Generation gap shapes American Catholics

[Dale_M]

The article meanders a bit at first, but eventually addresses its headline.

The younger generation considers religion important, but doesn’t equate faith with going to church. Many lay people want a greater say in how their parishes operate, yet today’s seminarians hope to restore the traditional role and authority of priests.

Older Catholics who remember the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s are still debating its modernizing reforms. The council changed everything from the role of lay people to the direction priests face while celebrating Mass.

But young adult Catholics are fed up with the fight, according to James Davidson, a Purdue University sociologist of religion who studies American Catholics.

“They’ve become very impatient, and probably rightly so, with older generations, who see everything in terms of conservative-liberal, liberal-conservative, who they see as sometimes enjoying the ideological battle, even if it doesn’t get them anywhere,” Davidson said. “Problems aren’t being solved, but people are yelling at one another.”

The next generation of priests generally hold that same outlook.

msnbc.msn.com/id/23970574/

 

[Harmony1988]

I don’t think this is something the Catholic Church can do themselves, much of this ‘going astray’ has to do with external factors and ofcourse the embracement of the ‘culture of death’ which is more to do with the laws in western society and the distorted notion of ‘freedom’

In either case, vatican ii isn’t the cause of it.

 

[MiddleBear]

I don’t think this is something the Catholic Church can do themselves, much of this ‘going astray’ has to do with external factors and ofcourse the embracement of the ‘culture of death’ which is more to do with the laws in western society and the distorted notion of ‘freedom’

In either case, vatican ii isn’t the cause of it.

The embracement of the “Culture of Death” media like …msnbc.

 

[ChristIsTheWay]

I am a young adult Catholic. I don’t take these articles very seriously. Aren’t they always predicting a dire situation for the American Church? We’re running out of money, we’re running out of young people, we’re running out of priests, etc. Haven’t people been counting the Church as down for the count throughout many parts of history? Yet, the Church always manages to survive and eventually thrive.