THE NEW FAITHFUL   Now in its sixth printing, The New Faithful: Why Young Adults Are Embracing Christian Orthodoxy was first released by Loyola Press in hardcover 2002 and in paperback in 2004. The book blends extensive firsthand reporting, storytelling and analysis to shed light on a trend that has far-reaching implications for American religion, politics and culture.    Order this book from Loyola Press, Amazon.com, or Barnes & Noble.    " . . . a blockbuster of a book . . . " -- Canada's National Post "Ms. Carroll combines first-hand reporting with social-science metrics to examine a remarkable trend toward religious orthodoxy" -- Wall Street Journal "(O)ne of the brightest young Catholic writers in America . . . Colleen Carroll’s book is replete with wonderful human stories of spiritual struggle followed by conversion." -- George Weigel, from his syndicated column, The Catholic Difference "This is a great resource for anyone involved in young-adult ministry." -- CBA Marketplace
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Endorsements and critical praise:
"Colleen Carroll blends investigative reporting with profound analysis to reveal a world of young people that most of us do not know exists. This brilliant young journalist opens the door to exciting and inspiring vistas."   - Robert D. Novak   CNN Commentator and Syndicated Columnist
"With the knowledge of an insider and the sprightly facility of a good journalist, Colleen Carroll tells one of the largely unheralded stories of our time: the turn of so many highly educated young Americans toward serious religious commitment. How did these young people become, as she puts it so well, 'defenders of orthodoxy in an age that denigrates dogma?' Carroll unravels the mystery in a book that will become an important document of our time. The orthodox, the unorthodox and the flexible souls in between will find grist here for lively argument and serious reflection."   - E. J. Dionne Jr.   author of Why Americans Hate Politics and   co-editor (with John J. DiIulio Jr.) of What's God Got to Do With the American Experiment?
"Colleen Carroll's reporting and analysis in 'The New Faithful' does more than simply chronicle the embrace of Christianity by young adults, as important as that is. Her interviews and meetings with young American adults serve as documentation of the spiritual and intellectual bankruptcy of postmodernism. 'The New Faithful' is a reminder that when the idols of our age crumble, as they invariably will, it is the truth of Christianity that remains standing."   - Charles W. Colson   Chairman, Prison Fellowship Ministries
"You may have heard, and you may have believed, that decades of  moral, cultural, and religious tumult have destroyed the foundations. Colleen Carroll has a different story to tell in this exciting book. Despite everything,  the foundations are solid and a new generation of young people, Catholic and  Protestant, is discovering the high adventure of Christian fidelity. The  rebuilding has begun. The New Faithful is a portrait, both honest and  heartening, of the Church of tomorrow, and of today."   - Fr. Richard John Neuhaus   Editor in Chief, First Things
"A fascinating, highly readable book that opens up a world most of us know little of--the world of young people making their own journeys into faith and discovering the wisdom of traditions many claim that the young have abandoned. Carroll brings the rhythms of the story-teller and the fact-finding of the journalist to bear in helping us to encounter those she calls 'the new faithful'."   - Jean Bethke Elshtain, author of Jane Addams and the Dream of American Democracy   The Laura Spelman Rockefeller Professor of Social and Political Ethics   The University of Chicago
"This is an important book about the new generation of Christians born since 1965--a new, orthodox, and realist generation tired of the fads, bizarre personal opinions, and sad experiments of their elders, and hungry for the 'real' doctrine, the real Church of the ages.  These are the young who begin shouting, in 1979, 'JPII--We love you!'."   - Michael Novak   George Frederick Jewett Scholar in Religion,   Philosophy and Public Policy and director of Social and Political Studies
“If you are vitally interested in the renewal and reform of Christianity, Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox in America, this well-documented and very readable book is the good news.  If you are not so persuaded but would like to know what’s going on in religion, the growing wave of the future, then this book is a must for you.  If you get aggravated by the deeply personal and believing commitment to Christ observed on the part of a significant group of young adults, don’t read this book; it will upset you.  Colleen Carroll has done a masterful job of bringing together the profiles of a diverse generation of fervent young Christians who are shaking up the American religious scene.  She marshals the anecdotes and studies in such a way that she offers the best sociological indication and explanation of what those who work with young people see that they want – authentic, personal and convinced Christianity.  If you are making plans for your church in the next decade you can’t afford to leave this book unread.”   - Fr. Benedict J. Groeschel, CFR   Author, Journey Towards God
“Colleen Carroll's 'The New Faithful' reveals the first lights of an unexpected dawn: the growing youth movement toward Christian orthodoxy.  Yet Carroll also shows that this movement must wrestle with vexing issues of assimilation versus isolation, righteousness versus self-righteousness. If Carroll's discernment and clarity are typical of young believers, the future of the faith is bright indeed."”   - Frederica Mathewes-Green   Christianity Today columnist, National Public Radio commentator, and   author of "Facing East: A Pilgrim's Journey into the Mysteries of Orthodoxy"
"Evidence has been accumulating for a few years that a generational and cultural revolt has been brewing in America against the "counter-culture" clichés of sexual freedom and unrestrained hedonism that grew out of the 60's and 70's.  In this richly reported and beautifully written account, Colleen Carroll takes us inside the lives of those who have participated in that sea-change in American culture. She shows how a new generation of Americans have found truth, beauty and fulfillment not in the trendy hot-tubs of New Age spirituality but in the bracing truths and disciplines of an ancient faith--traditional and orthodox Christianity.  The stories she tells are deeply moving.  The sense of hope they offer to the spiritual future of this nation is warmly encouraging. This is a marvelous book."   - David Aikman   Former correspondent for Time magazine   and author of "Great Souls: Six Who Changed the Century"
“As if to prove that the worst of times are also the best of times, Colleen Carroll heartens us with a detailed and documented tale of how the young are turning to Christian orthodoxy. The signs have been all around us for a long time, intimations that something important was afoot. Young people on campuses, new converts, young families, seminarians at places like Denver and Lincoln, suggested that we were coming out of an era of dissent and secularization and dumbing down. Colleen Carroll engaged in vast and exhaustive research to bring the good news that there is indeed a groundswell of orthodoxy among the young. In her book, you hear their voices and they will warm your heart.”   - Ralph McInerny   Philosophy Professor, University of Notre Dame   Author, the Father Dowling Mysteries
“Colleen Carroll writes boldly and beautifully about today's young adults embracing Christian orthodoxy. Her research, worthy of a competent journalist and scholar, is impressive. Her findings create credibility that faith will be an increasingly important part of building a better world.”   - Richard Leonard, Retired Editor of The Milwaukee Journal and    Nieman Chair Emeritus at Marquette University.
“Colleen Carroll deserves serious congratulations. This narrative of her quest for the religion of some of the most thoughtful young Americans is as readable as its implications are profound. For anyone seeking a proper understanding of the immensely complex forces at work in our culture, and indeed for someone at the seeming mercy of those forces but seeking God, The New  Faithful charts a course to the truth.”   - Nigel M. de S. Cameron     Principal, Strategic Futures Group, LLC    Dean, The Wilberforce Forum    Former professor and provost at Trinity International University & Divinity School
“This is an important book. Colleen Carroll has captured the deep yearnings of the generation just emerging from college into the work world. In their own words, these new faithful deliver a powerful message: Life is about more than amassing toys, the spirit matters, and they intend to be heard.”   - Howard Means, author of Money & Power: The History of Business
"Though replete with personal testimonies, Colleen Carroll's The New Faithful: Why Young Adults are Embracing Christian Orthodoxy goes far beyond the merely anecdotal in her description of Generation X's markedly traditional and orthodox religious impulse.  Filled with sociological data and descriptions of movements and organizations that are spawned by and support the phenomenon, Carroll provides significant narrative and deep insight into a generation of believers who are seeking to embrace Christianity with intellectual rigor and moral integrity in the midst of a postmodern, relativistic, and pluralistic America.  In contrast to many of the previous generation, great numbers of those born between 1965 and 1983 are finding the Church to be a faithful mother giving birth to a renewed spiritual life, both for individuals and communities of believers.  Carroll explores the uniqueness of this resurgence of belief, which is evangelical in spirit, seeks to engage rather than to ignore the culture, and to transform the world.  This engaging book, which is not hesitant to present the criticisms that have been directed to the younger generation by their oft-dismayed elders, is an important tool for understanding the growing number of young, active Christian believers.  It would be invaluable for anyone engaged in ministry to this generation with its great spiritual hunger."   - Fr. James F. Garneau, Ph.D.   Academic Dean   The Pontifical College Josephinum   Columbus, OH
"Carroll shines a light into the lives of young spiritual seekers that dispels gloomy assumptions about the decline of orthodox Christianity. Unfulfilled by the cream-puff theology of their parents, Gen Xers are turning to the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob—and Jesus. Carroll sensitively explores how Christian faith informs and fortifies attitudes about sexuality, vocation and education for large numbers of young adults. With its smart cultural critique and journalistic flair, The New Faithful is a groundbreaking study of religion in America."   - Joseph Loconte is the William E. Simon Fellow in Religion and a Free Society at the Heritage Foundation and a regular commentator for National Public Radio.
