Faith of Younger Catholics Studied

In a major new study of post-baby boom Roman Catholics ages 20 to 39, researchers have found that 9 in 10 people who were confirmed as adolescents have kept the faith of their youth, and 3 in 4 said they could not imagine belonging to any other church.

The findings, reported at the recent annual joint meeting of the Religious Research Assn. and the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, stand in stark contrast to a similar study of mainline Protestants that found large numbers abandoning the church as young adults.

The new study also found that Catholic identity remains strong despite high rates of intermarriage.

“I went into this study . . . with the idea the Catholic scene is going to replay the mainline scene,” said Dean Hoge, a Catholic University of America sociologist involved in both studies. “It took me by surprise.”

The study is not representative of all young Catholics because it involves only those who have been confirmed--a group that includes about two-thirds of non-Latino Catholics and a smaller percentage of Latino Catholics.

In the 1990 study of Protestants, Hoge, Benton Johnson of the University of Oregon and Donald Luidens of Hope College in Holland, Mich., found that only 29% of those who had been confirmed in Presbyterian churches in the 1950s and ‘60s remained active Presbyterians as adults.

The new study showed that despite an intermarriage rate of 50% for non-Latino Catholics and 24% for Latino Catholics, only 1 in 10 of the respondents reported leaving Catholicism.

Three-quarters of non-Latino Catholics and 81% of Latino Catholics said they could not imagine being anything other than Catholic. And more than two-thirds of each group said there is something very special about being Catholic that you can’t find in other religions.

On the other hand, the study found widespread disagreement with some church teachings--such as the male-only priesthood--and 7 in 10 respondents said they attend church at least once a month. Only 31% reported attending weekly.