Number 1 Young Adult Catholics in the Context of Other Catholic Generations

Transcription

1 Number 1 Young Adult Catholics in the Context of Other Catholic Generations

2 Young Adult Catholics in the Context of Other Catholic Generations: Living with Diversity, Seeking Service, Waiting to be Welcomed June 2000 Mary E. Bendyna, RSM, Ph.D. Paul M. Perl, Ph.D. Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate Georgetown University Washington, D.C.

3 CARA, June 2000, Working Paper 1 CARA was founded by Catholic leaders in 1964 to put social science research tools at the service of the Catholic Church in the United States. For information on CARA and its mission of research, analysis, and planning, contact: Bryan T. Froehle, Ph.D. Executive Director Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate Georgetown University Washington, DC CARA.georgetown.edu

4 Table of Contents Executive Summary...1 Introduction...3 The Catholic Generations and their Background Characteristics...4 Defining Young Adults and Other Catholic Generations...4 Demographic Characteristics of Young Adult and Other Catholics...5 The Religious Background of Young Adult and Other Catholics...15 Young Adult Catholics Religious Commitment: The Generational Context...17 Importance of the Catholic Faith...17 Frequency of Mass Attendance...19 Parish Registration...23 Spirituality...25 Highly Committed Young Adult Catholics...27 How Young Adult Catholics Understand and Share their Faith: The Generational Context...30 Importance of Various Activities to What it Means to Be Catholic...30 Religious Instruction of Children...35 Consideration of Religious Vocations...37 Young Adults Satisfaction with the Catholic Church: The Generational Context...39 Factors Influencing Young Adults Participation in Parish Life: The Generational Context...44

5 Young Adult Catholics in the Context of Other Catholic Generations: Living with Diversity, Seeking Service, Waiting to be Welcomed EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This examination of Young Adult Catholics and how they compare with Catholics of other generations was prepared by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University. The data for this study come from a national telephone survey of a random sample of self-identified Catholics in the United States. The survey was conducted for CARA in January and February 2000 and yielded 2,635 responses. In the analyses that follow, respondents are divided into four generations: Young Adult (ages 18-39), Vatican II (ages 40-57), Silent (ages 58-75), and World War II (age 76 and over). Young Adult Catholics are compared to the other three generations of Catholics on the basis of their demographic and religious background characteristics, their levels of religious commitment, their satisfaction with the Church and its leadership, their understanding of the faith and the importance of sharing it, and the factors that would increase their participation in parish life. Major Findings! The Young Adult Generation of Catholics is more racially and ethnically diverse than the three older Catholic generations. Although nearly half of Young Adults are still single, those who have wed are less likely than members of the older generations to be married to another Catholic.! Young Adult Catholics are more likely to have finished college than members of the three older generations. They are less likely to have attended a Catholic grade school or high school. Among those who did not attend a Catholic school, Young Adults and Vatican II Generation Catholics are more likely than older Catholics to have attended CCD. 1

6 ! Young Adult Catholics are less likely than members of the three older generations to say that their Catholic faith is very important to them, to attend Mass weekly or more, and to be registered parishioners. They are only slightly less likely than members of the older three generations to describe themselves as spiritual persons, however.! Although levels of commitment to the Church are lower among younger Catholics than among older Catholics, only about one in four Young Adults is very weakly committed to the Church.! As is the case among all generations, the most committed Young Adult Catholics are more likely to be female than male, to live in the Midwest than the West, to be married to another Catholic than single or married to a non-catholic, and to have attended a Catholic school than to have had no Catholic education.! Being married to another Catholic is even more highly correlated with religious commitment among Young Adults than among older Catholics.! Having attended Catholic school is even more important for the likelihood of parish registration among Young Adults than it is among older Catholics.! Along with members of the Vatican II Generation, Young Adults are much less likely than members of the two older generations to say that each of the following six factors is very important to their sense of what it means to be Catholic: (1) the Eucharist, (2) attending Mass, (3) passing on the faith to the next generation, (4) following Church teachings, (5) learning more about the Catholic faith, and (6) participating in devotions such as Eucharistic Adoration or praying the rosary.! In contrast, there are no significant generational differences in the proportion of respondents who say that helping people in need is very important to their sense of what it means to be Catholic.! Only about one in six Young Adult men or women have ever considered a religious vocation, down from about one in three members of the Vatican II Generation.! Along with members of the Vatican II Generation, Young Adults are less likely than members of the two oldest Catholic generations to be very satisfied with how the Church meets their spiritual needs and with the Church s leadership. Nevertheless, fewer than one in ten Young Adults are very dissatisfied with these aspects of the Church.! Young Adult Catholics are more likely than members of the older three generations to say that feeling welcome and opportunities to help the poor and needy would increase their participation in parish life. Within the Young Adult Generation, Catholics in their 20s are more likely than Young Adults in their 30s to desire more opportunities to help the poor and needy. 2

