The New Faithful: Why Young Adults Are Embracing Christian Orthodoxy

May I add input from someone even older than the "Boomer Generation," not to mention the "Gen-Xers" about whom this book is written? Having finished Colleen Carroll's excellent book, I'd like to persuade some of her less enthusiastic readers to more deeply investigate what I believe to be a false dichotomy between faith and works. That false dichotomy is not new. I grew up during the '40's and '50's, a product of excellent, pre-Vatican II Catholic (Loretto) teaching -- and orthodox sermons -- followed by public school, then a non-sectarian private high school and non-sectarian university. Upon graduation from college, I spent the better part of 3 years working out of a Catholic Church/School on the grounds of a nationally-known public housing project. You might be surprised to learn I was inspired to this work by my pre-Vatican II Catholic education. It was the mid-sixties, a time of tremendous turmoil and opportunity. Those of us who were involved in the Civil Rights movement were tempted to see ourselves as holding the moral high ground. And some of the group lost sight of the kinds of personal devotions and reflections that had been our original inspiration. As a result, some grievous personal decisions were made, many with lifelong reverberations. Priests betrayed their ordination vows, nuns left their orders, marriages broke up, liasons were made that were unhealthy. Not everyone went off the rails, but we all knew many who did. Orthodoxy, personal morality and devotions were trashed, as were reputations of those considered "conservative," all because we saw "social justice" as morally superior and sufficient. We would have been the first to "skip Adoration in favor of attending a rally for affordable housing". So, to those of you who see yourselves as "liberal," I would say, learn from our mistakes. We didn't know it in the '60's, but we were living off of spiritual capital. Today, the church and the culture in the United States are in trouble. We are surrounded by divorce, abandonment, sexual confusion, fear of commitment. Many who call themselves followers of Christ support the killing of unborn children. These are all lapses of "personal morality" and they all took root because too many of us were looking ONLY at social justice issues. Colleen Carroll is one of your generation who has come to understand why and how something went very wrong decades ago. She has seen the fallout and she knows we have to have both straight teaching (orthodoxy) AND social justice. No either/or. If you'd like to read more of Colleen's writing, see Our Sunday Visitor, where she has just signed on as a biweekly columnist (Into the Deep). And if you'd like to see what this reviewer is doing these days, go to .

I'm a young adult and a leader in youth ministry and I've been noticing major changes in the way my generation relates to God and the church. Finally I found a book that tells our story! The boomers don't understand this movement because it's totally different from their experience. But Colleen Carroll does understand it and she tells this story in the best possible way, by interviewing and quoting the people who are living it. These "new faithful" are young adults like me who are genuinely searching for God and tired of accepting all of the junk our culture offers us as a substitute. The strong evidence in this book is proof of something that more and more of us who work in youth ministry are seeing for ourselves. There is a movement toward Christian orthodoxy in the next generation and it is real and lasting. I've seen it with my own eyes. Even the media is starting to notice it. This movement is growing. You should find out more about it, because these new faithful may be coming soon to a city (and church) near you.

More often than not, reports on the Christian faith of Generation X are negative, citing trends of tolerance and pluralism for low commitment to church membership or religious understanding. Believers who understand that God has no grandchildren may wonder if the winds of faith seen in isolated areas will dissipate into the doldrums of apostasy reported in and encouraged by prominent media outlets. Journalist Colleen Carroll doesn't believe it will happen. "With conservative churches attracting committed Christians, liberal churches hemorrhaging members, and young believers working overtime to spread their faith, the future of orthodoxy in America looks bright," she writes, concluding her 294-page report on people within her generation who have dedicated themselves to the teaching of Jesus Christ. This optimistic book, heartily recommended by Charles Colson and Nigel Cameron among others, records dozens of stories of young Catholics and evangelicals who define themselves by God's unchanging truth, not their careers or their politics. They are interested in meaningful traditions which shun the world and the trappings of consumerism. That's why students at Harvard and University of Chicago start their own Bible studies, and then ask certain teachers to lead them. That's why medical students from St. Louis gather to discuss how God's call to be a doctor or nurse changes the way they will practice medicine. Boston College philosopher Peter Kreeft is quoted, saying that these students are rejecting "the old, tired, liberal, modern" mindset in favor of a more orthodox one. "Even though they know less history or literature or logic" than students ten or twenty years ago, Kreeft said, "they're more aware that they've been cheated and they need more. They don't know that what they're craving is the Holy Spirit." That should be encouraging to some of us, who may be wondering if Generation X can hear the true message of the gospel through a rattling of tolerance. Carroll writes that many young professionals have obtained a high level of wealth much earlier than their parents and consequently realize that material success doesn't foster personal contentment or joy. So the Spirit of God draws them into faith communities where Biblical truths are taught clearly and accompanied by opportunities to practice them. And some reach out to their peers. Simon Baker, a banker in San Francisco, holds informal parties for his Silicon Valley associates where a prominent Christian thinker, like Os Guinness or David Aikman, discusses or debates Christian ideas with the guests. He was nervous at first, because liberal distrust of Christianity and natural self-reliance dominates his city; but his parties have been well-received. Baker, who came to the Lord during the financial success of the 90s, hopes the recent economic decline will inspire his colleagues to reconsider the purpose of living. Carroll believes the reason stories like these are not reported on b

