American Catholics in Transition

American Catholics reports on five surveys carried out at six year intervals over a period of 25 years, from 1987 to 2011. The surveys are national probability samples of American Catholics, age 18 and older, now including four generations of Catholics. Over these twenty five years, the authors have found significant changes in Catholics attitudes and behavior as well as many enduring trends in the explanation of Catholic identity. Generational change helps explain many of the differences. Many millennial Catholics continue to remain committed to and active in the Church, but there are some interesting patterns of difference within this generation. Hispanic Catholics are more likely than their non-Hispanic peers to emphasize social justice issues such as immigration reform and concern for the poor; and while Hispanic millennial women are the most committed to the Church, non-Hispanic millennial women are the least committed to Catholicism. In this fifth book in the series, the authors expand on the topics that were introduced in the first four editions. The authors are able to point to dramatic changes in and across generations and gender, especially regarding Catholic identity, commitment, parish life, and church authority. William V. D Antonio, Michele Dillon, and Mary L. Gautier provide timely information pertaining to Catholics views regarding current pressing issues in the Church, such as the priest shortage and alternative liturgical arrangements and same-sex marriage. The authors, also, provides the first full portrayal of how the growing numbers of Hispanic Catholics in the U.S. are changing the Church.

William V. D’Antonio is research professor of sociology at The Catholic University of America and a Fellow of the Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies. He is the co-author or co-editor of fifteen books, including American Catholics Today.

Michele Dillon is professor and chair in the Department of Sociology at the University of New Hampshire, and President of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. She is the author of a number of books including Catholic Identity: Balancing Reason, Faith, and Power, and In the Course of a Lifetime: Tracing Religious Belief, Practice, and Change (co-author Paul Wink). In 2012, she was the JE and Lillian Byrne Tipton Distinguished Visiting Professor in Catholic Studies, at the University of California Santa Barbara.

Mary L. Gautier is senior research associate at the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. She is coauthor of a number of books, most recently Same Call, Different Men: The Evolution of the Priesthood Since Vatican II.