"This is an important story, well-told by one of our finest young religion writers. The New Faithful should be on the reading list of every church leader and anybody interested in the future of the faith in this country."   - David Scott, author and former editor of Our Sunday Visitor, the largest U.S. Catholic newsweekly
"In The New Faithful, Colleen Carroll  combines her religious sensibilities and consummate reporting  skills to take readers on an insightful tour through the world  of Generation X "orthodox believers."  Those  immersed in lives of faith will find this book a great affirmation, while those  not so immersed may find it a great revelation."   - Cole C. Campbell   Fellow, Charles F. Kettering  Foundation   Former editor, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"If baby-boomer Catholics have been puzzled by their younger Gen-X counterparts lately, they need look no further than Colleen Carroll's excellent new book for an explanation of what's up with Gen-X Christians. The New Faithful: Why Young Adults Are Embracing Christian Orthodoxy is a fascinating study . . . a well-researched, enjoyable read." -- Commonweal "Anyone who is worried about the future of the Church can look here for hopeful signs." -- National Review Online " . . . novel and timely . . . This is a book that generously and comprehensively examines a group that is often misunderstood and caricatured." -- Publishers Weekly "Highly recommended." -- Library Journal "The New Faithful is certainly encouraging . . . we owe thanks for these dispatches from the front." -- Books & Culture "This exploration probes beneath the surface of Christian Orthodoxy, analyzing the root causes and the diverse consequences of this new religious movement." -- Booklist " . . . The New Faithful is a hopeful book . . . The people Carroll introduces us to are the kind of people we want to know are around and with us as the Church in America enters the 21st century." -- Crisis " . . . highly acclaimed . . ." -- Zenit News Agency " . . . frequently moving . . . a nuanced and cautious reading of the signs of the times." -- Touchstone "Watch out, promiscuity! Out of the way, relativism! A wave of young Americans just wants that old-time religion." -- Christianity Today
Full-text reviews and articles about The New Faithful:
"The young and the orthodox" By Amy Welborn Our Sunday Visitor, July 28, 2002: One can’t help but wonder what Garry Wills would think of St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Colleen Carroll’s new book, "The New Faithful: Why Young Adults Are Embracing Christian Orthodoxy" (Loyola Press, $19.95). For while Wills is deeply engaged in conversations with other middle-aged Catholic academics, Carroll tells us that something else quite interesting is going on in the real world: Young people are rejecting the culturally compromising, self-reverential religious formation that their elders have given them and are turning, in increasing numbers, to traditional ways of thinking about and practicing the Christian faith. Liberalism, it seems, is not the big draw. Orthodoxy is. "Across the nation . . a small but committed core of young Christians is intentionally embracing organized religion and traditional morality. Their numbers – and their disproportionately powerful influence on their peers, parents and popular culture – are growing. The grassroots movement they have started bears watching because it has thrived in the most unlikely places, captured the hearts of the most unlikely people, and aims to effect the most unlikely of outcomes: a revitalization of American Christianity and culture." "The New Faithful" is the fruit of a year’s research on this trend. Carroll reports on the variety and vitality of orthodox Protestant and Catholic young people wherever they’re found – on college campuses, the workplace, Capitol Hill and even Hollywood. Those she interviews are full of hope and promise, with a faith that’s intellectually vigorous, yet, at root, stirred by a deep love of God that calls forth sacrifice, fidelity and joyful service. It’s not exactly your dad’s Christianity. If your dad is sitting on a college campus growling about the right wing and writing his membership check to Call to Action, that is. And for that good news, we can all be deeply grateful, don’t you think?
CBA Marketplace, September, 2002:   Carroll studies 20- and early 30-somethings who are embracing the Christian faith with passion and fervor in her book, subtitled "Why Young Adults Are Embracing Christian Orthodoxy." She shares many testimonies of individuals who discovered or returned to the faith; many tell of finding worldly success but being spiritually hungry. Issues she examines include traditional vs. contemporary liturgy, Generation X's desire for community, and the appeal of a challenging Gospel. What makes this book unique is Carroll's ability to focus on both Catholics and Protestants returning to the faith. Catholic and Protestant ministries, resources and references are used throughout. This is a great resource for anyone involved in young-adult ministry.
Library Journal, September 2002: With the help of a Phillips Journalism Fellowship, St. Louis Post-Dispatch journalist Carroll traveled the country to interview young adults to ascertain how religion fits into their lives. Most of her interviewees were Catholics or evangelical Protestants, along with some Orthodox Christians. Carroll found a turn to the Right in the religious lives of her peers, born between 1965 and 1983; not everyone in this age group is religiously oriented, but those who are have more often than not turned to traditional beliefs and morality. Among Catholic priests, for example, the youngest are as traditional as the oldest, with the baby boomers falling in between. It is not unusual for married couples in this age group to embrace natural family planning as opposed to artificial birth control and for singles to reject premarital sex. These young adults are seeking authoritative guidelines and meaningful commitments. Carroll's journalistic skills are evident in this very readable volume about a tendency toward traditionalism that she predicts will spread. Highly recommended. -- John Moryl, Yeshiva Univ. Lib., New York
Publishers Weekly, July 15, 2002:   Carroll’s title promises to answer a question that is not new; the decline of liberal Christianity and the rise of the evangelical movement has been a source of scholarly and journalistic fascination for more than 20 years. Carroll, though, gives an up-to-the-minute account of this phenomenon. She spent a year—beginning in 2001 and ending in 2002—conducting research and interviews around the U.S., and, unlike most treatments of the new American passion for orthodoxy, hers focuses on the Catholic and Orthodox Churches as well as evangelical Protestantism. This emphasis on orthodoxy and ancient, liturgical tradition among young members is both novel and timely. While evangelical Protestant mega-churches were the big story 15 years ago, record-breaking conversion rates in conservative Catholic and Orthodox churches are today’s headline. Carroll quotes many young people who yearn for both conservative interpretations of the Bible and the mystery and symbolism of liturgy. Especially popular among young orthodox Catholics is the pre-Vatican II practice of Eucharistic adoration, which involves reverencing a consecrated communion wafer. In her introduction, Carroll makes brief mention of her identification with the young, conservative Catholics she features, and this identification shows in analysis that often bleeds into advocacy. She does occasionally quote critics of the trend toward orthodoxy, but she never fully explores these dimensions. However, this is a book that generously and comprehensively examines a group that is often misunderstood and caricatured.