Discussions of the state of U.S. Catholicism today often fail to note a worrisome trend: a steep recent drop in the number of adults being initiated into the faith. In fact, adult baptism in the United States fell by a startling 43 percent between 2005 and 2013. And while I think I know the reasons for the decline, I am frankly even more concerned about a certain stagnation of our collective imagination concerning the rite of baptism itselfâ??a sclerosis in our ability to consolidate and implement the important liturgical reforms of Vatican II.
The reformed rites of adult initiation appeared in 1972, and the first English edition two years later; in 1988 a new edition was released with American adaptations, mandated for use in U.S. dioceses, and for the church in the United States there followed a period of impressive expansion and growth, lasting nearly two decades. (To give you an idea of how remarkable this period was, the U.S. bishopsâ?? study of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults published in 2000 was initially titled â??Amazing Growth.â?) Then the bottom dropped out.
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