From Nuns to "Nones"

In the 1950s, he writes, â??Catholics inhabited a parallel culture that, by virtue of their numbers, ethnic diversity, wide geographical distribution, and complex of institutions mirrored the outside â??publicâ?? culture yet was manifestly different.â? As Mr. Woodward sees it, Catholics were surrounded by a membrane that intermediated between the worlds of American society and the church. The â??powerful sense of communityâ? nurtured within this membrane has virtually disappeared. Now Americans â??journey toward adulthoodâ? not through relationships formed by families, neighbors, teachers, pastors and community organizations but through the effort of discovering â??an inwardly derived, original, and authentic self,â? one autonomous from â??institutionally structured relationships.â?