This book carefully explores the claim that young adults (18 to 35) are leaving Catholicism in the United States. According to primary empirical research, many young adults stay and do so living their faith in engaged ways. Most, however, do not do it in the traditional context of the parish. Young adult Catholics are living their faith and spiritual life largely in small faith communities, ecclesial movements, faith-based affinity groups, at home, and through individual practice. The description of research findings is supplemented by commentaries from leaders in evangelization and young adult ministry, from both a theological and a sociological perspective. In a church that is more culturally diverse and increasingly Hispanic, this book offers key insights to better understand the spirituality of young adult Catholics today. Contributors include Mark M. Gray, Michal J. Kramarek, Claudia Avila Cosnahan, Allan Figueroa Deck, SJ, Hosffman Ospino, Darius Villalobos, Patricia Wittberg, SC, and Thomas P. Gaunt, SJ.

2023 Catholic Media Association Second Place Award, Pastoral Ministry – Youth & Young Adult 2023 Catholic Media Association Second Place Award, Future Church This book carefully explores the claim that young adults (18 to 35) are leaving Catholicism in the United States. According to primary empirical research, many young adults stay and do so living their faith in engaged ways. Most, however, do not do it in the traditional context of the parish. Young adult Catholics are living their faith and spiritual life largely in small faith communities, ecclesial movements, faith-based affinity groups, at home, and through individual practice. The description of research findings is supplemented by commentaries from leaders in evangelization and young adult ministry, from both a theological and a sociological perspective. In a church that is more culturally diverse and increasingly Hispanic, this book offers key insights to better understand the spirituality of young adult Catholics today. Contributors include Mark M. Gray, Michal J. Kramarek, Claudia Avila Cosnahan, Allan Figueroa Deck, SJ, Hosffman Ospino, Darius Villalobos, Patricia Wittberg, SC, and Thomas P. Gaunt, SJ.

Religious sisters have created educational and healthcare systems over the past two hundred years that have transformed the Catholic community in the United States. Through their ministry, sisters have served waves of immigrants and those pushed to the margins. The growing cultural diversity of newer sisters and the diminishing number of older sisters, therefore, is both a challenge and a creative moment to be critically examined. This book examines these changes in culture and ethnicity among sisters, the structural impact of diminishing numbers, and the creative response to this new reality for religious life in the United States. In it, sisters from a variety of generations, cultures, and institutes join with the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) researchers to examine and reflect on CARA's recent research findings and their impact on the life and ministry of sisters today.

Over half of self-identified Catholics are regularly absent from the pews on Sunday. How do these cultural Catholics practice their faith and how can we better minister to them? Who are “cultural Catholics” and how do we connect with them? Written by award-winning sociologist and professor of religion Maureen K. Day, Cultural Catholics tells the story of those who consider themselves Catholic, but infrequently attend Mass. This accessible book examines cultural Catholics on a range of topics, allowing readers to come to a better understanding of this group, and offers ministerial insights for connecting with and accompanying them on their spiritual journeys. Cultural Catholics comprise just over half of self-identified Catholics in the United States. Typical efforts or questions of outreach come from parishes, but because most cultural Catholics are loosely tethered to parish life, the standard avenues of Catholic ministry do not reach them in any reliable way. Using a nationally representative survey of more than 1,500 American Catholics as well as insights from ministry leaders, this book allows readers to see the differences and similarities in how cultural Catholics relate to their faith compared to Catholics in the pews. It also explores cultural Catholics' religious beliefs and practices, political and civic commitments, parish experiences, and concludes with concrete, evidence-based pastoral approaches.

More than 20 percent of Americans are Catholic, and overall membership in the Catholic Church has remained relatively steady even as increasing numbers of people claim no religious affiliation. The rising prominence of Catholics in important leadership positions and critical demographic changes to the US population that have been mirrored in the Church have brought the Catholic Church and its members into public conversations, bringing renewed attention to the country's single largest religious organization. Yet misperceptions about who Catholics are today, their religious beliefs and practices, and their attitudes regarding important political and social issues are pervasive. Catholics in America provides a contemporary social portrait of this large, increasingly influential group that clarifies who Catholics are and what they really believe. Lisa Keister, a sociologist with decades of experience studying Americans' social and economic behaviors and attitudes, draws on extensive empirical evidence to uncover the real story of today's Catholics. She offers a fresh, new glimpse into the reality of the family behaviors, work and economic status, and beliefs of Catholics. She pays particular attention to differences between those who have left, joined, and stayed with the Church, and she documents important--sometimes dramatic--differences among Catholics that may define the Church in coming decades. The presence of Catholics in the country's highest positions and their voice in critical national conversations about issues such as abortion testify to the significance of their beliefs and attitudes. Catholics in America will be an important guide for anyone wanting to understand the personal and religious foundations of today's Catholics.

Religious life is vitally necessary to the Catholic church today. But it will exist in new and varied forms which speak to the spiritual hungers of different societies, ethnic cultures, and generations. God’s Call Is Everywhere is the first comparative analysis of research in six countries investigating women who have entered vowed religious life in Catholicism in the twenty-first century. The data include survey responses from institute leaders, formation directors, and the women themselves, conducted in the United States, Canada, Australia, and France, along with focus groups and interviews in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and France. Through a careful summary of these studies and comparing differences, readers of this book will have a better understanding of the hopes and concerns of those discerning a vocation to religious life and learn how to move forward in the future. God’s Call Is Everywhere includes six major points of comparison: Demographic characteristics of the women entering religious life and their personal and familial backgrounds What attracted them to religious life and to their specific religious institute What they find most satisfying and most challenging about religious life Their hopes and concerns for the future Experiences and programs that were helpful in their vocational discernment Aspects of the larger society, of the Church, and of the religious institutes which make vocational discernment difficult for women today The analysis is followed by six reflective essays, two of which discuss the implications of the findings for future vocational discernment programs and four of which compare the findings to religious life in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

A seminal moment in the study of U.S. Catholic parish life came in the 1980s with the publication of a series of reports from the ground-breaking Notre Dame Study of Catholic Parish Life. These reports are now badly outdated, as Catholic dioceses grapple with new challenges that didn't exist in the 80s. Topics that were not considered then, like greater Catholic mobility, increased cultural diversity, and structural re-organization as well as the rise of lay leadership, have attained new significance. This timely book, based on more than a decade of research, provides an in-depth portrait and analysis of the current state of parish life and leadership. Unique in the scope of the research and the timeliness of its findings, the book critically examines the current state of parish life. The authors draw on data from national polls of Catholics, national surveys of parishes, and thousands of in-pew surveys which explore parishioners' needs, experiences, and satisfaction with parish life in the twenty-first century. The book provides a unique 360-degree view of parish life from the perspective of pastors, parish staff, parishioners, as well as the larger Catholic population.