Challenges and Opportunities
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C21 Resources A SERVICE OF BOSTON COLLEGE fall 2006 questions, a team of sociologists con- welcomed, and actively involved in the Challenges and ducted a national survey of more than life of the Church,” they write. eight hundred women and men “If religion in general is on the between the ages of twenty and thirty- decline in America, as some observers Opportunities nine. Their findings, based on ques- claim, it is not due to the dying of the tionnaires and followed by telephone old but the inability of the Church to and personal interviews, were pub- retain these young adult Catholics,” by audrey laporte vest committed to the Church. If this is lished in Young Adult Catholics: Reli- according to coauthor William D. true, what are the implications for gion in the Culture of Choice by Dean Dinges. “Church leadership must he future vitality of the the future of the Catholic Church R. Hoge, William D. Dinges, Mary accept that young adult Catholics are Catholic Church lies in its in America? Johnson, S.N.D. de N., and Juan L. not Catholic in the same way that pre- T young people. Yet anyone Who are today’s young adult Gonzales, Jr. (University of Notre vious generations have been Catholic. who has been paying attention Catholics? How do they actually live Dame Press, 2001). The book should be a flashing yellow knows that the worshippers at most their Catholicism? Do they go to Mass One of the authors’ most striking light, a warning, that many serious weekend liturgies are typically a on Sunday? Are they alienated from conclusions is that the leadership of issues need to be addressed if the graying congregation. Many people the Church? How do they respond to the Catholic Church needs to estab- Church is not to lose this generation.” in their twenties and thirties do not the Church’s moral teachings? Do lish a “preferential option” for this In an interview with Liguorian, attend Mass on a regular basis. Even they take the popes’ statements seri- population, a dynamic and sustained Dinges, an associate professor of Reli- fewer take active leadership roles in ously? Are they leaving for other de- outreach. “Resources and energies gious Studies in the School of Reli- the parish. The obvious conclusion is nominations in significant numbers? should be directed toward helping gion at The Catholic University of that young adult Catholics are not Seeking answers to these and other young adult Catholics feel wanted, America, outlined some of the major in this issue Young Adult Catholics atholics today who have a personal memory of Mass in Latin sometimes experience a “wake-up call” when they consider that the Second Vatican Council, that watershed event that sought to breathe new life into the Church, closed its sessions over forty years ago. What this lapse of time means, among other Cthings, is that there are now Catholic adults who have lived their entire lives after the Council. If our formative experiences of religion happen during youth and adolescence, it is important to ask how the formation of young adults today differs from that of their parents or grandparents. In addition to the developments within the Church—mass in the vernacular with the priest facing the congregation; a new embrace of religious freedom and ecumenism; a nuanced engagement with the modern world—there were developments in the United States and around the world. The decade from 1965 to 1975 was the era of the cold war and the conflict in Vietnam; the sexual revolution; the scandal of Watergate; and the conflicts between government and universities. During this same era, adolescence and young adulthood were redefined by both cultural and economic forces. Many young adults experienced a greater degree of freedom than their parents had known in their youth. The ensuing decade, from 1976 to 1986, saw even more change. Catholics born during this period have memories of only one pope, the late John Paul II. His agility in utilizing the media showed many young people a willingness to engage the world they lived in, a world of acceleration of communication and information. His presence at the several World Youth Days too showed young Catholics the face of a man seeking to persuade them to challenge the impersonal forces of the market-driven world. For these rising “John Paul II Catholics”—many of whom are in college now—the late pope represents a benchmark of authentic discipleship in the world. Catholics whose memories stretch back to earlier popes—Paul VI and John XXIII especially—often find themselves bewildered by what they see as contradic- tory messages from young adults. On the one hand, there are those who seem disengaged from the Church, a large group which surveys describe as “spiritual, but not religious.” On the other hand, there are those whom the theologian