Catholicism at a Crossroads: The Present and Future of America’s Largest Church

Day (Catholic Activism Today), an associate professor of religion at the Franciscan School of Theology, and James C. Cavendish, an associate professor of sociology at the University of South Florida, team up with other scholars to deliver a robust study of the state of modern American Catholicsm. Drawing from surveys conducted in 2017 with 706 American Catholics, the authors paint a grim picture of a church in which parish life is felt by more than half of adherents to be “tenuous or nonexistent”; clergy’s moral authority is eroding due to sexual abuse crises; and leadership’s silence on issues of racial justice has spurred resentment among Catholics of color. Meanwhile, the Vatican has attempted to stem departures from the faith (roughly 6.5 Catholics leave the church for every new convert) with an ethos of “meeting people where they are,” or tailoring church teachings and initiatives to “affective expressions of faith already present” in congregations. However, that approach, advocated by Pope Francis, has caused some clergy to fear that Catholic principles are being watered down. Drawing on rigorous statistical analysis, the authors provide a frank but hopeful portrait of a church in flux, and conclude with pragmatic suggestions for improvement, including reconciliation efforts with sexual abuse survivors and Catholic communities of color. Scholars of American religion will want to take a look. (Feb.)