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Most young American Catholics believe the Church’s teachings on sexuality and birth control are “out of date” and find Mass attendance an onerous obligation, according to a new survey.
The online survey by the Barna Group covered 1296 Christians aged 18-29, including 536 “who had experience attending a Catholic church prior to age 18.”
Among all the young adults who identified as Catholic, 60 per cent saw the Church’s teachings on sexuality and birth control as outdated. Among those who were still religiously active, 37 per cent had some level of concern about these teachings.
Similarly, 57 per cent of all respondents (and 40 per cent of active Catholics) said that Mass could be “a boring obligation”.
The survey found higher levels of alienation among young people who had attended Catholic schools.
Among respondents who had attended a Church-related school, 65 per cent said that Church teachings on sexuality were outdated and 61 per cent said Mass attendance could be a boring obligation. Both figures were higher than the results for the overall sample.
Barna said one of the surprising revelations of the research was that those who had attended a Catholic or faith-related school were essentially no more favourable — or unfavorable — than the norm toward Catholicism, the Church and Mass.
Attending a Catholic school didn’t seem to cause additional disaffection, but neither did it insulate students from such frustrations. In fact, about one-quarter of all young Catholics said they had a mostly negative experience in Catholic school.
Many of the young Catholics also said they felt excluded in church at the expense of older adults. One in four said they had felt their parish valued older people more than younger people.
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Image: University of Notre Dame
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