US Viewpoint: Want your kids to stay Catholic, here's what matters most

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Source: Aleteia

University of Notre Dame sociologist Christian Smith has spent decades researching young people and religion. Theresa Civantos Barber reports on his findings in Aleteia:

There's no good way to say it: We are in a crisis of Catholics leaving the Church. Somehow, somewhere, along the way, handing down the faith to the next generation is failing, on a mass scale. Catholics are abandoning the faith of their parents and grandparents at a record rate:

Catholicism has experienced a greater net loss due to religious switching than has any other religious tradition in the US Overall, 13% of all US adults are former Catholics - people who say they were raised in the faith, but now identify as religious "nones," as Protestants, or with another religion. By contrast, 2% of US adults are converts to Catholicism - people who now identify as Catholic after having been raised in another religion (or no religion). This means that there are 6.5 former Catholics in the US for every convert to the faith.

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