By John Norton

Carrying seeds of Christ for new evangelization

"By seeming fortunate coincidence," began a post on the U.S. bishops' conference blog by Father J. Brian Bransfield of the Secretariat for Evangelization, Georgetown University's Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate released the results of a survey conducted in February on U.S. Catholic practice and belief regarding the sacraments.

The coincidence, of course, was Pope Benedict XVI's pastoral visit to the United States a week ago.

Father Bransfield takes a "glass half full" approach to the numbers (one of which is that only 23 percent of Catholic Americans say they attend Mass weekly):

"Many will point to the CARA data. Some will point pessimistically," said Father Bransfield. "They think the data is meant to show outcomes only. The CARA research is more like an X-ray before treatment than a post-op report after treatment. The report is not an impetus for nostalgia at the way things used to be, but for an invitation to the New Evangelization. The X-ray reveals where the effects of the secular culture have impacted our people. We now know better where the healing needs to be aimed."

While Mass attendance is the indicator par excellence of a Catholic's engagement with the faith, it is also suggestive to note how many avail themselves of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. According to CARA, only 2 percent of Catholic Americans say they go to confession at least monthly, and only 26 percent say they go at least once a year. Meanwhile, 45 percent say they never go to confession. But here's a surprising tidbit: Four percent of American Catholics say they pray the Rosary daily, or twice as many as those who say they go to confession at least monthly. (But with only 1,007 Catholics surveyed, the report has a sampling error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.)

Father Bransfield highlights another interesting point. While older Catholics identify baptism and the Eucharist as the most important sacraments, "millennial Catholics," defined as born after 1981, see marriage as the most important. Born right in the middle of Pope John Paul II's catechesis on the theology of the body, Father Bransfield says, they are called to embody his teaching and are showing signs of it. The annuity into which Pope John Paul deposited his teaching is already showing strong returns.

It will take some time for the fruits of Pope Benedict's trip to become apparent. But as Father Bransfield concludes his post, the pope stepped "on fertile ground. He carries seeds with him of Christ, our Hope. That which seems a coincidence on earth is, in the language of heaven, the plan of God."