A new Knights of Columbus/Marist poll released today gives a profile of outlooks held by "Millennials," those in the age group of 18 to 29.
Many of the survey results are promising: 85% of Catholic Millennials believe in God, for example, and their top priorities are getting married and having a family, and being spiritual or closer to God.
More than 80% of Catholic Millennials also believe commitment to marriage is under-valued.
Two-thirds of Catholic Millennials recognize abortion is wrong, and nearly that same percentage (63%) recognize euthanasia is too.
However, the influence of culture is also marked in young adult Catholics. For example, 82% of Catholic Millennials see morals as "relative," and only a slight majority of practicing Catholics (54%) disagree.
And defining what's morally acceptable reflects an unclear hierarchy of values: 37% of Millennials consider it "morally acceptable" to do medical research using stem cells obtained from human embryos, whereas only 3% give their moral approval to claiming someone else’s work as your own.
Perhaps most encouraging is that Catholic Millennials (65%) report they are very or somewhat interested in learning more about their faith
According to Supreme Knight Carl Anderson, Church leaders need to understand the outlook of the next generation of Catholic adults.
My comment: I believe that the report gives greater grounds for optimism than a similar survey would give if taken in Britain. Sadly far too few "Catholic" schools actually teach the faith, so pupils no longer are given anything in which to believe. Remember St Paul- how will they know if they are not told. Milton comes to mind also "The hungry sheep look up and are not fed" But the so-called Catholic Education Service of England & Wales , an Agency of the Bishops' Conference will not help to further Catholic education. For interesting information I recommend the blog of "Catholic and Loving it" ( see side bar, Blogs I like) or today's post by Damian Thompson.
Many of the survey results are promising: 85% of Catholic Millennials believe in God, for example, and their top priorities are getting married and having a family, and being spiritual or closer to God.
More than 80% of Catholic Millennials also believe commitment to marriage is under-valued.
Two-thirds of Catholic Millennials recognize abortion is wrong, and nearly that same percentage (63%) recognize euthanasia is too.
However, the influence of culture is also marked in young adult Catholics. For example, 82% of Catholic Millennials see morals as "relative," and only a slight majority of practicing Catholics (54%) disagree.
And defining what's morally acceptable reflects an unclear hierarchy of values: 37% of Millennials consider it "morally acceptable" to do medical research using stem cells obtained from human embryos, whereas only 3% give their moral approval to claiming someone else’s work as your own.
Perhaps most encouraging is that Catholic Millennials (65%) report they are very or somewhat interested in learning more about their faith
According to Supreme Knight Carl Anderson, Church leaders need to understand the outlook of the next generation of Catholic adults.
My comment: I believe that the report gives greater grounds for optimism than a similar survey would give if taken in Britain. Sadly far too few "Catholic" schools actually teach the faith, so pupils no longer are given anything in which to believe. Remember St Paul- how will they know if they are not told. Milton comes to mind also "The hungry sheep look up and are not fed" But the so-called Catholic Education Service of England & Wales , an Agency of the Bishops' Conference will not help to further Catholic education. For interesting information I recommend the blog of "Catholic and Loving it" ( see side bar, Blogs I like) or today's post by Damian Thompson.
Thanks for this information Father.... i will share it.
ReplyDeleteJoseph D