“Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,* and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Lk 1: 31-33
I had an opportunity to see the new data from the latest American Beliefs research, and dive into Catholic responses.
As a reminder, American Beliefs is a comprehensive study of Christian beliefs and social needs in the US, collecting feedback from over 15,000 respondents. Approximately 24% of respondents identify as Catholic. The study is designed to reflect a balanced range of responses from across the United States.
The survey examines core beliefs along with social needs and lifestyles. Catholic responses to core beliefs are shown in the first graph, which indicates that the majority of Catholics agree with statements about Jesus. It’s notable that there are still significant numbers who have no opinion or even disagree with statements that are expressions of our faith. A new question was added in the recent survey to determine the level of interest in learning more about Jesus. The responses were (surprisingly to me) strong, with 46% strongly agreeing.
The data indicate that the efforts of the Eucharistic Congress and our parish leaders are having a positive effect on beliefs. They also seem to indicate that there is both desire and opportunity for more education and faith formation, which might help people be more secure in their beliefs.
In 2022, I wrote an article expressing concern about this same data. Fewer than 40% of Catholics believed that Jesus rules now and always, so I was very interested to see the comparative results for Catholic responses in the newly completed ACST American Beliefs research study.
50% of respondents strongly agree Jesus was both divine and human, up from 45%, 43% strongly agree that Jesus rules now and always in comparison to 39% in 2021, and 39% strongly agree that Jesus rose from the dead, up 6%. While these new results are encouraging, half of us say we somewhat agree or even disagree. While the efforts of our Church leaders are having an impact, we do need to continue our energy and focus on evangelization and catechesis.
At ACST Catholic we are seeing many examples of parish leaders who sense the urgency of the time and have embraced the need to “go out” in this new apostolic age.
In his summary: From Christendom to Apostolic Mission: Pastoral Strategies for an Apostolic Age by Msgr. James Shea, Fr. Richard Collin extracts key points for pastors: “Preaching in an apostolic age needs to begin with the appeal to a completely different way of seeing things; it needs to offer a different narrative concerning the great human drama; it needs to aim to put into place the key elements of the integrated Christian vision of the world within which the moral and spiritual disciplines the Church imposes find their place”
This shift in preaching and the excellent efforts of parish leaders to form active missionary disciples are bearing fruit that we see in the data. Systems such as MinistryPlatform from ACST Catholic serve as meaningful structural support for parishioner engagement and accompaniment. We have the mindset and the resources in place and underway to continue to help people be open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit!
Terry Poplava
Terry Poplava serves as General Manager, ACST Catholic. As a cradle Catholic, his faith was lukewarm until he was confronted by the intense challenge and commitment he heard in the message about Stewardship. “What do I own and what owns me?” which led him to executive roles at Our Sunday Visitor and Catholic Leadership Institute before his current focus on serving the Catholic Church at ACS Technologies. Terry has extensive experience working with churches across the U.S., supporting their planning, stewardship, and engagement efforts