7 Young Adult Catholics in the Context of Other Catholic Generations: Living with Diversity, Seeking Service, Waiting to be Welcomed Introduction This examination of the characteristics, attitudes, and behaviors of Young Adult Catholics and how they compare with Catholics of other generations was prepared by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University. The data for this study come from a national telephone survey of Catholics in the United States that was conducted for CARA in January and February The survey sampled adult, self-identified Catholics in 90 counties representing all the major geographical Census Divisions in the United States. Calls were made to households on the basis of random-digit dialing, and screening questions determined whether the targeted respondent in each household was Catholic. To increase the likelihood of reaching a Catholic respondent with each call, an oversample of calls was made to counties known to have relatively high percentages of Catholics among the population. Up to three callback attempts were made to each telephone number if there was no answer to the original call. Responses were obtained from 2,635 Catholics. For Spanish-speaking respondents, interviews were conducted by bilingual callers. This analysis of the data divides the respondents into four generations: Young Adult (ages 18-39), Vatican II (ages 40-57), Silent (ages 58-75), and World War II (ages 76 and over). Young Adults are compared to the older three Catholic generations on the basis of the following characteristics: demographic and religious background, current religious commitment, satisfaction with the Church, understanding of and sharing of the faith, and factors that would increase parish participation. 3

8 Catholic Generations and Their Background Characteristics Defining Young Adults and Other Catholic Generations Respondents to the CARA Catholic Poll range from 18 to 93 years old. The average age of respondents overall is 44 years old. For this study, Catholics are grouped into four age categories commonly used by researchers in studying generational differences of Americans.! The World War II Generation includes those born between 1901 and 1924, age 76 or older in 2000, whose worldview was affected primarily by World War II and the Great Depression. This generation is also often labeled builders since they played a crucial role in helping create many of the institutions of twentieth century social and religious life. In this survey of adult Catholics, four percent of the respondents are of this generation.! The Silent Generation includes those born between 1925 and 1942, age in 2000, who came of age primarily in the 1950s. As with the group above, they were born and formed before the Second Vatican Council. Generational research refers to them as the Silent Generation because they largely conformed to the world built for them by the World War II Generation. Compared to the generations that followed, they tend to exhibit relatively high levels of institutional loyalty, including to the institutional Church. In this study, 15 percent of the respondents are of this generation.! The Vatican II Generation consists of those born between 1943 and 1960 and who are between the ages of 40 and 57 in These are the so-called baby boomers. They came of age during the time of the Second Vatican Council and their formative years spanned the time of profound changes in the Church. Although referred to as the Vatican II Generation, actual leadership during the Vatican II era was in the hands of the generations before them. In general, members of this generation are more likely than those before them to emphasize concerns of individual self-actualization over institutional commitment. In this study, 38 percent belong to this generation.! The Young Adult Generation includes those born between 1961 and 1982, age 18 to 39 in 2000, and is sometimes called Generation X or baby busters by demographers. Today s young adults have no lived experience of the pre-vatican II Church. Their religious training occurred during the 1970s and 1980s, a time when the Catholic ghetto of former decades had largely disappeared and catechetical styles were very different from the methods used up to the late 1960s. They were children at a time when divorce rates rose rapidly and seemingly intractable socioeconomic problems grew, and thus are sometimes nicknamed the survivor generation. As a consequence, they are often relatively less likely to make long-term commitments, more pessimistic, pragmatic rather than ideological, and relatively more interested in issues of identity and community. In this study, 43 percent of all respondents are of this generation. Demographic Characteristics of Young Adult and Other U.S. Catholics 4

9 Young Adult Catholics differ from members of other generations on a number of demographic characteristics. To understand some of the religious differences among generations, it is important to be aware of underlying demographic distinctions between them. In some cases, variations in religious attitudes and levels of participation can be attributed to differences in social and demographic background characteristics. In particular, the internal racial and ethnic diversity of the youngest generation is greater than that of older generations. This section examines generational differences in the following demographic and social status characteristics: gender, racial and ethnic composition, geographic region, levels of education and income, and marital and parental status. It describes how the four Catholic generations differ in their makeup of these characteristics. Gender In the overall survey of Catholics, 59 percent of the respondents are female and 41 percent are male. Compared to other generations of Catholics, the Young Adult Generation has the highest proportion of males. The World War II Generation has the highest proportion of women. This is almost certainly due in part to women s lower mortality rate. Sixty-one percent of Catholic women who are members of the World War II Generation are widows, compared to 32 percent of Catholic men from that generation. 5

