Being Catholic in a Culture of Choice

What will the next generation of Catholics be like? Will they have a strong sense of their identity as Catholic Christians, or will they reflect a more generic Christian identity, without the distinctives associated with Catholicism? Some social commentators suggest that the Catholic identity of young adult Catholics is in jeopardy, with a less ecclesial faith, a thin commitment to the institutional church, and a lack of familiarity with the Catholic tradition. Others argue that there are signs that a new generation of younger Catholics is emerging, not all of whom fall easily into the liberal/conservative categories, though many Catholics over fifty tend to dismiss them as conservative, neo-conservative, or even restorationist. Thomas Rausch’s book examines a number of recent studies of young adult Catholics as well as different ways that being Catholic is developed and supported, from the Catholic imagination to a reexamination of Christian origins in the light of the charges made in The Da Vinci Code , to the domestic church and Catholic colleges and universities.