Mark Gray earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Irvine in 2003. His dissertation focused on household norms and political culture and how these relate to political participation. As a graduate student he worked as a journalist for The Orange County Register and as a volunteer editor for ABILITY Magazine, a national publication for people with disabilities. He attended the University of California, Los Angeles and earned a B.A. in Political Science (Magna Cum Laude) in 1993.  Mark's client-oriented work at CARA focuses on national-level polls of the Catholic population, ministry in parishes without resident priest pastors, the Catholic media, and trends in Catholic schools and institutions. His current academic research at CARA focuses on Catholic political culture, attitudes, political participation as well as comparative studies of Catholicism. Methodologically, Mark specializes in survey research, trend analysis, and cross-sectional time-series studies.