cover image Sense of the Faithful: How American Catholics Live Their Faith

Sense of the Faithful: How American Catholics Live Their Faith

Jerome P. Baggett, . . Oxford Univ., $29.95 (285pp) ISBN 978-0-19-532695-6

Baggett, an associate professor of religion and society at the Jesuit School of Theology, Berkeley, Calif., takes on the term “cafeteria Catholic” in this study of American Catholics. He dislikes the description, commonly applied to liberal Catholics who select which church teachings they will accept, because of the suggestion that such choices are made casually. His findings, based on interviews with 300 Catholics at six Bay Area parishes, show that most Catholics make similar selections and that they do so thoughtfully. He says Catholics live their faith by “negotiating with the broader tradition,” reframing it through use of “evocative symbols” to create religious truths and refreshing it by mingling Catholic symbols with cultural ones. Baggett quotes extensively from the interviews he and his team conducted and tallies the results in a series of charts, often comparing what he learned with the work of other researchers, especially sociologist Thomas O’Dea. His rather academic presentation will primarily interest other scholars and perhaps reform-minded church leaders, rather than the Catholic layperson. (Dec.)