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June 28, 2001
Survey of young Catholics shows views of religion
(Read survey and see our notes at bottom)
By AGOSTINO BONO Catholic News Service
A survey of young adult U.S. Catholics reported that they strongly prefer a personalized view of the faith instead of the rules of the institutional church.
At the same time , it showed almost total adherence to core Christian beliefs such as that Christ is God or the son of God. The survey also reported an overwhelming desire in young adults to have their children receive religious instruction.
The results indicate little difference in attitudes between Latinos and non-Latinos.
The survey and an analysis are contained in the book Young Adult Catholics: Religion in the Culture of Choice, to be published in June by the University of Notre Dame Press. The survey and analysis were done by four sociologists led by Dean R. Hoge, sociology professor and director of the Life Cycle Institute at The Catholic University of America in Washington.
The survey is based on 1997 interviews with 848 people between the ages of 20 and 39. The people were selected randomly from lists of people receiving confirmation at 44 parishes across the country.
"Many young Catholics have a weaker and more tentative affiliation with the "institutional church than previous generations," the authors concluded. "Most young adult Catholics today, however, are not angry at the church. They are simply distanced from it."
Tensions exist on the role of women in the church and issues related to marriage, divorce, sexuality and the desire for more democratic church structures, the authors added.
The survey results showed that Catholics remain loyal to their church affiliation, with 89 percent of the non-Latinos and 91 percent of the Latinos identifying themselves as Catholics. However, 31 percent of all the respondents said they went to Mass once a week and 64 percent said you can be a good Catholic without going to Mass.
"Their Catholic loyalty also springs from a conviction that the individual can define Catholicism on his or her own terms independent of church authority," concluded the authors.
Hoge said the overall margin of error was plus or minus 3 percent.
Survey results also showed that:
87 percent of the non-Latinos and 95 percent of the Latinos agreed that at Mass the bread and wine becomes the body and blood of Christ.
59 percent of the non-Latinos and 65 percent of the Latinos said they take seriously papal statements on social, political and moral issues.
87 percent of both groups said that the church should allow women greater participation in all ministries.
71 of the non-Latinos and 59 percent of the Latinos favored greater lay involvement in decision-making at the parish level on issues not involving faith and morals. (Emphases ours)
While 62% said that took papal statements seriously, while the pope has said that deliberately missing Mass is a mortal sin, only half that number went to Mass every week and 64% said you can be a good Catholic without going to Mass. The pope has expressly outlawed women priests, yet 87% said women should participate in all ministries
The conviction that the individual can define Catholicism on his or her own terms independent of church authority shows the modern "Cafeteria Catholic" view, and that every Catholic can have in his or her mind something called Catholicism which is really not the real Catholic Church.