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American Catholics in Transition 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.

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Library Journal Review

D'Antonio (sociology, Catholic Univ. of America), Michele Dillon (sociology, Univ. of New Hampshire), and Mary Gautier (Ctr. for Applied Research in the Apostolate, Georgetown Univ.) report on 25 years of surveys (1987-2011) of American Catholics that the authors undertook at six-year intervals. D'Antonio and colleagues have reported cumulatively on these surveys previously (e.g., American Catholics Today in 2007). They begin here with a description of the surveys over the years. Since the first one, Catholics have remained at about 25 percent of the country's population, but this is because of the influx of Hispanic immigrants. At the same time, 16 million to 20 million people born Catholic no longer identify as such. Faith in the fundamentals has remained strong, but the view of the church's moral authority has changed, and women are less committed to the church. VERDICT A well-written study that makes no judgments but does interpret the data to give a telling portrait of the state of the Catholic Church in America, this volume will appeal to those who like to be given the facts and come to their own conclusions. Peter McDonough's The Catholic Labyrinth, reviewed below, offers a more detailed (and opinionated) study of both conservative and liberal U.S. Catholic organizations seeking change in the church.-Augustine J. Curley, Newark Abbey, NJ (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

D'Antonio (Catholic Univ. of America), Dillon (Univ. of New Hampshire), and Gautier (Georgetown Univ.) have written a report on the fifth survey (administered in 2010) in a series of opinion polls of the American Catholic laity that started in 1987. Responses were analyzed by generation, gender, and ethnicity, with attention to the increasing impact of Hispanic Catholics. Many trends established in the earlier studies have stayed on the same trajectory, with a few changes. Core beliefs remain strong, the magisterium carries relatively little weight with the laity, and certain areas (the importance of the sacraments, Mary the Mother of God, and helping the poor) continue to differentiate Catholics from others. On the other hand, a decreasing commitment on the part of American women to the church is evident. Hispanics often are more traditional in their responses, but the authors do not discuss whether this will change with economic and cultural assimilation. The study is clear and readable. The authors clearly have a bias toward what one might call the "progressive" direction in American Catholicism. At times one can see that a different grouping of the data would present a different picture. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through researchers/faculty. L. S. Creider New Mexico State University Library

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

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, includingAmerican 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.