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 18, 2002: Book examines young adults' yearning for Christianity By Gayle White Special To The Post-Dispatch In the middle of a year in which scandal, cover-up and distrust defined American Catholicism, tens of thousands of young people walked miles in baking heat, camped out in a field and endured soaking rainstorms for Mass with a feeble old man who represents the authority of the church. Anyone who questions the thesis of Colleen Carroll's "The New Faithful," only has to watch the films of World Youth Day 2002 held this summer in Toronto. As early as the 1980s, Pope John Paul II sensed the longing of the young for identity and structure and saw in it an opportunity to solidify the church for future generations. He has been rewarded at his periodic youth revivals with the cheers of hundreds of thousands, shouting "John Paul II, we love you." Carroll, a former reporter for the Post-Dispatch, understood the desire for old-time religious moorings among some young adults, and believed the trend stretched past the Roman Catholic Church. She saw the same grasping for solid doctrine and sacred symbols among some young evangelicals. Carroll researched her book in 2000 with a Phillips Journalism Fellowship that allowed her to spend a year traveling the country. She admits that not everyone under 30 is ready to sign up for a lifetime of biblical literalism and traditional morality, but writes of a "small but committed core." Participation in Latin Mass and chastity movements appears to be related to the renewed interest by the generation born between 1965 and 1983 in the jitterbug, World War II and 1940s fashion. But all of those, Carroll would argue, are symptomatic of a sort of rebellion against rebellion - a rejection of their parents' approach of putting faith in sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll until they entered the marketplace, where they joined the Church of the Consumer. George Gallup recently predicted that the teen-agers following today's young adults will be the same, only more so. In a briefing released July 30, Gallup said, "One might say, 'Here come the traditionalists.'" Gallup's data from the past 25 years show that today's teens are less likely to use alcohol, tobacco and marijuana and more likely to want abstinence taught in school. Carroll offers her own section of polls and statistics which, she points out, offer contradictory evidence. A poll by George Barna shows that three-fifths of teenagers say the Bible is completely accurate in all that it teaches, and a poll of young Catholics showed that about 90 percent believe the bread and wine actually become the body of Christ. But only 31 percent of them attend weekly Mass. She writes that a 1999 study by Barna "found that 42 percent of baby busters - those born between 1965 and 1983 - were likely to attend church weekly, as compared to 34 percent of their baby boomer parents. The busters also were more likely to read the Bible (36 percent to 30 percent) and to pray (80 percent to 70 percent)." Carroll sees a generation that wants rock-solid beliefs with a bit of religious mystery, is willing to make sacrifices for personal holiness, will trust authority that proves to be trustworthy and is unafraid to take on the larger culture. The influence of these young adults extends beyond their number, she says, because many of them came to their new orthodoxy after achieving academic or professional success. They came early to the classic midlife crisis question, "Is that all there is?" Ironically, she points out, it may have been the base of wealth and opportunity provided by their materialistic parents that permitted them this luxury. It's not just the personal experience that is appealing to these smart, successful young adults, according to Carroll. They crave community, she says. "Many of them are nostalgic for something they never experienced." To Carroll's credit, she makes no claims that the neo-orthodox will carry their newfound faith to their graves. Rather, she acknowledges, faith that is chosen can be tossed over in favor of some new trend. Gayle White covers religion for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She is past president of the Religion Newswriters Association and author of "Believers and Beliefs."
The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 13, 2002: Back to Basics By JOHN A. BARNES In 1993, 24-year-old David Legge seemed to have the world by the tail. Blessed with Tom Cruise-ish good looks, he had just finished his second year at Yale Law School and was a summer associate at a big New York law firm. Making more money than he could spend, he painted the town red four or five nights a week with lavish parties and big bar tabs. A bright future beckoned. There was only one problem. He wasn't happy. "I had a good time, I guess," Mr. Legge recalls, "but I didn't have that many real friends in New York. And I realized that it was just kind of an empty life." Like many Gen X (and Y) Catholics raised in the wake of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, Mr. Legge's childhood religious formation had been spotty at best. He was raised in a Catholic family, but he found that his religious courses in school consisted mostly of "psychobabble." The spiritual emptiness he was feeling that summer in New York led him to apply to his own faith the kind of intensity he had previously reserved for his legal studies. The result was a revelation. "It was like God hit me over the head with a bottle," he said. It took a few years, but eventually Mr. Legge found the courage to walk away from his job and the girlfriend who did not share his deepening Catholic faith and enter a Dominican seminary to become a priest. David Legge's conversion (or re-conversion) story is one of many that animate the pages of Colleen Carroll's "The New Faithful" (Loyola, 320 pages, $19.95). A reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Ms. Carroll combines first-hand reporting with social-science metrics to examine a remarkable trend toward religious orthodoxy among Americans born roughly between 1960 and 1983. These were the children exposed full-force to the consumerism, secularism and "me-first" ideology that seized the helm of American society in that period -- very much including most mainstream religious denominations. Concentrating her reporting on Catholics and evangelical Protestants, Ms. Carroll borrows G.K. Chesterton's definition of "orthodoxy" as the Apostles' Creed. ("I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth . "). For the young adults profiled in her book, that means the acceptance of a transcendent moral authority, a commitment to regular prayer and worship, a belief in absolute truth and an allegiance to objective standards of conduct. What drives these young people in such a, well, un-orthodox direction? The high rate of divorce among baby-boomer parents certainly played its role. And anyone with the least experience of young people knows that a high percentage of them, almost by reflex, are skeptical of the dogmas laid down by their elders. That seems just as true when the dogmas are relativism, permissiveness and militant secularism as when they are their opposites. The appeal of Pope John Paul II to young people, evident from the first days of his pontificate, is mentioned frequently by Catholics and Protestants alike. "They want to get off the merry-go-round," says the Rev. David Burrell, a Catholic priest. "They really want something that can touch their souls. And a faith culture is the only thing that can respond to that." One of the most refreshing aspects of Ms. Carroll's book is the near absence of I-found-God-when-I-hit-rock-bottom stories. Most of the newly faithful are successful in their worldly endeavors, a fact that conventional wisdom would say works against fervent religious belief. But as Ms. Carroll notes, affluence may now be one of the engines driving religious revival. One result of the good (secular) life, apparently, is the kind of "premature mid-life crisis" that David Legge experienced. And while most who confront such a crisis do not end up at a seminary, many do find that their turn to religious seriousness requires new friends and a new career. The orthodoxy vogue, if it may be called that, does not please everyone. Some baby-boomer priests actually seem bitter about it -- or envious. After all, new and orthodox religious orders like the New York-based Sisters of Life and the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal are turning away candidates while liberal orders wither on the vine. Potential seminarians, approaching a particular order, warily demand to know whether the priests wear their clerical collars and whether they accept the teaching authority of the Church on abortion and extramarital sex. "There's a kind of nostalgia for a church they've never experienced -- and I have," one priest grouses. "I don't want to go back there." But the young orthodox faithful are not looking back. They are looking forward, striving to make something "countercultural" in the non-1960s sense of the word. Thus they are eager to evangelize their peers. That their peers often remain unaffected doesn't discourage them, either. You don't need to convert a whole generation, one of Ms. Carroll's subjects points out. Jesus, after all, started with just 12. Mr. Barnes, a corporate communications executive with Pfizer Inc., is writing "Jesus on Leadership: Executive Lessons From the Servant Leader."