10 ! Among Young Adult Catholics, 46 percent of respondents are male, and 54 percent are female.! In both the Vatican II and Silent Generations, 39 percent of the members are male and 61 percent are female.! Men comprise 29 percent and women comprise 72 percent of the respondents from the World War II Generation. Race and Ethnicity The study used questions for race and ethnic identity similar to those used in the U.S. Census. Because people of Hispanic/Latino(a) origin can be of any race, the respondents are divided into those who say they are white, but answer no to Hispanic origin, those who are black, but answer no to Hispanic origin, and those who answer yes to Hispanic origin. The proportion of respondents who identify with each of these ethnic and racial groups follows:! Anglo, White, or European (80 percent)! Hispanic, Spanish or Latino(a) (15 percent)! African American or Black (3 percent)! Native American or American Indian (1 percent)! Asian or Pacific Islander (1 percent) Many of the racial and ethnic comparisons in this report focus on differences among non- Hispanic whites, Hispanics, and African Americans. There are too few members of the remaining groups for statistically meaningful comparisons. 6

11 More Young Adult Catholics are Hispanic, and fewer are white, than members of the three older generations of Catholics.! Three-fourths of Young Adult Catholics are white. This compares to slightly more than four in five members of the Vatican II Generation and nine in ten members each of the Silent and World War II Generations.! One in five Young Adult Catholics is Hispanic. In comparison, 12 percent of members of the Vatican II Generation and fewer than one in ten members of the Silent and World War II Generations are Hispanic.! An equal portion, about three percent, of each generation of Catholics is black or African American.! One percent each of Young Adult and Vatican II Catholics are Native American. In this study, no respondents from the Silent and Vatican II Generations are Native American. Because they are so small, these statistics are not included in the graph above. 7

12 ! One and a half percent each of the Young Adult and Vatican II Generations are Asian or Pacific Islanders. This compares to fewer than one percent of Silent Generation members and, in this study, no World War II Generation respondents. Again, because they are so small, these statistics are not included in the graph above. Region Respondents are grouped into four geographical regions based on U.S. Census categories:! Northeast (34 percent), which includes the New England states (Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont) and the Middle Atlantic states (New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania)! Midwest (31 percent), which includes the East North Central states (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin) and the West North Central states (Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, North Dakota, Nebraska, and South Dakota)! South (17 percent), which includes the South Atlantic states (the District of Columbia, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia); the East South Central states (Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama); and the West South Central states (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas)! West (18 percent),which includes the Mountain states (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming) and the Pacific states (Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington) Catholics of the Young Adult and Vatican II Generations are slightly more likely to live in the West and slightly less likely to live in the South than Catholics of the Silent and World War II Generations. These generational differences in geographical residence are relatively small, however, and not statistically significant. 8

13 ! Roughly one-third of the members of each generation of Catholics lives in the Northeast; slightly less than one-third of each generation lives in the Midwest.! Sixteen percent each of members of the Young Adult and Vatican II Generations live in the South, compared to about 20 percent of members of the older two generations.! Young Adult and Vatican II Catholics are slightly more concentrated in the West than Silent and World War II Generation Catholics (19-20 percent compared to percent). Education Respondents are categorized into four groups based on the highest level of education they have ever achieved. Generational comparisons of education in this report exclude Young Adults who are 25 years old or younger because they are unlikely to have finished graduate or professional schooling. The four educational categories follow, along with the percentage of all respondents who are in each:! Less than high school, some high school, or a high school graduate (26 percent)! Some college or vocational school graduate (29 percent)! College graduate (32 percent)! Graduate or professional school (13 percent) 9

14 More Young Adults have received college degrees than members of other Catholic generations. However, they are no more likely than others to have completed post-graduate studies.! Fifty-five percent of Young Adult Catholics have a college degree or post-graduate education. This compares to approximately half of Catholics from the Vatican II Generation, a third of the Silent Generation, and one in five members of the World War II Generation.! One in six Young Adults has only a high school education or less. This compares to slightly more than one in five members of the Vatican II Generation, about one in four members of the Silent Generation and slightly more than one in two members of the World War II Generation.! Among Catholics who have completed college, Young Adults are actually less likely than members of the older three generations to have completed a post-graduate program. 10

15 Income Respondents are grouped into five categories of yearly household income. As with education, generational comparisons of income in this report exclude Young Adults who are less than 26 years old because they may not have finished school and begun fulltime employment. Following are the five income categories, along with the percentage of the entire Catholic population that falls into each:! Less than $20,000 annually (13 percent)! $20,000 - $39,999 annually (25 percent)! $40,000 - $59,999 annually (25 percent)! $60,000 - $79,999 annually (17 percent)! $80,000 or more annually (21 percent) Young Adult and Vatican II Catholics are much more likely than members of the older two generations to have household incomes in the highest brackets. They are much less likely than members of the older two generations to fall into the lowest income brackets. 11

