A widening gap between Catholic youth and their spiritual leaders

Michael O’Loughlin, one of the bloggers at America:The National Catholic Weekly offers reflections and useful links on the widening gap between Catholic laity in America, especially young people, and their spiritual leaders and teachers, especially on homosexuality. His suggestion:

Despite the campaigns, statements, and preaching, lay Catholics lead the nation in support of gay rights. At some point, something has to give. Will the church change its stance on homosexuality? Of course not. Catholicism is the largest denomination in the US, but it is still a tiny sliver of the global church, and attitudes elsewhere, especially in the growing hotspots of global Catholicism, remain rigidly conservative. But church leaders may want to reconsider where they focus their limited time, energy, and resources. The battle for gay rights in this nation increasingly looks like it will be won-eventually-by those who support them. The church can continue to be a vocal minority in opposition to change, alienating the many people who increasingly know, love, and accept gay family members and friends. Or, it can refocus its efforts to highlight the love of God that animates a nourishing, life-giving, freeing faith, and attempt to reach those who need this love most: those who feel marginalized by the church now.

Colleges attend to student spiritual growth

Allie Grasgreen of Inside Higher Ed has a long piece on how Elmhurst College in Illinois and Wagner College in New York are encouraging student interest in spiritual exploration and growth. Ties the two case studies to the findings in Cultivating the Spirit: How College Can Enhance Students’ Inner Lives by Alexander Astin, Helen Astin, and Jennifer Lindholm (Jossey Bass, 2011).

Twenty-Somethings and the Catholic Church

On the always interesting group blog at America: The National Catholic Weekly, Michael O’Loughlin and Tom Beaudoin offer reflections on the conference held in late January at Fordham University called Lost? Twenty-Somethings and the Catholic Church. Here are some highlights taken from O’Loughlin’s post:

The church should avoid the temptation to become a political power player. Surveys repeatedly demonstrate that young adults are turned off from the church when it appears to be shilling for a particular political party. Minor gains in policy may come at a huge cost: losing a generation of Catholics from both sides of the political spectrum.

Race and ethnicity remain sensitive and critical challenges for the Catholic Church, especially with the rapidly growing Latino population. Young Latinos are taught a sense of ownership and belonging in their parishes that is not fostered and developed in traditionally Euro-centric parishes. As a result, these young adults sometimes leave the church altogether when their talents are underutilized in mixed parishes.

The split between church leaders and young adults on issues of gender and sexuality is growing. Young people are more likely to support same-sex marriage and female ordination than their older counterparts and the hierarchy, and many cite these issues as reasons they don’t feel at home in the church. Young adults won’t support any institution where they feel that any group of people is not fully welcome and included.

Beaudoin adds more summary and reflection.

While neither blogger discusses the potential influence of these trends on college students or on Catholic colleges, the importance of the issues for Catholic higher education are obvious.

Chronicle offers useful chart from 2010 CIRP freshman survey

The Chronicle of Higher Education [subscription required] offers a useful chart summarizing key findings from the 2010 CIRP freshman survey, including the “current religious preference” of the surveyed students. It also offers a political  profile, including student views on whether gays and lesbians should have the legal right to adopt a child.

2010 CIRP Freshman Survey released

The Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA has released the Cooperative Institutional Research Program annual study of incoming freshmen. The HIRI website leads with the 25-year record low student self-ratings of emotional health.

Students’ self-ratings of emotional health dropped to a record 25-year low in 2010, according to the 2010 CIRP Freshman Survey, which is based on the responses of over 200,000 first-time full-time students entering four-year colleges across the United States. At the same time we see increases in the percentage of students that report feeling "frequently" overwhelmed as high-school seniors.

Additionally concerning is the sex difference in both cases, with many more incoming women reporting low levels of emotional health and frequent feelings of being overwhelmed than men.

Here is the press release and the “brief report” and the “research brief.” The monograph can be ordered. The survey also reports on self-identified religious affiliation, among other matters of interest to this blog.

Enrollment of Muslim students growing at Catholic colleges

The Washiington Post’s “On Faith” reports on the growing enrollment of Muslim students at Catholic colleges and on the experiences, both positive and negative, of some of the enrolled students.

Report on new book ‘Cultivating the Spirit’

Alexander W. Astin, Helen S. Astin, and Jennifer A. Lindholm have just published Cultivating the Spirit: How College Can Enhance Students’ Inner Lives (Jossey Bass, 2011) and Beckie Supiana of The Chronicle of Higher Education [subscription may be required] offers a useful summary. The book looks at the relationship between spiritual and religious qualities and outcomes like leadership ability, academic success, and charitable involvement.

Pagan chaplain appointed at Syracuse University

Syracuse University has appointed Mary Hudson to be the university’s first pagan chaplain. She is reportedly the second pagan appointed a university chaplain; the first is at the University of Southern Maine. The piece offers background and quotes from Ms Hudson and students.

[ABC News via Inside Higher Ed]

Do Catholic Colleges help Catholic students remain Catholic?

Another post providing an overview of the recent Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) study on how Catholic Colleges may affect the beliefs of Catholic Students.

Scholar who promotes religious pluralism on campus wins Grawemeyer Prize in Religion

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that Eboo Patel, “the founder and executive director of an organization that promotes religious pluralism and is active on 50 American college campuses,” will receive the Grawemeyer Prize in Religion.

Mr. Patel, a former Rhodes scholar who holds a doctorate in the sociology of religion, was honored for his 2007 autobiography, Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation (Beacon Press), in which he describes his own life story as an India-born Muslim raised in America. The autobiography shows how an angry youth can be transformed into a leader for peace, according to the award announcement.

The organization Mr. Patel founded, Interfaith Youth Core, works to build mutual respect and pluralism among young people of different religious traditions by focusing on shared values and community service.

More information about the Grawemeyer awards and their recipients at the organization’s website. To set up a faculty conversation on this year’s award winner, use the longer citation and biography at the site.