George Weigel: The Catholic Difference - October 23, 2002 Young, smart, successful ... and passionately orthodox By George Weigel Two and a half years ago, I went to Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, to give a lecture on “the soul of John Paul II” and to have a dinner-discussion with Smith’s religion faculty and senior religion majors. Smith is one of the academic centers of American feminism, and given academic feminism’s usual take on this pontificate, I was a bit concerned that the afternoon and evening could turn dicey. On the contrary. My lecture was heard respectfully, the questions were intelligent, and the dinner discussion was polite, engaging, and intellectually stimulating. Smith’s faculty and students even took the Pope’s challenging “theology of the body” seriously -- which is more than can be said for the editors of Commonweal, among others in the Catholic opinion business. All of which prompted the thought that something interesting was afoot in Gen X, or Gen Y, or whatever generation we’re in these days. Now comes Colleen Carroll, one of the brightest young Catholic writers in America, with a book painting a similar picture on a much broader canvas. After several years as a beat reporter and editorial writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Colleen Carroll was awarded a Phillips Journalism Fellowship, which allowed her to spend a year going around the country talking to Christians who are young, bright, professionally successful -- and quite passionately orthodox in their religious and moral convictions. The results of Carroll’s research are now available in The New Faithful: Why Young Adults Are Embracing Christian Orthodoxy (Loyola University Press). The “new faithful” come from different ethnic, religious, educational, and family backgrounds. Some grew up in devout Catholic or Protestant families and drifted away, only to return to the faith with fervor. Others skated along on the surface of the consumer society until the hollowness of the world depicted in Abercrombie & Fitch ads created an ache that purchasing-power couldn’t heal. Still others pursued fast-track academic and professional careers, and then found that success was empty without something more, something deeper. But whatever the path they took, the “young orthodox” have one trait in common: they find Christian orthodoxy an exhilarating, exciting adventure. Unlike their parents’ generation (i.e., mine), which grew up at a time when the smart thing to do was to put down tradition, reverence, doctrine, and a demanding morality, the new generation of “new faithful” aren’t interested in how little they can believe and how little they have to do to stay “inside” the Church. They’re interested in exploring the fullness of Christian truth and making it their own. That exploration takes place in a host of settings. Some are traditionally parish- or campus-based. But there are also Gen X innovations like Regeneration Forum, a network of reading-and-discussion groups in more than two dozen cities, and “The Vine,” an occasional ecumenical conference of Gen X-ers interested in issues of faith and culture. According to Colleen Carroll’s research, the “new faithful” are not the quietists some skeptics might expect them to be. They are actively engaged in bringing their convictions into public life through instruments like “Faith and Law,” an ecumenical study group of young, orthodox Christian Congressional staffers. (As an occasional speaker at “Faith and Law” breakfast seminars, I can testify to the seriousness of the discussion and the Christian commitment of its members). Gen X “new faithful” are passionately pro-life; indeed, as Carroll points out, one of the striking (and virtually unreported) phenomena of American politics today is that the pro-abortion forces are getting older and greyer while the pro-life world is displaying a much younger face. Colleen Carroll’s book is replete with wonderful human stories of spiritual struggle followed by conversion. Those stories also pose a challenge to secularists, and to those determined to deconstruct Catholicism into high-church Unitarianism: the clock is ticking, and the world isn’t working out the way you thought it would. The great human adventure remains the adventure of orthodoxy. It beats the flat, arid world of secularism. It beats the frantic world of shop-‘til-you-drop hyper-consumption. It beats the brave new world of a remanufactured humanity. And it beats Catholic Lite. Which is one reason why there are far more young faces at “The Vine” than at “Call to Action” conventions.   George Weigel is a senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.
TCRNews.com - November 2002 Traditional Catholic Reflections & Reports © News, Opinion, & Hope for a Post-Modern World The New Faithful: Why Young Adults Are Embracing Christian Orthodoxy Reviewed by Oswald Sobrino, Esq. In George Weigel's recent book The Courage to be Catholic, he makes it a point to emphasize that the liberal crowd of dissenters, which he calls the "Catholic Lite" brigade, is aging and diminishing. The point was brought home to me visually when I recently watched a television talk show on the clergy scandals in which the 68-year-old Garry Wills, looking to me quite worn, was challenged and contradicted at every turn by two conservatives: one a very young looking journalist and the other an older priest who was nevertheless much younger and more robust than Mr. Wills. In The New Faithful (hereafter "TNF") (Loyola Press, 2002), Catholic author Colleen Carroll provides the background to a demographic trend that favors orthodoxy both among Catholics and Protestants in the United States. This trend provides the refreshing and vibrant alternative to the aging ranks of liberal dissent. As Cardinal George of Chicago has commented, liberal Catholicism has been unable to pass on the faith. Ms. Carroll documents that failure and the success of orthodoxy among many young Americans. Her book has been endorsed by respected authors such as Fr. Benedict Groeschel and First Things editor Fr. Richard Neuhaus. Shortly you will probably see Catholic dissenters writing articles from Commonweal to The National Catholic Reporter debunking the thesis of this book. All I can say is that denial is the last refuge of the defeated. In anticipation of this deluge of denial, it is worth taking a look at the evidence for the trends documented by Ms. Carroll. Boston College professor and apologist Peter Kreeft, certainly a credible source, terms the embrace of orthodoxy by the young "a massive turning of the tide" (TNF, p. 3). A 1999 study confirmed a trend among young adults born between 1965 and 1983 to attend church weekly, read the Bible, and pray at higher rates than their "baby boomer" parents (the baby boom is usually considered to have ended about 1965)(TNF, p. 4). A 1997 Gallup poll also confirmed an increase in the influence of religion among teenagers (TNF, p. 4). Another Gallup poll from 1999 found that "nearly nine in ten" teens polled believed in the divinity of Jesus (TNR, p. 4). More specifically Catholic is the 1999 report from Time magazine that the number of American dioceses hosting the Tridentine Mass rose "from 6 in 1990 to 131 in 1999" with 150,000 people attending weekly (TNF, p. 5). That number alone is about three times the number of subscribers to the dissident newspaper National Catholic Reporter (whose subscriber base may very well decline in the future due to layoffs in the bureaucracy of the Los Angeles Archdiocese). Another survey of young Catholics from 1998 listed "three core elements" of their faith: 1.) the Real Presence in the Eucharist; 2.) Concern for the poor; and 3.) devotion to Mary "as the mother of God" (TNF, p. 5). It is surely no coincidence that these core elements are a perfect profile of the main themes of the lengthy pontificate of John Paul II, now in its 25th year. The author also mentions another survey finding that younger priests are decidedly more conservative than the "more liberal middle-aged baby boomers who directly preceded them" (TNF, p. 5). This theme of more conservative younger priests has been the topic of recent comment in the media, both secular and Catholic (see, e.g., Diana Jean Schemo, "Priests of the 60's Fear Loss of Their Legacy," New York Times, Sept. 10, 2000, section 1, cited in TNF, p. 303). Significantly for American culture, this youthful conservative trend appears also among Protestant evangelicals and Jews. Fortunately, the author supplements these statistics with detailed observations, interviews, and anecdotes that portray a picture of young orthodox Christians eager to embrace the challenge of a secular and relativistic America by sharing their faith in Jesus. Especially heartening are the anecdotes from universities where students gather and pray for mutual support, and challenge, especially in Catholic colleges, the liberalism of older campus ministers. The picture that emerges from the interviews is that of highly educated and enthusiastic Christians with a strong commitment to orthodoxy and a habit of being assertive in challenging the liberal establishment. There is a populist quality to this youthful "rebellion" of the orthodox that reverses the roles cherished by aging liberals. The author also documents an important trend among the young and orthodox: ecumenism. Among Protestants, there is both a trend to interdenominational gatherings and toward more liturgical worship. The book also documents how many orthodox Catholics on campus feel that they have more in common with orthodox Protestant evangelicals than with liberal Catholics. The ecumenism portrayed is one based on unabashed devotion to Christ, as opposed to a bureaucratic ecumenism emphasizing mergers and study commissions. This new ecumenism challenges older practitioners by raising the question: is ecumenism ultimately about mergers and studies, or is it ultimately about praying together and praising Christ together? I submit that, as in liturgy, a horizontal ecumenism without the vertical dimension of devotion is, in the end, of little worth. Another aspect of the trend worth emphasizing is the embrace of traditional teachings on sexuality. Even the long-derided Catholic ban on unnatural forms of birth control has drawn renewed favorable attention among the young, to the certain shock of Catholic dissenters. It appears from this book and others that the embrace by young Christians of the traditional teaching that sexual activity belongs in marriage is related to the devastation of divorce among their parents' generation and the depressing consequences of widespread fornication. The author dedicates an entire chapter to sexuality and the family and notes that sexuality "often plays a central role in the conversion of young orthodox Christians" (TNF, p. 136). A major trait of the young orthodox movement is the emphasis on evangelization among both Protestants and Catholics. Among Catholics, the trend has been strengthened by the presence of converts from evangelical Protestantism who maintain their commitment to spread the Gospel. This trait is probably the most surprising because it requires the most courage in a society where orthodox religious belief and devotion is subject to mockery and disdain by cynical professors and fellow students in many colleges and universities. Yet, it is precisely this commitment to evangelization plus a commitment to marriage and children which augurs well for the perpetuation into future generations of Christian orthodoxy. That concern with handing on the faith to future generations is evident in the growing popularity of home-schooling among orthodox Christians (cf. TNF, pp. 151-53). The author goes beyond mere description to make a thoughtful evaluation of both the strengths and weaknesses of young orthodox Christians, including conservative Catholics (see p. 268). One challenge that she notes repeatedly is that of refusing to retreat from engagement with the secular culture both within and outside the churches. Such engagement is necessary to be loyal to the evangelizing imperative of Christian faith and to avoid an isolated, "quarantined faith" (TNF, p. 279). Yet, the author is optimistic that many of the new faithful will be "effective reformers" within their churches (TNF, p. 279). She also expects that the new faithful will continue to use new approaches to evangelize beyond the churches (TNF, p. 285). For orthodox Catholics, this welcome trend among young Catholics is an exciting work of grace, and its welcome effects spill over to those of us born before 1965. Confirmation of this welcome work of grace can be found in the anxiety of liberals whose failures have set the stage for this revival of the faith. The author notes that the 2000 national conference of the dissident group Call to Action was quite concerned about "the conservatism of young seminarians and the overwhelming sense that today's young Catholics no longer care to wage the battle for women's ordination, married priests, and democracy in the church, battles that consumed their baby boomer predecessors" (TNF, p. 281). Yet, it should not be surprising. Truth by its nature propagates itself in spite of the best machinations of its opponents, however sincere. False teaching, sooner or later, collapses in the real world created by God. The young are perceptive enough to see the collapse.