16 ! One in five Young Adult Catholics is a member of a household that earns $80,000 per year or more. Slightly more (over one in four) Vatican II Generation Catholics fall into this income bracket. About one in seven members of the Silent Generation, and only about one in twenty members of the World War II Generation earn this much income.! Fewer than one in ten members each of the Young Adult and Vatican II Generations belong to a household that earns less than $20,000 per year. This compares to one in four members of the Silent Generation and four in ten members of the World War II Generation Catholics. The fact that a larger proportion of the older two generations is retired may account in part for this large discrepancy.! Fewer Young Adults than older Catholics refused to answer the question about household income. Fourteen percent of Young Adult respondents refused to reply to the question, compared to 18 percent of Vatican II, 26 percent of Silent Generation and 31 percent of World War II Generation respondents. Respondents who refused the question are not included in the graph above or any other income comparisons in this report. Marital Status Respondents are grouped into four categories of marital status:! Single, never married (27 percent)! Currently married to another Catholic (40 percent)! Currently married to a non-catholic (14 percent)! Divorced or separated (13 percent)! Widowed (7 percent) 12

17 Many of the generational differences among Catholics likely reflect the fact that they are at different stages of the life cycle. Not surprisingly, members of the Young Adult Generation are much more likely than older Catholics to be unmarried, and members of the World War II Generation are much more likely than younger Catholics to be widowed.! Forty-six percent of Young Adult Catholics are single. This compares to fewer than one in eight Catholics from the three older generations.! Slightly over half of World War II Generation Catholics are widowed, compared to one in five members of the Silent Generation, and just a fraction of Young Adult and Vatican II Catholics.! Among Catholics who are currently married, the likelihood of being married to another Catholic increases with age. Sixty-nine percent of married Young Adult Catholics are married to another Catholic. This compares with 72 percent of Vatican II members, 85 percent of Silent Generation members, and 91 percent of World War II Generation members. 13

18 Parental Status Partly because they are young and less likely than older Catholics to be married, members of the Young Adult Generation are substantially less likely to be parents. However, they are more likely than members of the older three generations to have children living with them at home.! About two in four Young Adult Catholics have never had children. This compares to about one in five members of the older three generations.! Fifty-five percent of Young Adult Catholics have children who are living with them at home. This compares to 45 percent of the Vatican II Generation and just a fraction each of the Silent and World War II Generations. 14

19 The Religious Background of Young Adult and Other Catholics In addition to the demographic factors noted above, Young Adults differ from older Catholics in terms of other background characteristics, including religious upbringing and religious education. To some extent, differences in attachment to the Church among adult Catholics can be partially attributed to differential childhood exposure to and practice of the faith. In particular, attendance at Catholic schools as a child or adolescent may give people a tie to the institutional Church that increases the likelihood of future practice of the faith. Catholic Upbringing Differences in the proportion of each generation who were raised Catholic are relatively small. Ninety-two percent of Young Adults were raised Catholic. This compares to 90 percent of Vatican II Catholics, 89 percent of the Silent Generation, and 87 percent of the World War II Generation. These differences are not statistically significant. 15

20 Catholic Education To examine background differences in Catholic education, respondents are grouped into three categories:! Those who ever attended a Catholic elementary or secondary school (51 percent)! Those who never attended Catholic school but attended CCD or a similar parish-based religious education program (34 percent)! Those who attended neither Catholic school nor CCD (15 percent) Fewer Young Adults attended a Catholic elementary or secondary school than members of the Vatican II or Silent Generations. More Young Adults than older Catholics have attended CCD.! A total of 44 percent of Young Adult Catholics attended a Catholic grade school or high school at some time in their life. In comparison, 57 or 58 percent of members of the Vatican II and Silent Generations attended Catholic school. Among World War II Generation Catholics, 50 percent attended a Catholic school. 16

21 ! Forty-one percent of Young Adults attended only CCD or a similar parish-based religious education program. This compares to 31 percent of Vatican II Catholics, 27 percent of Silent Generation Catholics, and 23 percent of World War II Generation Catholics.! Among Catholics who never attended a Catholic school, members of the younger two generations are more likely than older Catholics to have attended CCD. Seventy-two percent each of members of the Vatican II and Silent Generations who did not attend Catholic school attended CCD. Sixty-four percent of Silent Generation members and 46 percent of World War II Generation members who did not attend Catholic school attended CCD. Young Adult Catholics Religious Commitment: The Generational Context This section of the report examines four aspects of Young Adult Catholics religious identities and participation: (1) how important their Catholic faith is to them, (2) how frequently they attend Mass, (3) whether they are registered in a parish, and (4) whether they consider themselves spiritual. These four characteristics are interpreted as reflections of religious commitment. The first three importance of the Catholic faith, Mass attendance, and parish registration are interpreted specifically as indications of commitment to the Catholic Church. For each of these four types of commitment, Young Adults are compared to members of the other three generations of Catholics. Young Adults display substantially lower levels of commitment to the Catholic Church than older respondents. On all three of these items, commitment increases steadily with age. However, Young Adults are just slightly less likely than older Catholics to describe themselves as spiritual persons. Importance of the Catholic Faith Respondents were asked: How important is your Catholic faith to you? Is it very important, somewhat important, not too important, or not important at all? As the graph below shows, older Catholics are substantially more likely than younger Catholics to say their faith is very important to them. Forty-three percent of Young Adult Catholics say that their Catholic faith is very important. This compares to 54 percent of members of the Vatican II Generation, 73 percent of members of the Silent Generation, and 85 percent of members of the World War II Generation. 17

