Understanding the Catholic Family

Catholic Families: There are many important changes occurring in Catholic families in the United States. While the number of Catholic infant baptisms in the United States celebrated annually are at levels similar to the period preceding the baby boom in the middle of the last century (about 720,000), the similarity ends there. In the following special report, and the three additional reports to be published, the changes in Catholic families will be outlined. It is important to note that this is a poll of Catholic parents, unlike other recent studies of all Catholic adults. In fall 2014, the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University conducted a national poll of adult Catholics, ages 25 to 45, who are parents of a minor child in order to explore the 21st century Catholic family. This survey, completed in September and October 2014, includes interviews with 1,014 self-identified Catholic parents resulting in a sampling margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points. Questions similar to those used in other recent CARA Catholic Polls (CCPs) were utilized, making comparisons possible between Catholic parents and all Catholic adults. This research was made possible by Holy Cross Family Ministries.