A Faith Loosely Held

The institutional allegiance of young Catholics

Juan L. Gonzales, Jr. June 14, 2004 - 5:51am

The demise of religious traditions is about the loss of the young, not the death of the old. The present is the future. Young adults-those twenty through thirty-nine years of age-now constitute nearly 40 percent of America’s 60 million Catholics. They are a large segment of the 20 million or so Catholics who appear disconnected from their tradition, that is, who do not attend Mass regularly or have no official parish connection. These...

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About the Author

Juan L. Gonzales, Jr. is professor of sociology at California State University, Hayward.