Rev. Stephen M. Koeth, C.S.C., is a Postdoctoral Fellow in The Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism and priest-in-residence in Stanford Hall. Born and raised in Staten Island, New York, Fr. Koeth earned both a B.A. in History (’99) and an M.Div. (’06) from Notre Dame and was ordained a Holy Cross priest in 2007. After several years of parish ministry in Portland, Oregon, Fr. Koeth completed an M.A. in History at The Catholic University of America (’12) and in 2020 was awarded a Ph.D. in History from Columbia University.

Fr. Koeth's scholarship and teaching focus on twentieth-century religious, political, and urban history. His dissertation, "The Suburban Church: Catholic Parishes and Politics in Metropolitan New York, 1945-1985", received the American Catholic Historical Association's 2019 John Tracy Ellis Dissertation Award and Columbia University's 2020 Bancroft Dissertation Award. It examines the effects of postwar suburbanization on American Catholicism, especially through the creation and expansion of the Diocese of Rockville Centre in suburban Long Island. Fr. Koeth's scholarship has been published in the Journal of Church and State, U.S. Catholic Historian, and American Catholic Studies and his commentary has appeared in The Washington Post, The Washington Times, and on BBC Radio 4's Sunday.