Abstract
The purpose of this study was to identify what Catholic parishioners perceive to be Priests’ communicative misbehaviors. Building from Kearney, Plax, Hays, & Ivey (1991) original work on teacher misbehaviors, Priests’ communicative misbehaviors are considered those messages that detract from Mass/worship. Parishioners were able to identify perceived Priests’ misbehaviors and their own reactions. Misbehaviors primarily related to interaction, Priests’ messages, and perceived procedural violations. Informing findings, parishioners reported both their emotional and behavioral reactions. Results can be used to help train religious leaders, as a metric for the assessment of religious leaders’ performance, and as a tool to evaluate existing training programs. Findings inform communication research by utilizing both an under-researched sample and site, as well as offering a rich description of perceived misbehaviors.