Just wait till you get older...

[muckefuck]

I've frequently wondered if the oft-noted trend of young people to get "more conservative" as they age was as universal as all that. Now at last some clear evidence that it isn't. It will be interesting to see what sociologists turn up as they go about investigating the causes. In particular, I'll be interested in seeing the role ascribed to childlessness (which is double for our generation what it was for our parents), since many people I know personally have identified this as a driver of returns to the fold. How many of us, on articulating our liberal views to our elders, have heard the words, "You'll feel different when you have kids." I didn't have kids and I don't feel different, but I'm not sure what connexion there might be between those two things, if any. It is worth noting, however, that of us four kids, the only one who's still a practicing Catholic is also the only one with any offspring.

An interesting side note on that: my generation was also the "most Catholic" in USA history, with a fully a third identified with the religion in the 70s. Now it's down to a quarter and still dropping, something conservative pundits are ascribing to "confusion" about what the RCC actually teaches as a result of Vatican II. Hate to break it to you, guys, but I know in pretty thorough detail what the RCC actually teaches and that's precisely why I could never again be a practicing Catholic.

Comments

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

I've yet to read a thoroughgoing sociological analysis of the increase in irreligion among baptized Catholics so I can't really speculate about causes. As ghastly as the revelations have been, they don't seem to have shaken the faith of the committed Catholics I know to the degree I might have expected; those who I know who have left seem to done so over irreconcilable differences with Church doctrine and policy (e.g. gay like me, divorced like my dad, etc.).

[mollyc-q.livejournal.com]

The irreconcilable differences seems to have led the exodus based on my recall of the lit, but its been years. My sister in law is the child of lapsed Catholics, I am not even sure what the trigger was for her parents- but it was a firm rejection of the RCC without being a rejection of religion in general, just organized religion. They (and my brother's in laws as a whole) have always been incredibly gracious about not only not objecting to all religious/cultural stuff, but participating as well. Almost all of the lapsed Catholics in my life have mindfully walked away from the church over a basic issue. A member of my committee stated (the sociologist), pre Roe v. Wade, that it was the merciless stance on abortion and the reality of illegal abortion that cause him to walk. Another pal, who is a sociologist, used to work for the Church in an administrative capacity out of college and was increasingly alienated by the more pronounced drift to the right by the Vatican - this from someone who grew up in Cardinal John Cody's Chicago, and was working for the Church under Bernadine.

Or, my guess is of the people who have left for variations on the same reason you and your father have, the abuse crises was just yet another point of recognizing you have even less inclination to go back to the RCC and seals the path.

I am curious as to what effect picking on American Nuns is going to have on the landscape. Most nuns are in their 60's. They outnumber priests in this country(by a just a few thousand, and over all numbers as you know have shrunk. Like so many other Christian groups - the RCC depends enormously on female labor, whatever the positioning of men in the hierarchy.

But to your larger point about younger generations opting not to have children, this appeared in this morning's Daily Beast.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/06/04/it-can-happen-here-europe-s-screwed-generation-and-america-s.html

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

It's impossible to prove given the unreliability of the evidence, but I've always suspected that the percentage of homosexual clergy in the RCC has actually dropped over time due to the effect of the LGBT rights movement. I look back over all my own trajectory and strongly suspect that, had I been born a generation earlier, I might well have decided to go into the priesthood rather than marry a beard or attempt life as a "confirmed bachelor".

I am interested in the role of the catastrophic decline in vocations in all of this. They must be scraping the bottom of the talent pool these days, and that naturally increases the chances of further scandals, which further depresses the prestige of the occupation, making it even harder to recruit. And it makes the hierarchy more defensive, leading them to reiterate the indispensability of the clergy and further emphasise doctrinal purity over pastoral ministry. It's a vicious circle the RCC has got itself in and I really see no way out.