22 Although younger Catholics are much less likely than older Catholics to say their faith is very important to them, relatively few Catholics of any generation indicate that their faith is not important at all. In comparison to other generations, many Young Adult Catholics say that their faith is somewhat important. The table below shows the full set of responses to the religious salience question for each generation. Importance of Catholic Faith by Generation Percent saying their Catholic faith is not important at all, not too important, somewhat important, or very important to them Not Important Not Too Somewhat Very Generation At All Important Important Important Young Adult 6% 13% 39% 43% Vatican II Silent World War II

23 ! Only 6 percent each of Young Adult and Vatican II Catholics say their faith is not important at all to them. This compares to 2 percent of Silent Generation members and only 1 percent of World War II Generation members.! Thirty-nine percent of Young Adults say their Catholic faith is somewhat important to them. This compares to 31 percent of the Vatican II Generation, 19 percent of the Silent Generation, and 11 percent of the World War II Generation. Frequency of Mass Attendance Respondents were asked: Aside from weddings and funerals, about how often do you attend Mass? Six response categories ranged from rarely or never to more than once a week. For sake of simplicity, the categories have been collapsed into four in the comparisons in this report: rarely or never, a few times a year, at least monthly but not weekly, and weekly or more. Twenty-two percent of Young Adult Catholics attend Mass every week or more than once a week. In comparison, 35 percent of Vatican II Generation Catholics, 59 percent of the Silent Generation, and 63 percent of the World War II Generation attend weekly or more often. 19

24 Though they are much less likely than older Catholics to attend Mass weekly, Young Adults are only slightly more likely to attend Mass rarely or never. Young Adults are most likely to fall into the middle categories of attending a few times a year or a few times a month. The table below shows the full set of responses on Mass attendance. Frequency of Mass Attendance by Generation Percent attending Mass each of the following frequencies Rarely Or A Few Times A Few Times Every Week Generation Never A Year A Month Or More Young Adult 22% 26% 30% 22% Vatican II Silent World War II

25 ! Twenty-two percent each, or a little more than one in five, of the Young Adult and Vatican II Generations rarely or never attend Mass. This compares to roughly one in seven members of the Silent and World War II Generations.! Twenty-six percent of Young Adults attend Mass a few times a year, compared to 18 percent of Vatican II Generation Catholics, 11 percent of Silent Generation Catholics, and seven percent of the World War II Generation Catholics.! Three in ten Young Adults attend Mass a few times a month. This compares to one in four Vatican II Catholics, and about one in six members each of the Silent and World War II Generations. 21

26 It is possible that Young Adults attend Mass relatively infrequently for reasons related more to their place in the life cycle than to their commitment to the Church per se. For example, it may be that many young people do not join a parish and begin to attend Mass regularly until they are married or until they have children. The table below lists the percentage of each generation that attends Mass weekly or more, within categories of selected background characteristics. These comparisons may help identify possible reasons that Young Adults attend Mass less frequently than members of the older generations. Mass Attendance by Generation, Within Categories of Selected Background Characteristics Percent who attend Mass weekly or more* Young World Adult Vatican II Silent War II Marital Status Never Married 16% 24% 57% % Married to a Catholic Married to a non-catholic Divorced or Separated Catholic Education Attended a Catholic School 26% 40% 65% 62% Attended CCD Only Attended Neither Gender Male 19% 29% 48% 55% Female Parental Status Have Children Living at Home 27% 40% 59% % Have Children Living Elsewhere Have no Children *A dash indicates there are too few respondents in the cell for meaningful comparison (fewer than 15).! Catholics who have never been married are substantially less likely than Catholics married to other Catholics to attend Mass every week. Thus, the fact that there are relatively few Young Adults Catholics married to other Catholics may partially account for the relatively infrequent attendance. 22

