John Allen has an interesting nugget about generational divides in the Church:
“By now there’s a considerable body of data about these “millennial Catholics,” and the consistent finding is that they’re more traditional in their attitudes and practices than the “Vatican II” generation they’re replacing. These younger Catholics are attracted to traditional spiritual practices such as Eucharistic adoration and Marian piety; they have a generally positive attitude towards authority, especially the papacy; and they’re less inclined to be critical of church teaching. I use the word “evangelical” rather than “conservative” to describe all this, in part because most experts say it’s not really about the politics of left vs. right so much as generational dynamics. These young Catholics came of age in a rootless secular world, and are hungry for a clear sense of identity. More and more, the church’s ministerial workforce will be stamped by this evangelical ethos.”
I think this is broadly accurate. Among people I know, the younger generations tend more traditional on matters of liturgy and even doctrine. This completely transcends politics, despite the best efforts of some to hide a dubious political orthodoxy behind a justifiable theological orthodoxy.
But I think we can tease out the politics a bit more. For politically, it’s pretty clear that the age divide is extremely stark when it comes to millenials – in fact, this led to the largest disparity ever recorded between younger and older voters in 2008. This generation is “less supportive than their elders of an assertive national security policy and more supportive of a progressive domestic social agenda”. We also know that they more qualms about abortion than preceding generations but are almost universally in favor of gay rights.
What does this all mean for the Church? For a start, I think we need to move beyond the jaded culture war, which is increasingly a preoccupation of the problematic boomer generation. Millenial Catholics are more traditional Catholics, but they are also probably social justice Catholics. And they will be increasingly Hispanic. In fact, this generation could really put the boosters of American Catholic liberalism on the spot (the Weigels, the Georges, and their minor acolytes), as they will now longer be able to hide their untenable neocon and laissez-faire liberal positions behind the specter of “liberal” bogeymen.
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