Sherry Weddell on Mike Pence’s religion: ‘He is the 21st-century norm, not the exception’

Last updated on: July 30, 2016 at 9:18 am by Deacon Greg Kandra

Sherry Weddell on Mike Pence’s religion: ‘He is the 21st-century norm, not the exception’ 2016-07-30T09:18:17-04:00 Deacon Greg Kandra

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Sherry Weddell, author of the acclaimed book “Forming Intentional Disciples,” looks at the story of Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence—who was raised Catholic and is now a self-described “Catholic evangelical”— as both typical and “a wake-up call”:

In my early days as a Catholic, I remember lively conversations with my first pastor, who just couldn’t take in what I was telling him: that many Catholics were leaving the Church for the evangelical world. He was incredulous. How could they leave the Eucharist? Father demanded that I “tell them to stop it!” I’ve been working on that ever since.

We must grasp that Mike Pence is the 21st-century norm, not the exception. We live in an era in which the majority of Americans raised as Catholics have left the Church at some point in their lives. According to Pew Research in a Sept. 2, 2015, study, 52% of Catholic adults have left the Church; and so far, 11% have come back. The same survey indicates 41% have not yet returned. It is essential that we understand that many think about leaving for months or years before they exit stage right — and that many leave not because their faith in God is declining, but because it is growing; and they honestly believe, based upon what they have experienced, that there is little or no help to be found in the Catholic community.

Related: Mike Pence, ‘evangelical Catholic’ who considered becoming a priest

A friend in parish ministry told me the true story of six men and women — all unrelated to one another — who came to her one at a time in a single month to say, “I’m thinking about leaving the parish for the mega church down the road because I have these questions, and there isn’t anyone in the parish that I can talk to about this.”

And she explains:

Mike Pence has a lot of company in the evangelical world. The Pew 2014 U.S. “Religious Landscape Survey” found that 13% of adults raised Catholic now consider themselves to be evangelicals (roughly 6 million people). And leaving the Church as an undergrad is all too normal. White college-age Millennials (ages 18-24) are 17 times more likely to leave the Catholic Church than to enter it. Young Catholic Millennials are also 10 times more likely to leave the faith of their childhood than a college-age white evangelical, according to the 2012 “Millennial Values Survey” sponsored by the Public Religion Research Institute.

Related: Why Mike Pence left the Democrats and the Catholic Church

But where Catholics proactively evangelize, there is real hope. A fascinating new finding is that 6% of American adults are cradle Catholics who now call themselves Protestants or “nones,” while still feeling at least partially Catholic. Pew has a term for adults who don’t think of themselves as Catholic in terms of religious practice but who do think of themselves as “partially Catholic” for other reasons: “cultural Catholics.”

Anyone who cares about the large number of Catholics drifting from the faith needs to read the rest.

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