Twenty-somethings

The Francis and Ann Curran Center for American Catholic Studies and the Fordham Center on Religion and Culture are having a conference on Twenty-Somethings and the Church:

Twenty-somethings raised as Catholics are swelling the ranks of the religiously unaffiliated. Even those who continue to identify as Catholic are regularly absent from the pews and are likely to judge faith less important in their lives than did their parents and grandparents. Yet many twenty-somethings hold traditional beliefs about God, prayer, and life after death; many express spiritual yearnings and the desire to serve.

This two-day conference will examine the lives of young adults and their relationship to the Catholic Church—or the lack thereof. From sexuality to spirituality to service, the conference will present the data, and explore the issues, obstacles and opportunities that mark the fraught relationship between twenty-somethings and the church in today’s cultural, economic, and religious contexts.

The speakers include leading experts and practitioners: James Davidson, Robert Putnam, Melissa Cidade, David Campbell, Carmen Cervantes, Donna Freitas, Colleen Carroll Campbell, Tom Beaudoin, Rachel Bundang, Bill McGarvey, Marilyn Santos, Tami Schmitz, James Martin, Robert Beloin; and twenty-somethings themselves.

The conference, which is free and open to the public, will be January 28-29 at Fordham’s Lincoln Center Campus, 113 West 60th Street in New York. More information, and on-line registration, is available here.