Fornication--Almost 40% of the general American population believes fornication is wrong. Among Catholics this drops under 30%. Among Catholic Millennials it drops to around 20%. This is a very basic moral teaching of the whole Christian tradition; We find it condemned in Scripture on the very lips of Our Lord (Mk. 7:21)--It doesn't get much more authoritative than that. That fact that this teaching is rejected by ~80% of Catholic Millennials is a good indicator of where this is going.
Moral relativism--The article says that 56 percent of Americans reject universal moral norms, as compared to 64% of Millennials at large. But among Catholic Millennials, this number skyrockets to over 4/5ths. Fewer than 1 in 5 Catholics between 18 and 29 recognizes that there are any universal moral absolutes.
Practicing religion--only 1 in 4 Catholic Millennials attends Mass once a month, which is lower than their generation as a whole, of which 1 in 3 attends a religious service once a month.
Practicing multiple religions--Almost 2/3rds of Catholic Millennials "see no problem with practicing multiple religions". It isn't clear what the question was but the context suggests that this indicates practicing their own religion and another (as opposed to approving of someone practicing two completely different religions), which is to say, it seems that this is saying that they approve of a Catholic attending Lutheran services, not of a Hindu practicing Buddhism. So it seems that in addition to moral relativism, we have a healthy dose of dogmatic relativism as well. That is, this attitude seems to suggest that they do not take the doctrine of the Church terribly seriously; Rather they seem to think that all religions are really the same at heart. But it gets better.
Atheism--The article finds hope in the fact that Catholic Millennials are more likely to believe in God than their peers (85% do); I, on the other hand, find it disturbing that we are even able to measure atheism among Catholics, let alone that a full 15% reject monotheism, which is a preambulum Fidei, a prerequisite to the Catholic Faith.
A couple caveats: This age bracket is notoriously liberal and experimental. I would guarantee that in 20 years, after these people go out and actually start the families they say they want, a large number of them will swing back towards their Faith. Also, for what consolation it offers, these numbers are much better for practicing Catholic Millennials.
None the less these numbers are significant. They show that Catholicism is in absolute crisis. Catholics have done a miserable job of passing on their Faith.
Indulge me dear reader while I offer some short diagnosis of this lamentable state of the Catholicism.
How can we help but look at the liturgy? Lex orandi lex credendi. We see clearly in this survey that the Catholics raised over the last 30 years reject even fundamental parts of the Catholic Creed. Is it surprising that the generation that rejects even the most basic Catholic belief, also has given up on Mass.
We can of course go back further than liturgical innovation. "Sexual liberation" has undoubtedly contributed to this apostasy. The widespread rejection of Humanae vitae is the most obvious example of sexual liberation leading to an undermining of the Church's doctrine and authority. It is helpful to remember Our Lady warned in 1917 that more souls go to Hell because of sins of the flesh than for any other reason, and that theologians have warned for centuries that lust does more than risk unwed mothers, it dulls, blinds, and perverts the mind. Thus Thomas teaches, in line with a long tradition, "And therefore, through these vices [sins of the flesh] man's intention is applied to the greatest extent to bodily things, and therefore man's understanding of intelligible things is consequently incapacitated . . . Therefore lust gives rise to blindness of mind, which excludes as if entirely the the knowledge of spiritual goods" (IIaIIae Q15 a3).
The roots are deeper still: Since the 19th century Popes have been warning us of modernism, but their warnings have time and again been ignored by American Catholics. American Catholics have, I would venture, been far too quick to embrace a culture that is wholly secular and modernist, which is at heart fundamentally opposed to central claims of the Church and undermines her authority, and consequently their children have, for all intents and purposes, lost the Faith on a grand scale.
Lamentabili exitu indeed.
I'm not at all surprised by this synopsis of Millenial Catholics, especially considering the people I know who consider themselves Catholic. Not that I am one to talk. And it is depressing. But I think it applies more broadly to most Catholics around the world-- I doubt these are issues that only American Catholic Millenials are facing.
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