William Portier describes as “evangelical Catholics,” a smaller group who, following the example of the late pope, are energized by their Catholic faith even amidst what they perceive as a sometimes hostile cultural milieu. This, our seventh issue of C21 Resources, takes up the challenge of helping discern the challenges for the Church as it reaches out to young adult Catholics. We begin with survey data of both white and Hispanic young adults in the United States. Next, we include autobiographical pieces from three young adults today, pieces which reflect the different routes that young Catholics have taken in their religious formation. From there, we engage the voices of two mature Catholic thinkers speaking to their younger brothers and sisters in faith. The final five pieces suggest ways forward in the Church’s mission to young adults today. —The Editors BOSTON COLLEGE | C 21 RESOURCES | FALL 2006 1 have serious behavioral consequences. Challenges and Opportunities For example, about 50 percent of non-Latino marriages are to non- C21 Resources Catholics, another index of the findings of the survey and their pas- do more to welcome young adults and salience issue. The attitude among toral implications. The research do everything it can to instill in them many younger Catholics that it editor focused on Roman Catholics between a strong sense of community and doesn’t matter that much whether Timothy P. Muldoon the ages of twenty and thirty-nine, Catholic identity. one is a Catholic affects decisions members of Generation X and Many of those interviewed, Dinges about choosing a spouse or sending Director, The Church in the younger baby boomers, who were at reports, see no critical difference one’s child to a Catholic school. 21st Century Center least at some point in their lives com- between Catholics and Protestants. mitted to the Church. The group sur- “Less than 50 percent believe that any older Catholics tend to advisory board veyed included 60 to 70 percent non- Catholicism is any more faithful to the forget that for these Latinos and 30 to 40 percent Latinos will of Christ than Protestant Myounger Catholics, Vatican J.A. Appleyard chosen from confirmation rolls in var- Churches, especially Protestant main- II is ancient history. Many young Jonas Barciauskas ious parishes. line traditions. For them, the ‘bells adult Catholics have no sense of what On the plus side, these young adult and incense’ differences are largely the Council was about. They often Ben Birnbaum Catholics are not alienated from or peripheral. They regard Catholicism associate it with the use of English Robert Imbelli angry with the Church in the same as just another denomination and a rather than Latin in the Mass and way that many older members of the choice of lifestyle that is not necessar- changes in a few prayers. At best, a John L. Mahoney baby boom generation are. Rather, ily any truer than other Christian sophisticated sense of what the whole Robert R. Newton their attitude toward the institutional denominations.” process was about is lacking. Dawn V. Overstreet Church is what sociologists call one of The study also found that as much Older baby boomers should not anomie, that is, indifference or a sense as these young adults like being assume that their agenda in the wake Nancy Pineda-Madrid of normlessness. They are simply not Catholic, their attachment to the insti- of Vatican II is necessarily the agenda Barbara Radtke particularly attached to the institu- tutional Church and their sense of of today’s young adults, Dinges says. tional Church. This, Dinges says, Catholic identity is weak. “Many of “The idea that the Church is polar- presents a different kind of pastoral these young people have a particularly ized between left wing and right wing, designer problem than dealing with those who difficult time articulating exactly what liberal and conservative, is no longer a Progressive Print Solutions are angry with the Church or contest- it means to be Catholic,” Dinges says. helpful way to think about what’s ing aspects of its teaching. “Some of them haven’t a clue about going on in the Church.” Another encouraging finding was what is unique or distinctive about Another striking difference C21 Resources is published by the that few young adults have actually left being Roman Catholic.” Yet the sur- between young adult and older Church in the 21st Century Center the Church. They like being Catholic vey revealed several points that most Catholics is that many in the study and have no intention of leaving. Only participants agree are relevant to their have not experienced Catholicism at Boston College, in partnership with about 10 percent of those interviewed identity as Catholics. as a cultural system, especially non- the publications from which these have entirely ceased to participate in One of these points is the strong Latinos.