12
The Message -- for Catholics of Southwestern Indiana
Survey
Continued from page 11
"Catholic culture," and are sad-
dened to a greater degree than
younger Catholics are by the
increased diversity within the
Church. This older generation
of Catholics attributes the de-
cline of tightly-knit Catholic
communities to increased geo-
graphic mobility and a decline
of anti-Catholicism.
This cohort of Catholics used
the greatest number of specifi-
cally Catholic concepts to de-
scribe their religious experi-
ences. They often mentioned
the sacraments, the rosary, the
Baltimore Catechism, the
Latin Mass, missals, and Vati-
can II. These Catholics empha-
sized the importance of sacra-
ments more than any other
generation did, and spoke of
the sacraments with a sense of
mystery and awe. Not surpris-
ingly, they also identified more
specific means of strengthen-
ing their faith than did either
the middle generation or the
young generation. While many
in the other two age categories,
particularly those under 30,
spoke of strengthening faith in
terms of just "living your
faith," Catholics over 50 spoke
of prayer, Mass attendance,
reading Catholic literature, ap-
preciating nature, and partici-
pating in small faith groups.
'5Os and '60s Generation
This generation shares with
the older generation a concern
for the institutional church.
When discussing the impor-
tance of contributing finan-
cially to the Church, a man
said: "I'm not giving money to
the Church any more than I'm
giving my mortgage to the
bank or money to the food
store." Like the younger gener-
ation, however, Catholics in
their middle-age emphasize
personal faith. Whereas this
generation worries about the
future of the Church, it also
emphasizes the greater impor-
tance of spirituality. As a par-
ticipant stated: "My spiritual-
ity is more important to me
than my religion. And I can be
spiritual anywhere. In fact, I
am more spiritual walking in
the woods than I am walking
down the main aisle of the
church."
While the Eucharist and
other sacraments are impor-
tant for this generation, the
sacrament of reconciliation
(confession) is problematic. As
one man said: "There's been
such a stigma on the old style
of confession that my genera-
tion tends to avoid it like the
plague ."
This generation also differs
from the other two in its dis-
cussion of Vatican II. While
older Catholics tend to feel a
sense of loss due to the Coun-
cil, and younger Catholics have.
little or no knowledge of the
dramatic changes it brought
about, members of the middle
generation generally approve
of the Council. As a woman
stated: "The first few years of
our grade school years it was
the Baltimore Catechism.
Memorize it. Non-Catholics go
to hell. If you miss Mass one
time you might as well write it
off-- you're out the door. Then
Vatican II came along. Vatican
II got things going. About the
\\;
same time, we got our first lay
teachers in the school ....
They were a little more open to
discussion [and] creative
thought."
Like the older generation,
Catholics between 30 and 50
are concerned about the lack of
commitment among the young
and its implications for the fu-
ture of the Church. They view
the religious education that
the young received as having
failed to teach the substance of
the Catholic faith. On the
other hand, middle-age
Catholics speak negatively of
the guilt their childhood educa-
tion instilled in them. A male
participant claims that people
of his generation have left the
Church "because it was a
blaming and shaming church.
And because they have person-
ally been hurt .... They have
chosen that their relationship
with God won't be through an
institution that hassles them."
This generation is more lib-
eral than the previous genera-
tion on social and sexual is-
sues. As a participant said:
"We're the children of the '60s,
and on the social issues we
may be ahead of the Church."
Middle-aged Catholics are es-
pecially concerned with the
treatment of women within the
Church. A man stated that
"the Bible is written from a
male, very sexist, male view-
point in an historical time
when women had second class
citizenship. And for the
Catholic Church nearing the
year 2000 to so staunchly say
'somehow women simply can't
be priests'.... 1 have a real
problem with that .... It smells
a lot like meat on Friday to
me." Another participant
stated: "We have Biblical ge-
niuses inside the church who
are ignored because they are
women."
'70s and '80s Generation
More than the previous two
generations, Catholics who are
currently under 30 years of age
see being a Christian as far
more important than being a
Catholic. Whereas Catholics
over 50 view Catholicism as
"the one true" church, young
Catholics no longer see the
Catholic Church as superior to
Protestant denominations.
Being more assimilated into
mainstream, middle-class cul-
ture, and no longer told that
they are not allowed to visit
Protestant religious services,
this generation has had signifi-
cant exposure to alternative
forms of religious expression.
While young focus group par-
ticipants expressed pride in
the long history of Catholicism,
they were also very willing to
critique the Church and com-
pare it negatively with Protes-
tant churches. Many young
participants view Protestant
churches as friendlier, and
Protestant youth programs
and sermons as superior to
Catholic youth programs and
homilies. The most frequently
voiced complaint among the
young was that Church music
and homilies are irrelevant to
their lives. A young woman
who was formerly president of
her youth group stated that
"the music is slow and plod-
ding -- it's just not fun. It's
dull. It's awful .... Churches
really need to cater to the
younger people. If they don't,
there's not going to be anybody
around in 10 or 15 years."
Because their religious edu-
cation emphasized "being a
good person" more than under-
standing the substantive
teachings of the Church,
today's youth complain that
they know little about Church
doctrine. Without mentioning
the word "catechism," a young
woman said: "I wish they had a
little book so I can look up Pen-
• tecost and see what it is." The
majority of young focus group
participants openly complained
about the religious training
they received in both Catholic
schools and CCD classes. "I am
appalled by what I was [not]
Jj.
taught in CCD," a young
woman stated. Several partici-
pants voiced concern that con-
verts who have gone through
RCIA training have greater
knowledge of Church teachings
than those who were born and
raised in the Church.
It is not surprising that the
youngest generation of
Catholics seldom used specifi-
cally Catholic words when de-
scribing their faith, and spoke
of reinforcing their faith in
vague terms. When asked how
they go about strengthening or
nourishing their faith, they
generally talked of relating to
others in a kind way, rather
than referring to the devo-
tional practices mentioned by
older generations.
Perhaps the best way to sum
up the young generation is to
say, that for them, faith is a
personal matter. Rather than
seeing religion as a communal
experience, today's youth focus
on having a personal faith and
a private, friend-like relation:
ship with God. Today's young
Catholics are very willing to
critique the Church if they be-
lieve it is not meeting their in-
dividual needs, and feel alien-
ated from the Church when
homilies do not speak to what
is relevant in
are the most
disagree with
ings, and are the
on issues such
birth control, and
ity. Referring to
ity, a woman
type of love that
wants to display
person should
spected."
Of the three
young are the
argue that
sacraments an
financially to
not required
Catholic."
pants
and 29 felt
the question
be a "good
than older
under 30
Catholic"
son," and
Christian is
• importance th
with the
man said:
tant that a
Catholic;
me that
Christian."
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