Title: Young Catholic America : emerging adults in, out of, and gone from the church /
Authors: Smith, Christian, 1960-; Smith, Christian, 1960-; Hill, Jonathan; Christoffersen, Kari.; Hojara, Kari M.
Year: 2014
Subjects: Catholic Church United States.; Young adults Religious life.; Church work with young adults United States.; Church work with young adults Catholic Church
Abstract: Drawing on in-depth surveys and interviews of Catholics and ex-Catholics ages 18 to 23--a demographic commonly known as early "emerging adulthood"--leading sociologist Christian Smith and his colleagues offer a wealth of insight into the wide variety of religious practices and beliefs among young Catholics today, the early influences and life-altering events that lead them to embrace the Church or abandon it, and how being Catholic affects them as they become full-fledged adults. Beyond its rich collection of statistical data, the book includes vivid case studies of individuals spanning a full decade, as well as insight into the twentieth-century events that helped to shape the Church and its members in America.
Contents: Catholic emerging adults in historical context: 1945 to 1970 -- Emerging adult Catholics across four decades: 1970s to 2000s -- A statistical portrait of Catholic emerging adults today -- Emerging adult Catholics, their faith, and the church in their own words -- Excursus: who actually is a Catholic? -- Religious trajectories from the teenage years into emerging adulthood -- Catholic faith and life course outcomes -- Catholic high school and religiousness in emerging adulthood.