Stephen Bullivant - Mass Exodus: Catholic Disaffiliation in Britain and America Since Vatican II

On 11 October 1962, Pope John XXIII formally opened the Second Vatican Council. Its avowed purpose was, he told the thousands assembled in St Peters Basilica, to really succeed in bringing men, families and nations to the appreciation of supernatural values. While this would require some timely changes to keep up to date with the changing conditions of this modern world, and of modern living, John declared that the Church must never for an instant lose sight of that sacred patrimony of truth inherited from the Fathers (John XXIII ).

Vatican II ran until December 1965, outliving its convoker by two and a half years. With a serious claim to being the biggest meeting in the history of the world (OMalley

The prominence Vatican II accorded to the laity is striking, especially in light of prior councils reticence on the subject. It declares, for instance, that the laity, dedicated to Christ and anointed by the Holy Spirit, are marvellously called and wonderfully prepared so that ever more abundant fruits of the Spirit may be produced in them (Lumen Gentium 34). As befits those called to consecrate the world itself to God (Lumen Gentium 34), and possessing their own apostolate of evangelization and sanctification (Apostolicam Actuositatem 6), the laity are thus not only bound to penetrate the world with a Christian spirit, but are also called to be witnesses to Christ in all things in the midst of human society (Gaudium et Spes 43). This stirring vision of the laity has been enthusiastically received among commentators. To cite only recent examples, it is described as a central and crucial element of the legacy of the council (Lakeland : 1213).

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It is now over fifty years since the close of Vatican II. According to recently published British data, nearly half of all born-and-raised Catholics no longer consider themselves to be Catholic; the vast majority of thesealmost two out of every five British cradle Catholicsclaim to have no religion. These leavers from Catholicism outnumber converts to Catholicism by a ratio of ten to one. Furthermore, among those who do still identify as Catholic to pollsters, somewhat fewer than one in three attend church on a weekly basisroughly the same proportion as attend never or practically never (Bullivant ).

Towards the end of his detailed and nuanced study of the collapse of Bostons Catholic culture, the journalist Philip Lawler observes:

Today, former Catholics constitute the largest religious bloc in the Boston area. Some of these ex-Catholics have joined other religious bodies. Others take no interest in religious affairs. Still others think of themselves as Catholic, but they neither practice their faith nor honour its teachings. In the opening years of the twenty-first century, practising Catholics are once again a small minority in Boston [ ].(2008: 247)

Boston, once Americas archetypal Catholic town, may be a special case. But it is not that special. Leading American sociologist Michael Hout notes, More than ever, people raised Catholic are leaving; most drop out of organized religion altogether (: 1). In the view of the Fordham historian Patrick Hornbeck: deconversionthe process of moving from identification and active engagement with Roman Catholicism to disaffiliation and disengagementis one of the most theologically significant phenomena in contemporary American Roman Catholic life (2011: 1).