Colleen Carroll's thesis is simple: "[T]he future of orthodoxy [that is, traditional, customary, established religious belief and practice] in America looks bright" (p. 265). Young adults, she says, are increasingly turning (or returning) to the faith--Greek or Russian Orthodox, Evangelical Christian, or Roman Catholic--in which they were born (between 1965 and 1983). They are unfulfilled by or even angry at the vacuous and hollow ideologies of secularism, materialism, hedonism, and relativism which exalt the self or proclaim, as do nihilists, that there is nothing of worth or of everlasting meaning. Ms. Carroll is particularly incisive in her examination of Catholicism, which lost a generation of young adults to incompetent and even cowardly catechesis, to religious (priests and nuns) sometimes concerned more about politics than souls, and to widespread disaffection with orthodox Church teaching and corresponding self-deification. In a society plagued by rampant divorce (p. 123), by media corruption (especially movies and TV [pp. 249, 257], and by a soulless spirituality which offers only jejune sentiment to people instead of the sacramental realities of established religion (pp. 4-6), young adults are turning, she says, to Christ as the center of their lives. But this Christ is not a "superstar"; rather, He is the Savior Who expects total commitment of heart, mind, and soul (Mt. 22:34-40). And this devotion, she says, is what yong adults desire--not balloons; not flowers; not silly church music (as opposed to the classic hymns and chants); not liturgical improvisation; not a demand for women priests, or for nuns in mini-skirts, or for priests who preach a feckless gospel of worldly values (p. 281). Ironically, Archbishop Sheen had it exactly right in a 1949 book, PEACE OF SOUL: "Unless souls are saved, nothing is saved; there can be no world peace unless there is soul peace." Thus come back the timeless devotions of Eucharistic Adoration, the rosary, the stations of the cross, benediction--and, of course, the Mass, Sacred Scripture, Sacred Teaching, and Sacred Tradition. Young adults seek out, and matriculate at, serious Catholic and Evangelical colleges and attempt to reform from within the apostate colleges (pp. 179, 184) which have at least partly lost their reason for being. Despite countertrends, there is increasing concern about natural law (p. 171), about genuine ecumenicism between Evangelicals and Catholics Together (p. 275), and about commitment to Christ. One of her main points is that "there is a positive future for the Catholic Church in particular" (p. 284). All this is disturbing, distressing, and depressing for liberal Protestants and Catholics intent upon "progress" without Authority, without Mystery, without Miracle, and for media intent upon echoing the timeless and mocking question of the nihilists: "What is 'Truth'?" But this book is delightful for orthodox Christians who believe that Christ is, as Pope John P

Colleen Carroll has done an incredible job of describing why and how some young adults in our culture have thrown aside the liberated views passed down by the baby-boomers and have chosen a life-style of commitment, mystery and faith. Through powerful personal stories, the reader discovers that this counter-cultural lifestyle is more than a sociological trend or backlash of divorce and materialism. Instead, for the young adults spotlighted, their choices actually balance the extremes of the ultra restriction and conformity of the Fifties and the reckless and relative views of the Sixties and Seventies. We can see, on a very intimate level, how Generation X-ers have sought and found meaning and depth in their lives through authentically living out orthodox Christian faith. Personally, this book has helped me understand why I, as a young adult, think and act as I do--very insightful."The New Faithful" is an inspiring account of a small, yet powerful portion of our society. Carroll has the wisdom, experience and superb writing ability to convey precisely what is going on in the heart of our generation. A must-read for any young adult--faith-filled or not--and anyone hoping to understand them better.