The Nones: Where to Begin?

This series aims to organize the cacophony of voices discussing the issue of people (young adults specifically) who have left the Church. Later topics will discuss rethinking the very name "None", the different types of people who have disaffiliated or are disaffiliating, things that tend to keep young people grounded in their faith, and a practical method for accompanying nones back to the faith. 

Let this introductory article serve as a sort of bibliography and a preview for what is to follow. A "for further reading" section, if you will. 

We'll start with where it all began: PEW Research's (in)famous article, None's on the Rise. Published in 2012, this article awoke people to the shocking reality that young people are leaving behind faith in favor of no religious affiliation, with shocking statistics like ~20% of American citizens held no religious affiliation - up 25% from just five years before, and how 32% of all young adults aged 18-29 were religiously unaffiliated (p.9).

Going, Going, Gone by St. Mary's Press, in conjunction with the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) was the first sociological study specifically focused on the dynamics of Catholic disaffiliation. The unique spin on this short work is that they primarily utilize qualatative rather than quantative research. This means that instead of statistics and charts, they provide real life interview responses from disaffiliated young people. They ask, and provide the responses to why these young people have and are leaving the Church.

Bishop Robert Barron, probably the most outspoken Catholic on the topic of the disaffiliated young people released his first video on the Nones in 2017, the same year that Going, Going, Gone was published. Much of his ministry Word on Fire, is dedicated to evangelization and specifically combatting the problem of disaffiliation through providing thoughtful and meaningful dialogue with the culture at large.

Forming Intentional Disciples, though author Sherry Weddell did not use the phrase "none", provided important insight and offered practical advice for preventing and combatting the issue of disaffiliation. 

Though there has been much more spilled ink on the topic, let these works serve as the foundation for understanding the situation of the nones. In the next article in the series, I will dive into different types of disaffiliates, and why it is important to differentiate between them as lay and clerical ministers accompany these young people.