The Sunday (Portland) Oregonian, October 20, 2002: Faith and the Freshman by Su-jin Yim The temptations and freedom of college lead some students to stray from religion, so churches try to forewarn them As early fall sunshine seeps through the window blinds, Ben Burns tries to beam extra protection into the heads of Mr. Custis' high school senior class. "The devil will introduce doubts into your faith at college," Burns tells the seniors at Westside Christian High School. "If you lose confidence in your Bible, you'll lose confidence in your faith," he reminds them. "If you feel a little nappy, don't fight it," he says reassuringly as one student lays her head on her desk. Burns, director of college prep seminars with Campus Crusade for Christ, a Christian campus group, knows he's not reaching all of the students in class. They're seniors, top of the heap at school, and they feel bulletproof. But, he knows if statistics hold true, a significant number of high school students, even at this Lake Oswego Christian school, will fall away from their faith during college. His goal is to arm students with arguments, reminders and resources to call on when their once-solid faith starts to waver. As school revs up this fall, and freshly minted high school graduates go to the bottom of the collegiate food chain, core religious beliefs often get squeezed between studying, socializing and carving out an independent identity. "If they think they've been exposed to opportunities for sex or opportunities for drinking now, college is a whole different world," the 40-year-old, bespectacled Burns says. "They're walking into an environment where it's very, very accepted to do these things. It's not if you have sex, but how loudly." Some college students steadfastly follow their faith without the ready-made group of fellow believers they had in high school and at home. Others dive into an organized group, such as Campus Crusade for Christ; Hillel, a student Jewish group; or a Muslim community on campus. "College is party time" But many find themselves straying from a wavering faith that once felt rock solid. "A lot of people here are very apathetic," says Todd Melrose, a senior at the University of Oregon who says God called him to transfer from a small Christian college in California. "It's the stage in life where college is party time." According to a 2000 report by the Barna Research Group, the relative superficiality of teens' religious relationship leads to "massive dropout rates among college students, with relatively few of those young people returning to the church immediately after college." Only one out of every three teens say they plan to keep church a part of their life when they're living on their own. In contrast, more than seven out of 10 high school teens participate in some church activity in a typical week. Lead us from temptation Brian Robertson, a UO freshman from Lake Oswego, is getting a firsthand look at how college life, newfound freedoms and loneliness can pull a Christian away from God's commandments. "There's swearing, there's drinking, all sorts of things like that," says 18-year-old Robertson, who just joined a fraternity. "You do it or you see it or you think about it and it's like, 'whoa,' you gotta take a step back." In high school, Robertson attended Our Savior's Lutheran Church, toured with the youth choir group, helped lead a junior high youth group and attended his own youth group. "I was at church a bunch," he says. Now, just a few weeks into school, Robertson says he plans to join Campus Crusade for Christ, study his Bible and pray. He hopes these efforts, along with "hopefully just getting my butt to church," will help him, he says. Going to services every week helps calm a hectic schedule for Shoshi Zeldner, a UO sophomore who helps coordinate Hillel's outreach program. "It's a nice break from the week, just like slow down for a second," Zeldner says. For Reed College sophomore Misha Isaak, the son of a rabbi, every bite of food is an affirmation of his faith. "Whether or not I've got a community to help, Judaism is part of my diet, part of my everyday practice," says Isaak, who keeps a kosher diet. Isaak's faith isn't just about religion but about the complex intertwinings of politics and power. As the crisis in the Middle East boils over, tensions on campuses nationwide have grown, he says, and he feels compelled to speak up. "I think there's an automatic tendency to view Israel as this oppressive state that has no legitimacy," says Isaak, who jump-started Chaverim, Reed's Jewish student group, last year. "That's been difficult for me to reconcile with my own identity." Isaak was raised in a Conservative Jewish home, but says he now is not as observant as he once was. Consciously choosing faith A growing population of students at some of the nation's top colleges is emerging as a new breed of faithful followers who are attracted by the traditional core of Christianity, says author and journalist Colleen Carroll, whose book, "The New Faithful: Why Young Adults are Embracing Christian Orthodoxy," (Loyola Press, $19.95, 320 pages) was released last month. "For them, hearing that God is demanding a certain lifestyle from them, that there are certain things you don't do even if it feels right, that is a lot more countercultural than parents think," Carroll says. But their interest goes beyond rebellion, she says. Often, the students endure a period of questioning and doubt, only to return to their faith. "These kids may look like their grandparents in that they're going to the same churches, living by the same moral code, but in many ways they're very different," Carroll says. "They've consciously chosen faith. They've never had the luxury to just inherit and not question." This surge of orthodox youth means some campus organizations have to work harder to serve diverse needs even within one religion. At UO, Hillel offers both Conservative and Reform services. Some students find the group too different from their more traditional upbringing to participate, Zeldner says. "Some people I know won't go to services because it's not what they're used to," she says. Though Robertson, who graduated from Jesuit High School, plans to get more involved in Campus Crusade for Christ, he says being at college makes participating in religious life more difficult. "It's definitely harder than it was being at Jesuit," Robertson says. "Everyone over there was (in) some sort of religion. It kind of makes it easy."
