Abstract
Catholic schools in this country continue to struggle with declining enrollment just as the wider American Church continues to struggle with rampant disaffiliation. While some Catholic educators have generated creative solutions to keep their schools afloat, the long-term viability of U.S. Catholic education will require understanding the deep roots of current disaffiliation trends in the gradual fading of the Christian worldview from Westerners’ imaginations. This article addresses this issue by interpreting sociological data about the faith lives of Catholics and Americans in general through the lens of contemporary research on secularization. Working from these interpretive insights, the author suggests concrete implications for how an understanding of the subtle forces precipitating this momentous historical change might guide the work of Catholic educators.
DOI
10.15365/joce.2102022018
First Page
26
Last Page
52
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Manning, P. R. (2018). Disintegrating Worldviews and the Future of Catholic Education: Addressing the Deep Roots of Catholic Disaffiliation. Journal of Catholic Education. https://doi.org/10.15365/joce.2102022018
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