University of Wisconsin from 1971 until his death; Associate Dean of Letters and Sciences, 1979-1988; Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1970.

A former Roman Catholic priest, Schoenherr continued to study organizational change in that body, particularly in the United States. With Lawrence A. Young, he published Full Pews and Empty Altars (University of Wisconsin Press 1993), the definitive quantitative study documenting the inability of the Roman Catholic Church to provide adequate numbers of priests for its lay membership ("priest shortage"). This work received the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion distinguished book award in 1996. He was also an outspoken critic of the Catholic policy of priestly celibacy, particularly evidenced in the title of the book on which he was working at the time of his death, Goodbye Father: Celibacy and Patriarchy in the Catholic Church .

—William H. Swatos, Jr

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