Booklist, the review journal of the American Library Association During the past decade, there has been a remarkable resurgence of religious fervor among members of Generation X. Born into privilege and prosperity, many of these young people are now searching for spiritual, rather than materialistic, fulfillment. They are finding answers to their questions in a relatively new style of Christian Orthodoxy. Conservative churches are attracting droves of new members seeking both substance and sustenance. Not content to merely practice their faith privately, many of the newly committed embrace a more evangelical and action-oriented approach to worship. Based on countless interviews with young adults across the country, this exploration probes beneath the surface of Christian Orthodoxy, analyzing the root causes and the diverse consequences of this new religious movement. -- Margaret Flanagan
Canada's National Post, Saturday, December 07, 2002: Catholic ghosts, past, present, future Father Raymond J. de Souza The season might lend itself to casting these books as visits from the ghosts of Catholicism past (Wills), Catholicism present (Weigel) and Catholicism future (Carroll). The most topical of the three is Weigel's, and should be on the list of anyone who buys Christmas presents for priests. The Courage to be Catholic was written in direct response to the American sexual abuse scandals and reveals some of the twists and turns of the crisis, especially at the Vatican (Weigel is the author of the authoritative biography of Pope John Paul II). Yet the gravamen of Weigel's book is that the sexual abuse scandals are the bitter fruit of 30 years of infidelity to Catholic doctrine, laxity in priestly discipline and an unwillingness of bishops to act as courageous shepherds rather than mere managers. In response to a "culture of dissent" in which Church doctrine is contradicted without consequence and a blind eye is turned to moral failings, Weigel proposes a return to fidelity, beginning in seminaries and extending to the criteria for selecting bishops. The uniting theme of all his proposals is more radical discipleship and a return to Catholic fundamentals. The principal strength of Weigel's analysis is that he always looks at the Church through a theological lens which, though it may surprise many lay Catholics, is not always what bishops have done. This permits Weigel to cut through all the legal and public relations blather regarding priests who have committed grave sins. He begins with what the Catholic Church says her priests should be, namely, icons of Jesus Christ. In the sacramental imagination of Catholicism, the priest is not merely a deputy of the congregation, nor is he simply the one authorized to perform sacred tasks; rather he is by his ordination conformed spiritually to Jesus Christ so that in seeing him, Catholics ought to see Christ himself. That is why, Weigel, explains, a Catholic priest remains a priest forever. The Church cannot take back that conforming grace of the sacraments. Yet a priest who abuses children so deforms that image of Christ that he can no longer serve as an icon, and therefore, Weigel argues, he can no longer serve as a priest. It is a theological argument far more satisfying than debates about concepts quite alien to the Church's vocabulary such as "zero tolerance" or "one strike." Weigel's book on the present state of affairs squarely fixes the blame on those who have reigned supreme in seminaries, theological faculties and episcopal bureaucracies for three decades. He calls them the "Catholic Lite Brigade" for their desire to water down the traditional faith. The Lite Brigade, who would style themselves liberal or progressive Catholics, have no more articulate spokesman than Garry Wills, whose Why I Am a Catholic defends his allies' role in the recent Catholic past. Wills' book is an "unintended sequel" to his book Papal Sin, which indicted the papacy for institutionalized deceit throughout history. This book attempts to answer why Wills remains a Catholic. That being said, most of the book consists of rehashing his dolorous history of the papacy; in the two millennia of the Church, only Pope John XXIII seems to meet with Wills' approval. As he does in Papal Sin, Wills presents a tendentious reading of history. Every possible conflict is resolved against the papacy, to the extent that Wills writes that the English Catholic martyrs of the 16th century should justly be considered traitors to the English Crown. That is, to put it gently, incompatible with the Catholic view. Which gets to the heart of the matter: Is Wills' presentation of the faith to which he adheres recognizable as the authentic Catholic tradition? Whether Garry Wills should be a Catholic or Anglican or Unitarian is something which no reviewer can pronounce upon, but it is fair to conclude that the Catholic faith as he presents it is not how the Catholic Church has historically understood herself. For example, while Weigel calls for a renewed priesthood in all its iconic fullness, Wills argues that the Catholic priesthood is something endlessly modifiable, a creature of the Church's own law. He likes to point out that Christ did not ordain anyone a priest, which is beside the central point. Christ did not baptize anyone either, but Catholic doctrine insists that both sacraments originate in the divine will. In the end, Wills proposes not the flesh-and-blood, gritty, Biblical faith that Catholicism is, but an abstract confection in which one professes faith in general principles that never seem to make demands in concrete situations. The upshot is that Wills adheres to a papacy without popes, a creed without definite content, martyrdom without actual martyrs, authority without authoritative judgments, and morality without the moral drama of sanctity and sin. In short, it is Catholicism in which being a Catholic does not really matter very much. In The New Faithful, Colleen Carroll, a twenty-something journalist formerly of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, says that the future will not turn out to be the one Garry Wills imagined when he was a young man. If Weigel calls for a new, muscular and confident Catholicism, Carroll provides the evidence that it may be on the horizon. Writing not just about Catholics -- though they do form the largest part of the book -- Carroll identifies a new generation of dynamic leaders who are opting in radical ways for the "tried-and-true world view of Christian orthodoxy." Canadians will recognize in Carroll's book of profiles and anecdotal evidence the same scenes they saw on the streets last summer during World Youth Day. Wills dismisses all that by appealing to survey data that show that X number of Catholics disagree with Church teaching on this, that and the next thing. The future of the Church is not decided by those who give answers to telephone pollsters. It is decided by those who give their lives to the faith they hold to be true. The New Faithful is less an argument than the story of lives touched and lives transformed -- and thus may be the most important book of the lot, for that is what the Church exists to do.
Capital Times (Madison, WI), December 17, 2002: BOOKS ON FAITH AND ETHICS ENLIGHTEN, ADVISE Looking for a sense of enlightenment, entitlement, fresh perspective or foolproof advice? Check the store shelves for these titles By Mary Bergin of The Capital Times "The New Faithful: Why Young Adults Are Embracing Christian Orthodoxy" by Colleen Carroll (Loyola Press, $19.95) - The author, a newspaper journalist in St. Louis, contends that young adults are doing an about-face regarding religion and morality by rebelling against the liberal traditions of their families. That conclusion is based on Gallup polls, sociological research, church membership trends and the observations of denominational leaders on and off major college campuses. Anecdotal evidence is plentiful. The book has Gen X and Y tales of the search for meaning in life, and the religious rituals that have become their priorities. We read of students who start their own Bible study/prayer groups, who attend Latin Mass, who are saving sex for marriage. Carroll, a Marquette University grad, received a $50,000 Phillips Journalism Fellowship to produce this book. She shows a bit of her hand in the book's acknowledgements, where she writes that she is "grateful to the God who answered the call of my heart."
