A new study has uncovered some interesting facts about the faith life of Catholic women, with majorities reporting that they believe in God and pray daily, but much smaller numbers say they are attending Mass and Confession.
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Contrary to conventional wisdom among Catholics, a new study has found a great deal of interest in vocations among young adults with more than 500,000 saying they have seriously considered the priesthood or religious life.
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In spite of policies that pose the most egregious encroachments on religious liberty in the history of the U.S., President Barack Obama is still managing to split the Catholic vote with Republican challenger Mitt Romney.
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Dismal numbers released last month at the annual assembly of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), an organization recently investigated by the Vatican for its support of female ordination and homosexuality, may foreshadow the end of many orders in the U.S.
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
A new study of Catholic parish life has found that even though the number of Catholic parishes in the U.S. has decreased, the number of Catholics has grown, making existing parishes larger and more complex.
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
New analysis by a researcher at the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) has found that the number of Catholic marriages celebrated in the Church has declined 60 percent since 1972.
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
According to a survey of the nearly 500 young men who will be ordained to the priesthood this year, the typical new priest is about 31 years-old, prays the Rosary and attends Eucharistic Adoration, and was encouraged to consider a vocation by a parish priest.
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
In spite of widespread headlines claiming that a majority of Catholics (53%) support same-sex marriage, the polls, which were funded by a homosexual activist group, contained a variety of problems from too small of a sampling size to outright misrepresentation of the results.
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
A new study has found that attending a Catholic college has little impact on a student’s faith life.
According to Patrick J. Reilly, president of the Cardinal Newman Society, researchers at Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) found significant declines in students’ support for Catholic moral teaching on abortion, marriage and sexuality after four years at a Catholic college or university. These declines were generally greater at non-Catholic private and public institutions.
The report found that 16 percent of students at Catholic colleges and universities became more pro-life and more convinced of traditional marriage, whereas 31 percent became more supportive of legal abortion and 39 percent embraced same-sex “marriage.”
Only seven percent increased attendance at religious services, while 32 percent reduced attendance.
Eight percent of Catholic students left the Catholic faith while attending a Catholic institution.
Commenting on the study to InsideHigherEd.com, Richard Yanikoski, president of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU) argued that the loss of faith at Catholic colleges and elsewhere reflects societal trends. Despite CARA’s analysis showing that the choice of a Catholic college has little significant impact on a student’s faith practice and beliefs, Yanikoski pointed to the raw data indicating that “a typical Catholic undergraduate student attending a Catholic college or university emerges more spiritually intact than if she or he had attended a public or secular private institution, but not nearly as spiritually active as would have been the case a few decades ago.”
“That’s hardly something to celebrate,” Reilly said. “If the ACCU thinks it a happy fact that Catholics lose their faith somewhat slower at Catholic colleges than elsewhere, then they fail to appreciate the concerns of faithful Catholic families.”
Catholics should be alarmed by the significant declines in Catholic practice and fidelity at many of America’s Catholic institutions, he said.
“Everyone expects a Catholic college to be markedly different from a secular one. Students should be inspired to embrace and deepen their Catholic faith, not negotiate around Catholic moral teaching.”
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
A landmark study of Roman Catholic nuns and priests in the U.S. reveals that the aging ranks of predominantly white members is giving way to a smaller but more ethnically diverse group of recruits who embrace traditional prayer and wear religious habits.
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