27 ! Nevertheless, the gap in attendance between Young Adults and members of the Vatican II Generation is even larger among Catholics who are married to Catholics than among single people.! Among Catholics who are married to non-catholics, there are virtually no generational differences in weekly Mass attendance. In fact, Young Adults who are married to non- Catholics are more likely to attend Mass at least occasionally than members of older generations who are married to non-catholics. Twenty-nine percent of Young Adults who are married to non-catholics never or rarely attend Mass, compared to 35 percent of Vatican II Catholics and 48 percent of Silent Generation members married to non- Catholics.! The generational gap in Mass attendance is larger among respondents who never had any formal Catholic education than among those who attended a Catholic elementary or secondary school. Thus, part of the reason the reason that Young Adults attend Mass so much less frequently than older Catholics may be that Young Adults are much less likely to have attended a Catholic school. Nonetheless, a substantial generational gap in attendance remains among Catholics who did attend a Catholic school.! Among Catholics who attended a Catholic school, who are married to another Catholic, and who have children (whether living at home or not), 44 percent of Young Adults attend Mass weekly or more. This compares to 53 percent of Vatican II Catholics and 75 percent of Silent Generation Catholics a still substantial generational gap. In summary, it is difficult to explain the relatively low attendance of Young Adult Catholics in terms of their distinctive demographic characteristics or their place in the life cycle. Aside from those who are married to a non-catholic, there is a substantial generational gap in attendance among nearly all subgroups of Catholics. 23

28 Parish Registration Fifty-six percent of Young Adult Catholics are registered parishioners. This compares to 69 percent of Vatican II Catholics, 77 percent of the Silent Generation, and 85 percent of the World War II Generation. 24

29 The following table shows the relationship between parish registration and generation within categories of several types of background characteristics. Parish Registration by Generation, Within Categories of Selected Background Characteristics Percent who are registered members of a parish* Young World Adult Vatican II Silent War II Mass Attendance Weekly or More 88% 95% 94% 97% A Few Times a Month A Few Times a Year Rarely or Never Marital Status Never Married 46% 55% 62% % Married to a Catholic Married to a non-catholic Divorced or Separated Catholic Education Attended a Catholic School 61% 70% 78% 84% Attended CCD Only Attended Neither Gender Male 50% 65% 70% 76% Female Race and Ethnicity White 60% 70% 78% 83% Hispanic/Latino(a) Black/African American *A dash indicates there are too few respondents in the cell for meaningful comparison (fewer than 15).! Across generations, Catholics who are registered parishioners are relatively frequent Mass attenders, are more likely to be married to a Catholic than single or married to a non- Catholic, and more likely to be female than male. However, because Young Adults are especially likely to be rare Mass attenders, to be unmarried, and to be male, their rate of parish registration is especially low. Among Catholics who attend Mass weekly and who are married to another Catholic, there is no generational gap in parish registration (96 percent for Young Adult; 97 percent for Vatican II and Silent; 95 percent for World War II). 25

30 ! Having attended a Catholic school appears to be especially important in boosting the parish registration of Young Adult Catholics. Thirty-five percent of Young Adults with no Catholic education are registered parishioners, compared to 61 percent of Young Adults who attended a Catholic school. This is a gap of 26 percentage points. In comparison, there is virtually no gap in parish registration between World War II Generation Catholics who attended Catholic school and those with no Catholic education.! African Americans of the Young Adult Generation are slightly more likely than African Americans of the Vatican II Generation to be registered parishioners. Spirituality Respondents were asked: Do you consider yourself a spiritual person? Possible responses were yes and no. Seventy-nine percent of Young Adult Catholics say that they consider themselves spiritual persons. Slightly higher percentages of the older three generations consider themselves spiritual (86 to 87 percent). 26

31 In general, those who describe themselves as spiritual persons tend to display relatively high levels of commitment to the Catholic Church. This is especially true for members of the Young Adult Generation. The table below displays the relationship between generation and spirituality within categories of selected background characteristics, including Mass attendance and importance of the Catholic faith. Spirituality by Generation, Within Categories of Selected Background Characteristics Percent who describe themselves as spiritual persons* Young World Adult Vatican II Silent War II Mass Attendance Weekly or More 96% 95% 94% 85% A Few Times a Month A Few Times a Year Rarely or Never Importance of the Catholic Faith Very Important 94% 94% 93% 88% Somewhat Important Not Too Important Not Important at All Gender Male 71% 82% 79% 71% Female *A dash indicates there are too few respondents in the cell for meaningful comparison (fewer than 15).! Among Catholics who attend Mass weekly or more, members of the World War II Generation are least likely to describe themselves as spiritual persons. Weekly Mass attenders of the Young Adult, Vatican II, and Silent Generations are about equally likely to describe themselves as spiritual.! Forty-six percent of Young Adults whose faith is not at all important to them are spiritual, compared to 94 percent of Young Adult Catholics whose faith is very important. This gap, a difference of 48 percentage points, is very large relative to the Vatican II Generation, which displays a difference of just 10 percentage points (94-84).! Young Adult and World War II males are especially unlikely to describe themselves as spiritual. 27