Crisis Magazine, April 2003 Orthodoxy Returns By Kathryn Jean Lopez Even the most faithful Catholics could easily find themselves depressed after this past year. So far as the mainstream media are concerned, the Catholic Church is synonymous with abuse and scandal. Most of us know better, but still the headlines and the water-cooler talk can be hard to bear. A young reporter named Colleen Carroll has an antidote for such discouragement. In her new book 0 The New Faithful: Why Young Adults Are Embracing Christian Orthodoxy, Carroll tells the story of a "small but committed core" of young Christians who want nothing more than to be authentic members of their churches, young people who are increasingly opting for "time-tested approaches to metaphysical questions." While the book is not just about Catholics, Carroll herself is Catholic, and many of the young Christians she writes about found their faith on the path to Rome. If you have trouble praying for miracles, this book might help. Consider:  Well-educated twenty- and thirty-somethings-she focused on those born between 1965 and 1983-who have grown up with moral relativism, who have been taught to believe that there is no singular truth, are again seeking Truth.  And once they get hold of it, they're not only singing its praises, they're living it. Peter Kreeft of Boston College says, "Today's young adults are rejecting 'the old, tired, liberal, modern' mindset in favor of a more orthodox one." According to Carroll, this is not a small, isolated movement. Something of a mini-Great Awakening seems to be afoot. University of Chicago philosopher Jean Bethke Elshtain told Carroll: "I certainly have detected among my students a quest for some kind of purpose or meaning." She notes the most surprising trend-students who arrive at a secular university with a religious faith that deepens during their years there. And as Carroll writes, these are not "perpetual seekers." These young adults are "committed to a religious worldview that grounds their lives and shapes their morality. They are not lukewarm believers or passionate dissenters. When they are embracing a faith tradition or deepening their commitment to it, they want to do so wholeheartedly or not at all." In other words, they are exactly the kind of young people you want in your church-particularly when you think about its future. The numbers, though scarce, appear to back up the author's hopeful contention. One study has found that nearly 80 percent of teenagers consider religion a significant influence in their lives. George Barna found in a 1999 survey that 42 percent of those born between 1965 and 1983 were likely to attend church weekly (compared with 33 percent of their parents). A more recent survey of Catholics found that "the three core elements of faith of today's young Catholics are belief in God's presence in the sacraments (including the presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist), concern for helping the poor, and devotion to Mary as the mother of God." Another survey found that young priests today are "increasingly conservative on theological questions" and (in Carroll's words) "have more in common with conservative elderly priests than with the more liberal middle-aged baby boomers who directly preceded them." This new generation of priests has not been bred in the culture of theological dissent. Good news-especially if they are able to benefit from the lessons of that culture's failure. The author considers the rising demand for traditional liturgy as another sign of this renewal. She remarks on "the popularity of traditional services in mainline Protestant churches-like the Sunday night compline service at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral in Seattle that has drawn crowds of more than six hundred, most of whom are young adults." The number of U.S. dioceses offering Tridentine Masses rose from six in 1990 to 131 in 1999. Not long ago my own alma mater, the Catholic University of America, was under the leadership of a president who adamantly preached that the school was "a university before Catholic." Now, under a new administration, the university hosts a popular Eucharistic adoration service. The author is also interested in the impact this new generation of converts may have on the culture at large: "The young adults who embrace organized religion tend to be cultural gatekeepers who have a disproportionately large impact in academic, artistic, political, and professional circles. Their talents, education, and positions make them natural trendsetters in the church and the culture." The book profiles Capitol Hill staffers, book publishers, beauty queens, and, of course, priests. Carroll's generally sympathetic tone leaves room for important reservations.  She does not ignore the remnant mentality alarmingly common among her orthodox contemporaries: Conservative Catholics, besieged by fellow Catholics and the culture at large, tend toward defensiveness and isolation. Condemnations of them as judgmental and self-righteous sometimes reveal the critic's own prejudices against orthodoxy. But often those criticisms are deserved, as many young Catholics who adhere to papal authority or revere liturgical tradition regard liberal Catholics or non-Catholics with a mixture of condescension and contempt. Some seem doomed to repeat the mistakes of the pre-Vatican II church that gave too little credence to the laity and of cultural Catholics who confuse accidentals of the faith with its essentials. Many young orthodox Catholics are sensitive to this problem, but many others spend so much time with like-minded friends that they fail to realize how others perceive them. If they do not guard against that tendency toward rigidity, they could render their orthodox revolution irrelevant. Young evangelicals, on the other hand, have exactly the opposite problem: Instead of isolating themselves from the greater culture, they are sometimes "tripping over themselves to prove how relevant, culturally engaged, and non-judgmental they are." Carroll argues convincingly that prayer, Scripture, and the sacraments are the solution to both problems. Overall, The New Faithful is a hopeful book. The conversion stories Carroll has collected give us reason to believe that the Church may be quietly gaining ground on at least one front. The people Carroll introduces us to are the kind of people we want to know are around and with us as the Church in America enters the 21st century. Kathryn Jean Lopez is executive editor of National Review Online (www.nationalreview.com) and an associate editor of National Review. She can be reached at klopez@nationalreview.com.
================================================== ZENIT News Agency, The World Seen from Rome ================================================== Generation X and the Turn to Christian Orthodoxy Journalist Colleen Carroll on a Surprising Trend   WASHINGTON, D.C., APRIL 29, 2003 (Zenit.org).- The growth of evangelical "mega-churches" has long been a focus of media attention. Much less noted has been the embrace of traditional Christianity by Generation X and the rejection of the religious and cultural values of that generation's parents, the baby boomers. A Gen-X journalist, Colleen Carroll, set about to document this trend. The result was a highly acclaimed book, "The New Faithful: Why Young Adults Are Embracing Christian Orthodoxy" (Loyola Press). Carroll described the phenomenon of "the new faithful" in an interview with ZENIT.   Q: How did you ever launch upon this project of finding out about "the new faithful"? Carroll: I first saw signs of the trend toward orthodoxy in the mid-1990s, when I was a student at Marquette University. The students there were not necessarily of the "new faithful" mold, but they also defied the "cynical slacker" stereotype of Generation X. Many had an almost visceral attraction to God, the Church, and self-sacrifice. Later, as a young newspaper journalist, I continued to see a disparity between media portrayals of my generation and the young adults that I saw all around me. Not all young adults are attracted to orthodoxy, but a growing number are seeking truth and embracing a demanding practice of their faith. Their stories were not being told in the mainstream media, and many religion experts seemed to be tone deaf to their voices. So, with the help of a grant from the Phillips Foundation and a book contract from Loyola Press, I set out to explore this trend and tell their stories.   Q: Is this "new faithful" phenomenon a part of the new springtime in the Church? Carroll: Yes, I believe the new faithful are at the heart of the Church's new springtime and are a driving force behind the new evangelization. I interviewed a mix of young Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox Christians for "The New Faithful." The Catholics I interviewed certainly stand at the forefront of renewal in the Catholic Church. They are committed to spreading the Gospel -- a commitment instilled in many of them by their hero, Pope John Paul II.   Q: Who are the new faithful? Did they have any previous religious background? Carroll: As I mentioned earlier, the New faithful come from denominations across the Christian spectrum, though most are Catholics or evangelicals. They range in age from about 18 to 35. They are united by firm, personal, life-changing commitments to Jesus Christ. Their religious backgrounds vary. Many grew up in secular homes or fallen-away Catholic homes. Many others were raised in evangelical or mainline Protestant churches or Catholic parishes. Nearly all of them faced a reckoning in young adulthood that forced them to decide if they would make following Christ the central concern of their lives or not. These young adults have chosen to take Christianity seriously, and have decided that embracing Christian orthodoxy is the way to do that. Their faith commitments have led them to make countercultural decisions about everything from who and how they date to which careers they pursue and which political causes they embrace.   Q: Your title suggests that the new faithful are embracing Christian orthodoxy. Does that mean Catholicism? Carroll: The orthodoxy embraced by "The New Faithful" is a small "o" orthodoxy that encompasses more than one denomination. Many, many Catholics have embraced an orthodox practice of their faith, and my book focuses a great deal of attention on them. But this trend crosses denominational borders. To draw boundaries for this book, I borrowed a definition from G.K. Chesterton, who said orthodoxy means "the Apostles' Creed, as understood by everybody calling himself Christian until a very short time ago and the general historic conduct of those who held such a creed." Or, as one young man told me, "orthodoxy means you can say the Apostles' Creed without crossing your fingers behind your back."   