CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Young Catholics are leaving the faith at an early age \u2013 sometimes before the age of 10 \u2013 and their reasons are deeper than being \u201cbored at Mass,\u201d the author of a recent report claims.<\/p>\n\u201cThose that are leaving for no religion \u2013 and a pretty big component of them saying they are atheist or agnostic \u2013 it turns out that when you probe a bit more deeply and you allow them to talk in their own words, that they are bringing up things that are related to science and a need for evidence and a need for proof,\u201d said Dr. Mark Gray, a senior research associate at the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s almost a crisis in faith,\u201d he told CNA. \u201cIn the whole concept of faith, this is a generation that is struggling with faith in ways that we haven\u2019t seen in previous generations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gray recently published the results of two national studies by CARA \u2013 which conducts social science research about the Church \u2013 in the publication Our Sunday Visitor. One of the surveys was of those who were raised Catholic but no longer identified as Catholic, ages 15 to 25. The second survey was of self-identified Catholics age 18 and over.<\/p>\n
In exploring why young Catholics were choosing to leave the faith, he noted \u201can emerging profile\u201d of youth who say they find the faith \u201cincompatible with what they are learning in high school or at the university level.\u201d In a perceived battle between the Catholic Church and science, the Church is losing.<\/p>\n
And it is losing Catholics at a young age. \u201cThe interviews with youth and young adults who had left the Catholic Faith revealed that the typical age for this decision to leave was made at 13,\u201d Gray wrote. \u201cNearly two-thirds of those surveyed, 63 percent, said they stopped being Catholic between the ages of 10 and 17. Another 23 percent say they left the Faith before the age of 10.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of those who had left the faith, \u201conly 13 percent said they were ever likely to return to the Catholic Church,\u201d Gray wrote. And \u201cabsent any big changes in their life,\u201d he said to CNA, they \u201care probably not coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n
The most common reason given for leaving the Catholic faith, by one in five respondents, was they stopped believing in God or religion. This was evidence of a \u201cdesire among some of them for proof, for evidence of what they\u2019re learning about their religion and about God,\u201d Gray said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a trend in the popular culture to see atheism as \u201csmart\u201d and the faith as \u201ca fairy tale,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I think the Church needs to come to terms with this as an issue of popular culture,\u201d he continued. \u201cI think the Church perhaps needs to better address its history and its relationship to science.\u201d<\/p>\n
One reason for this might be the compartmentalization of faith and education, where youth may go to Mass once a week but spend the rest of their week learning how the faith is \u201cdumb,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n
In contrast, if students are taught evolution and the Big Bang theory at the same school where they learn religion, and they are taught by people with religious convictions, then \u201cyou\u2019re kind of shown that there\u2019s not conflicts between those, and you understand the Church and Church history and its relationship to science,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
With previous generations who learned about both faith and science as part of a curriculum, that education \u201chelped them a lot in dealing with these bigger questions,\u201d he explained, \u201cand not seeing conflict between religion and science.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fr. Matthew Schneider, LC, who worked in youth ministry for four years, emphasized that faith and science must be presented to young people in harmony with each other.<\/p>\n
A challenge, he explained, is teaching how \u201cfaith and science relate\u201d through philosophy and theology. While science deals only with \u201cwhat is observable and measurable,\u201d he said, \u201cthe world needs something non-physical as its origin, and that\u2019s how to understand God along with science.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the Christian faith that was the birthplace of science,\u201d he continued. \u201cThere\u2019s not a contradiction\u201d between faith and science, \u201cbut it\u2019s understanding each one in their own realms.\u201d<\/p>\n
How can parents raise their children to stay in the faith? Fr. Schneider cited research by Christian Smith, a professor of sociology at the University of Notre Dame, who concluded that a combination of three factors produces an 80 percent retention rate among young Catholics.<\/p>\n
If they have a \u201cweekly activity\u201d like catechesis, Bible study or youth group; if they have adults at the parish who are not their parents and who they can talk to about the faith; and if they have \u201cdeep spiritual experiences,\u201d they have a much higher likelihood of remaining Catholic, Fr. Schneider said.<\/p>\n
More parents need to be aware of their children\u2019s\u2019 beliefs, Dr. Gray noted, as many parents don\u2019t even know that their children may not profess to be Catholic.<\/p>\n
The Church is \u201cvery open\u201d to science, he emphasized, noting the affiliation of non-Catholic scientists with the Pontifical Academy of Science, including physicist Stephen Hawking.<\/p>\n
There is \u201cno real conflict\u201d between faith and science, Gray said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Church has been steadily balancing matters of faith and reason since St. Augustine\u2019s work in the fifth century,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cYet, the Church has a chance to keep more of the young Catholics being baptized now if it can do more to correct the historical myths about the Church in regards to science,\u201d he added, \u201cand continue to highlight its support for the sciences, which were, for the most part, an initial product of the work done in Catholic universities hundreds of years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThis article was originally published on CNA Sept. 5, 2016.<\/i><\/p>\n\n
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Washington D.C., Dec 17, 2016 \/ 02:36 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Young Catholics are leaving the faith at an early age – sometimes before the age of 10 – and their reasons are deeper than being “bored at Mass,” the author of a recent …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\n
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