32 Highly Committed Young Adult Catholics For purposes of analyzing religious commitment more closely, Catholics are divided into three categories: weakly committed, moderately committed, and highly committed. In their 1996 book Laity American and Catholic, William V. D Antonio and associates developed a measure of Catholic commitment based on three components: how important Catholics said the faith was to them, how frequently they attended Mass, and how likely they said the were to ever leave the Church. The CARA study included two of these three questions: importance of the faith and Mass attendance. However, because information on likelihood of leaving the Church is not available, parish registration is used in our categorization. In the analyses that follow, highly committed Catholics are those whose faith is very important to them, who attend Mass weekly or more, and who are registered parishioners. The weakly committed are those who say the Catholic faith is not very important to them, who attend Mass no more than a few times a year and who are not registered parishioners. All other Catholics fall into the moderately committed category. As the table below shows, there are substantially greater proportions of highly committed Catholics among the oldest two generations. Level of Commitment to the Catholic Church by Generation Percent displaying each level of religious commitment Weakly Moderately Highly Generation Committed Committed Committed Young Adult 27% 56% 17% Vatican II Silent World War II ! Seventeen percent of Young Adult Catholics are highly committed, compared to 30 percent of Vatican II Catholics, 52 percent of Silent Generation Catholics, and 56 percent of World War II Generation Catholics.! Twenty-seven percent of Young Adult Catholics are weakly committed, compared to 22 percent of Vatican II Catholics, 11 percent of Silent Generation Catholics, and three percent of World War II Generation Catholics. 28

33 The table below shows the percentage of each generation who display high levels of Catholic commitment, within categories of selected background characteristics. Level of Commitment to the Catholic Church by Generation, Within Categories of Selected Background Characteristics Percent who are highly committed* Young World Adult Vatican II Silent War II Gender Male 15% 24% 41% 46% Female Race and Ethnicity White 18% 29% 54% 54% Hispanic/Latino(a) Black/African American Geographical Region Northeast 17% 29% 50% 48% Midwest South West Education High School or Less 19% 21% 49% 56% Some College College Degree Post-Graduate Marital Status Never Married 11% 17% 49% % Married to a Catholic Married to a non-catholic Divorced or Separated Catholic Education Attended a Catholic School 20% 33% 56% 59% Attended CCD Only Attended Neither *A dash indicates there are too few respondents in the cell for meaningful comparison (fewer than 15). 29

34 ! Across generations, the most committed Catholics are more likely to be female than male, are more likely to live in the Midwest than the West, are more likely to be married to another Catholic than single or married to a non-catholic, and are more likely to have attended Catholic schools than to have had no Catholic education.! The gender gap in high levels of religious commitment is smallest among Young Adult Catholics. Nineteen percent of Young Adult women and 15 percent of Young Adult men are highly committed, for a difference of four percentage points. Part of the reason this gap is relatively small is that there are so few highly committed Young Adults to begin with. In comparison, there is a difference of 17 percentage points between highly committed men and women of the Silent Generation.! The gender gap is more noticeable among Young Adults when it is defined in terms of the proportion who display low levels of religious commitment. Thirty-two percent of Young Adult men are weakly committed to the Catholic Church, compared to 22 percent of Young Adult women.! White, Hispanic, and African American Young Adults are about equally likely to be highly religiously committed.! Within the Vatican II Generation, the most highly committed Catholics tend to be those who have higher levels of education. There is not strong evidence thus far that the Young Adults are repeating this pattern.! Being married to another Catholic appears to be even more important to the religious commitment of Young Adults than it is to the commitment of older Catholics. 30

35 How Young Adult Catholics Understand and Share their Faith: The Generational Context The data above suggest that Young Adult Catholics display/express relatively low levels of formal commitment to the Catholic Church, such as Mass attendance and parish registration, this section of the report examines other ways that Catholics express their faith. We are especially interested in the subjective meanings that they attach to their faith and the ways in which they share that faith with others. As before, the characteristics of Young Adults are compared to those of the older three generations of Catholics. Importance of Various Activities to What it Means to be Catholic As we have seen, Young Adult Catholics are substantially less likely than members of the older generations to say their Catholic faith is very important to them. Here, we examine how important each of seven activities is to the meaning of their faith. Respondents were asked: How important are the following factors to your sense of what it means to be Catholic?...the Eucharist, attending Mass, helping those in need, passing on the faith to the next generation, following Church teachings, learning more about the Catholic faith, and participating in devotions such as Eucharistic adoration or praying the rosary. For each of these seven activities, respondents could reply very important, somewhat important, not too important, or not important at all. 31

36 Three of the activities center around traditional forms of Catholic worship: the Eucharist, attending Mass on a weekly basis, and participating in devotions such as Eucharistic adoration or praying the rosary. As the graph below shows, members of the two older generations are substantially more likely than members of the two younger generations to say that these three activities are very important to their sense of what it means to be Catholic.! Not surprisingly, the great majority of respondents who attend Mass every week say that weekly Mass attendance and the Eucharist are very important to their sense of what it means to be Catholic. Among weekly Mass attenders, there are no substantial generational differences in the importance that respondents place on these two activities.! Even among weekly Mass attenders, participating in devotions such as Eucharistic adoration and praying the rosary is more important to older than younger Catholics. 32

