Today
the pre-Vatican II generation is making its final appearance and the millennial generation is coming into its own. This latter cohort, numbering about 15 million in the general population, is more racially and ethnically diverse than earlier cohorts. Currently, Hispanics make up 45 percent of the millennial generation of U.S. Catholics. Within the next generation, it is likely that Hispanics may become the majority among American Catholics. We begin this essay with a description of the demographics that distinguish this youngest generation of adult Catholics.
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The phrase “being a good Catholic” is deeply embedded in the psyche of American Catholics, and apparently also to millennials. Hispanics are much less likely than other millennials to accept as “good Catholics” those who do not agree with the church’s teachings on divorce and remarriage without an annulment (52 percent to 76 percent), on abortion (48 percent to 64 percent), without believing in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist (33 percent to 51 percent), and without belief in Jesus’ resurrection (25 percent to 41 percent). Still, on matters like going to Mass every Sunday or using contraceptive birth control methods, large majorities of both groups see these moral issues as personal matters subject to their right to freedom of conscience.
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When it comes to the role of the church in society, Hispanics, more than non-Hispanics, advocate an activist role on behalf of social justice and a communitarian ethic. Sixty-five percent of Hispanic millennials strongly agree with the stance the U.S. bishops have taken on immigration reform, in comparison to 21 percent of the other millennials. Hispanics (62 percent) and the others (54 percent) agreed with the bishops in their opposition to the health care reform bill.
As we showed above, when it comes to helping the poor, 70 percent of the Hispanics but only 56 percent of the others say it is very important. So also, with regard to the expenditure of more government funds to provide health care for poor children, Hispanics were twice as likely as other millennials (66 percent to 30 percent) to strongly support this position.