Q: Are the new faithful receiving good catechesis? From where are they receiving such teaching? Carroll: Yes and no. Most of the New faithful, particularly the Catholics in this group, did not receive good catechesis as children. Many were raised by parents who did not know or teach the faith. Many others attended Catholic schools and parishes where they learned "God is love" -- and little else. These twenty- and thirty-something Catholics grew up in the years after Vatican II, when the American Church was still struggling to make sense of the changes. They suffered the effects of a religious education crisis, and many never learned even the most elementary Christian teachings. The good news: Many young adults have taken it upon themselves to learn the faith and study Church teaching, by forming parish groups to study Scripture, the Catechism, or the teachings of the Holy Father. And many have benefited from the new boom in Catholic apologetics materials and the rise of such popular apologists as Scott Hahn. The Catholic apologetics craze -- driven in large part by the catechetical demands of this generation -- reflects the deep and widespread hunger for truth among today's young Catholics.   Q: What aspects of Catholicism did the new faithful feel drawn to? Why have they chosen the Church or Christian orthodoxy rather than the New Age spiritualities the Church recently addressed? Carroll: The New faithful Catholics are drawn to precisely those aspects of Catholicism that repelled many of their baby boomer elders. They love Church tradition and history. They relish devotions like the rosary, and they line up for confession in droves. They are committed to eucharistic adoration and evangelization. And they love the Pope -- not simply because they admire his personality, but because they admire his commitment to defending the truth in season and out of season. These young Catholics grew up in a society saturated with moral relativism and dominated by the idea that they should "do whatever feels good." They see orthodoxy as a fresh alternative to those values, an oasis of truth and stability in a world gone mad. While many of their elders criticize Church teaching as rigid or retrograde, these young adults love the Church's time-honored teachings and countercultural stands. To them, it is New Age spirituality -- not orthodox Catholicism -- that's empty, boring, and yesterday's news.   Q: What factors within the culture and the larger society do you think gave rise to the new faithful? Carroll: The rise of the new faithful is partly the result of a pendulum swing. Many of these young adults are the sons and daughters of the hippies, children of the flower children. These young adults think that authority and tradition make more sense than free love and no-fault divorce. Many suffered ill consequences from baby boomer experimentation in morality and religion, and they want their own children to experience a more stable life. They crave stability for themselves, as well. But sociology only gets us so far in this analysis. In the end, each of these young adults tells a story far richer, and far more complex, than the story of the pendulum swing. I met doctors, lawyers, Hollywood writers, and cloistered nuns who told me amazing conversion stories, stories of faith and hope and a love that reached out and grabbed them when they least expected to find God. For a Christian, the only way to understand those stories is to take these young adults at their word, and judge God by his works, and see this as the amazing grace of the Holy Spirit being poured out on a generation once considered lost.   Q: Do you have any sociological data to back up your findings? How widespread is this phenomenon of the new faithful and why is it largely found among young, educated, professional people? Carroll: The book overflows with statistics -- from the Gallup poll that shows a growing number of teen-agers identifying themselves as "religious" instead of "spiritual but not religious," to the UCLA freshmen poll that shows approval for abortion and casual sex dropping year after year. This trend has not swept over the entire generation, of course. The new faithful still constitute a fairly modest segment of the population. But their influence extends well beyond their numbers because so many of these new faithful are educated professionals with a disproportionate amount of cultural influence. They are rising stars in politics, the arts, the entertainment industry, in medicine and law and journalism. They are the sort of bright, culturally engaged young adults that their peers tend to follow. And they are uniting -- across denominational lines, in many cases -- to bring the Gospel to every realm of American life that they touch.   Q: Do you see this phenomenon continuing for the foreseeable future? Carroll: This phenomenon is on the rise, and for the reasons mentioned above, it has considerable room to grow and serious staying power. As this movement grows, the new faithful will be tempted to fall into extremes of either isolation from the culture or capitulation to it. Both extremes could undermine this movement and hamper the spread of the Gospel by these believers. Those who want to be "salt and light" in the world will have to keep those dangers in mind, and strive to be "in the world, but not of the world."   Q: How has the secular media responded to your findings? Has your book received much attention outside of Christian media? Carroll: The secular media has given this book a good deal of attention, which has been gratifying. "The New Faithful" has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, Washington Post, National Review, PBS, Canada's National Post, and dozens of other regional newspapers and secular radio outlets. Many secular journalists still struggle to understand this trend: It's counterintuitive for those who assume religion is on the wane and orthodoxy is on life support. But to their credit, a fair number of baby boomer journalists in the secular media have been willing to consider that the excesses of their generation may have made today's young adults reluctant to follow in their footsteps, and attracted those young adults to orthodoxy.
Canada's National Post, December 10, 2003 Religion is no pyjama party By Father Raymond J. de Souza It is a commonplace that the mainstream media just doesn't "get it" when it comes to covering religion. Even so, every so often something so embarrassing makes it to air that one suspects it was made entirely without adult supervision. That may well have been the case last Saturday with CTV's newsmagazine 21st Century (the youth-oriented version of W5). The program was so extraordinarily obtuse that mere incompetent reportage could not possibly explain it. The program was ostensibly focused on the religious landscape of youth in Canada -- with the promise that surprising things are afoot. Indeed. The majority of the program was given over to exploring Wicca, repeatedly ballyhooed as the "fastest-growing" religion in Canada. How so? My brother recently got married, so his household is growing faster than the world population, having doubled in just one year! Wicca is now up to 25,000 adherents we were told, which would put this "fast-growing" phenomenon at about 3% of the number of people who attended World Youth Day with the Pope last year. The comparison is apposite, because the program also featured two young Catholics, a woman from Vancouver and a Toronto man who had entered, respectively, the convent and the seminary. In the former case, the WYD experience was a decisive factor. What unites Wiccans and our new vocations? Perhaps young people doing unusual religious things? Actually, freakishness was suggested, but not of the equal-opportunity variety. The Wiccans, we were told, were very responsible, cheerful folk, carefully adhering to the "discipline" of ceremonial incantations and spell-casting rituals. As for Sr. Antoniana, who left behind her family, and Ed Curtis, who left behind his girlfriends, they were just a touch weird, illustrated with plenty shots of weeping parents and frequent questions about sex. CTV introduced us to a coven of teenage witches, giggling through a slumber party as they fielded questions on Wicca theology with all the sophistication for which the adolescent mind is renowned. Not to worry, we were assured that contemporary witchcraft is the heir to a millennial pagan tradition, even "older than Christianity." As for Christianity itself, we were told that Jesus was "apparently celibate" and the Church got around to priestly celibacy around 1600 or so. In the upside-down world of CTV's religious journalism, Christianity is the slightly curious novelty, while Wicca is the laudable tradition. Young people embracing lifelong dedication to worship of God, service to the poor, and yes, chastity, are subject to skeptical scrutiny, while dilettantes who prance around a fire before donning their pyjamas to gossip about cute boys are portrayed as serious spiritual seekers. All of which is a shame, because CTV missed an opportunity to cover what is truly remarkable on the youth religious landscape today -- of which last year's WYD was a manifestation. Documented in a remarkable book published last year by Colleen Carroll, a former editorial writer with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, all across the United States teenagers and young adults are embracing the orthodox demands of the Christian tradition. Anecdotal evidence in Canada suggests that the same is happening here. But in the absence of a Canadian version of Carroll's The New Faithful: Why Young Adults are Embracing Christian Orthodoxy, further investigation is needed. CTV might have profitably looked into that. That religious affiliations and practice are in decline is the standard storyline. But there are important exceptions to that story, especially among future leaders who turn to orthodox Christianity looking for the meaning that success in other spheres of life has not provided. I serve as a Catholic chaplain at Queen's University and the Christian fellowships and campus chaplaincies are vibrant and more numerous than most other clubs. They don't get much attention -- and 21st Century is a perfect example of why journalists are missing the story. "Young adults who have grown up in a culture that celebrates self-indulgence and sexual license and in churches that stress love of self more than service to God have seen the fallout of self-fulfillment fads," Carroll writes. "Families divided by no-fault divorce. Adults pursuing pleasure or careers with reckless abandon. Children left to raise themselves, making adult decisions -- and adult mistakes -- well before their time. The pendulum swings, and they find themselves captivated by Christianity's emphasis on self-restraint, sacrifice and commitment." In that context, Sr. Antoniana and Ed Curtis are far more important cultural harbingers than are the slumber-party girls dabbling in spiritualism. Far from freakish, they are normal young people who have discovered that the wisdom of the ages offers, well, wisdom for our age too. Carroll speaks about a generation "weary with secularism." For those with a hankering after ersatz spirituality, Wicca and other new-agey nostrums might fit the bill. But for those who want the real thing -- accompanied by real sacrifice and real joy -- the ol' time religion is the answer. © National Post 2003
More information about The New Faithful:
The New Faithful has become required reading for courses at several colleges and universities, including Wheaton College, Benedictine College, and Immaculata University.    A finalist for the ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Award, The New Faithful debuted and repeatedly returned to the top 10 bestseller list of the Catholic Book Publisher's Association from 2002 through 2004.
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