U.S. Catholic
October 2006
Volume 71; Number 10
A special issue on young adult Catholics
We’re just not that into you
Some have dubbed the latest crop of young adult Catholics “Generation Disconnect,” but, explains Renée M. LaReau, their reasons for unplugging from Sunday Mass are a little bit more complicated.
It’s Sunday . . . Do you know where your children are?
For generations Sunday Mass was a nonnegotiable, but no more, laments Mike Mallowe, who wonders why boomer parents like himself have been unable to pass on the Sunday obligation.
10 reasons not to go to Mass (and one really good reason why you should)
The usual laundry list of reasons for going to church just doesn’t wash with his college-age kids, says Gregory F. Augustine Pierce, but he hopes he’s come up with a ringer.
If you rebuild it, they will come
A generation ago, young adult Catholics were the foundation of parish life, says Father John Cusick, director of young adult ministry for the Archdiocese of Chicago, in Expert Witness. But bringing the current crop back to church may take a little restructuring.
feature
Globe-trotter
St. Francis Xavier had a master plan for greatness, but the Master had greater plans for this first-generation Jesuit, explains Greg Heffernan in Wise Guides.
sounding board
Hooray for Hollywood!
Believers may find it easy to paint showbiz as a den of iniquity, argues media educator Sister Rose Pacatte, F.S.P. in Sounding Board, but it’s time to shine the spotlight on the good work media makers do—and enlighten ourselves in the process. Readers give some thumbs up and some down in Feedback.
essays/opinion
Foreign service
As she searched for a parish in secular Sweden, Julia M. Adler discovered it is possible to find a steeple in a snowpack.
Wake-up call
Though a caffeine-free morning prayer is no easy task, acknowledges Bill Harkin in Practicing Catholic, the psalms and readings of the breviary give him the spiritual jolt he needs.
Cross purposes
Larger-than-life Christian symbols seem to be the order of the day, but Bryan Cones wonders in The Examined Life if wearing our religion on our civic sleeve may have some unintended consequences.
departments
Editors’ Note
You May Be Right: Letters
Signs of the Time: News
Catholic Tastes
Glad You Asked: Is it OK to clap at Mass?
Under Review
Spirituality Café
Meditation: Jerry Bleem, O.F.M.
columns
Odds & Ends by Peter Gilmour
Is it hot in here, or is it just me?
Margin Notes by Kevin Clarke
What is it good for?
Testaments by Alice Camille
Here’s Johnny!
Culture in Context by Patrick McCormick
Criminal intent