Young Catholics and Relativism

According to a recent survey of the “milennial generation” (those between 18-29 years of age) regarding their Catholic beliefs, attitudes and practices, the findings are very different.

The Marist College Institute of Public Opinion conducted the survey at years end, under the sponsorship of the K of C. The Catholic News Service, and Stephen Kent, reports that two-thirds of young Americans in general agreed with the statement thet “morals are relative: that there is no definite right or wrong for everybody.”

Findings about their beliefs, etc. include:
~Plagiarism is a greater evil than abortion. While two-thirds agreed that abortion is morally wrong, 87% feel claiming someone else’s work as one’s own is morally wrong;
~67% of Americans believe “moral values in the country are headed in the wrong direction.” (How can they determine the wrong path when the destination is relative?)
~Two in three young people want to learn more about the faith.

The featured article goes on to suggest that “the milennnials and others interested in learning more about the Catholic faith could listen to Pope Benedict XVI, who hardly sounds like the hard-nosed enforcer he’s often stereotyped to be. Some excerpts from a meeting that the Pope had with young seminarians to ponder:
~“Christianity is not a set of moral rules but a path to a relationship with God. The first thing they need to learn is that “faith is about relationships, not rules following”.
~“Rules do not create relationships: relationships do not require rules.”
~What is wrong for everybody at all times is anything that violates any relationship and certainly the one with God.” Jesus does not call for a blind obedience of rules but a relationship in which His will would become the disciples’ will and His love their love”, the Pope related.
~Earlier, the Pope told a group of Scottish Bishops that the Church’s “positive and inspiring vision of human life” should not be presented in a negative light of opposition but as a “message of hope.”

The Church has a terrific opportunity to build upon the next generation of Catholics. Perhaps what people would see is not so much a decline in moral values (a symptom), according to the feature, but the root cause (a declline in right relationship with each other and with God).

Diane Fausel