37 Three of the activities center around internalizing and sharing the faith: following Church teachings, learning more about the Catholic faith, and passing on the faith to the next generation. Again, members of the two older generations are substantially more likely than members of the two younger generations to say that each of these activities is very important to their sense of what it means to be Catholic.! Young Adult Catholics are actually more likely than Vatican II Catholics to say that learning more about the Catholic faith is very important to them (45 percent compared to 33 percent). 33

38 The graph on the previous page shows that Young Adult Catholics are slightly more likely than members of the Vatican II Generation to say that each of the three activities relating to internalizing and sharing the faith are very important. It might be asked whether this represents a rebound effect whereby a trend in attitudes has bottomed out with the Vatican II Generation and is reversing slightly (or at least has leveled off). A more detailed age breakdown reveals that differences between the Young Adult and Vatican II Generations on importance placed on two of the activities are primarily attributable to Young Adults in their 30s.! Catholics in their 30s are slightly more likely than Catholics in either their 20s or 40s to say it is very important to learn more about the Catholic faith and to pass the faith on to the next generation. It is not completely clear why this might be the case. At any rate, the higher levels of importance expressed by Young Adults in their 30s have not yet been matched by Young Adults in their 20s. Thus, there is no evidence of an enduring rebound effect in these attitudes.! This pattern is somewhat similar, though not as pronounced, for importance placed on following church teachings. 34

39 The final activity is helping those in need. In this case, there are no substantial generational differences in the proportion of respondents who say that it is very important to their sense of what it means to be Catholic. 35

40 Religious Instruction of Children One important and concrete way in which people share their faith with others is formally instructing their children in it. Just 20 percent of Young Adult parents have ever sent their children to Catholic elementary or high school. This compares to 42 percent of Vatican II parents, 64 percent of Silent Generation parents, and 71 percent of World War II Generation parents.! Note that the survey did not ask respondents how old their children are. It is possible that the size of this generational gap is partly due to the likelihood that children of some Young Adults have not yet reached school age.! Of Young Adults who have not sent their children to Catholic schools, just 34 percent have sent their children to CCD. This compares to 63 percent of Vatican II Catholics, and 77 percent of the Silent and World War II Generations. 36

41 The table below shows the relationship between generation and sending one s children to Catholic school, within categories of selected background characteristics. Sending One s Children to Catholic School by Generation, Within Categories of Selected Background Characteristics Of those with children, percent who have sent them to Catholic school* Young World Adult Vatican II Silent War II Marital Status Never Married 19% 19% % % Married to a Catholic Married to a non-catholic Divorced or Separated Catholic Education Attended a Catholic School 27% 49% 74% 82% Attended CCD Only Attended Neither Parish Registration Registered Parishioner 26% 50% 69% 71% Not Registered with a Parish Importance of Passing on the Faith to the Next Generation Very Important 22% 50% 81% 70% Somewhat Important Not Too / Not at All Important 6 10! Young Adult parents who have never been married are more likely to send their children to Catholic school than those who are married to a non-catholic. The opposite is the case for members of the Vatican II Generation.! Young Adults who attended Catholic school themselves are twice as likely to send their children to Catholic school than Young Adults with no formal Catholic education.! Fewer than one in four Young Adults who say passing on the faith to the next generation is very important to their sense of what it means to be Catholic have sent their children to Catholic schools. 37

42 Consideration of Religious Vocations Another way in which Catholics can share their faith with others is through a commitment to prayer and service as a priest, brother, sister, or nun. Of course, relatively few people actually choose a religious vocation. Still, many Catholics do seriously consider it at some point in their lives. Young Adult and World War II Generation women are less likely than members of the Vatican II and Silent Generations to have considered becoming a sister or nun. 38

43 Eighteen percent of men from the Young Adult Generation have considered a religious vocation as a priest or brother, compared to 25 percent or more from each of the other generations. 39

44 Young Adults Satisfaction with the Catholic Church: The Generational Context This section of the report examines several aspects of Young Adults satisfaction with the Catholic Church and discusses possible means of increasing their participation in the life of the Church. Once more, Young Adults are compared to members of the other generations. In the case of commitment to the Catholic Church, we saw that religious participation increased steadily with age and that therefore there was a commitment gap between the Young Adult and Vatican II Generations. As will be seen, however, satisfaction levels of Young Adults and Vatican II Generation Catholics are relatively similar. Here, the gap is among these two generations and the older two, which express relatively high satisfaction with the Church. About one-third of Young Adult and Vatican II Generation Catholics say that they are very satisfied with the way the Church meets their spiritual needs. In comparison, 50 percent of members of the Silent Generation and 69 percent of members of the World War II Generation are very satisfied. 40