Becoming Catholic

Finding Rome in the American Religious Landscape

David A. Yamane

The first book-length study of Roman Catholic converts in contemporary America
Centers on one of the most significant aspects of the ''Catholic Revolution'' following the Second Vatican Council

Becoming Catholic

Finding Rome in the American Religious Landscape

David A. Yamane

Description

The history of Christianity and particularly of Roman Catholicism has been profoundly shaped by conversion for centuries, from the first apostles to such prominent modern converts as John Henry Newman, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, G.K. Chesterton, Thomas Merton, and Graham Greene. Each year, approximately 150,000 Americans convert to Roman Catholicism. Catholic converts collectively are 2.6 percent of the U.S. adult population; together these 5.85 million individuals would comprise the fifth largest religious body in America, just behind the Mormon Church.

In Becoming Catholic, David A. Yamane offers the first book-length study of Roman Catholic converts in contemporary America. The process of adult initiation in the 21st century Catholic Church looks very different than it did 50 years ago. One of the many revolutionary products of the Second Vatican Council was a revised process of initiation called the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA). The RCIA process takes individuals on a journey through four distinct periods of formation, with elaborate ritual transitions that carry individuals from period to period. Drawing on six years of observational fieldwork and interviews with more than 200 people undergoing the conversion process, Yamane follows converts through each stage of the RCIA, shedding light on what it means to choose Catholicism in contemporary America.

Becoming Catholic offers a window onto the transmission and transformation of the Catholic tradition in a pluralistic and voluntaristic, twenty-first-century society, illuminating a critical aspect of American Catholicism and American religion at the outset of the third millennium.

Becoming Catholic

Finding Rome in the American Religious Landscape

David A. Yamane

Acknowledgments
Notes on Terminology and Sources
Introduction: Becoming Catholic in America
1. Vatican II and the Reinvention of Adult Initiation
Prelude - Diane Gall: Finding a Home in Catholicism
2. The Circumstantial Convert as Moral Actor
Prelude - St. Mary's and St. Mark's: A Tale of Two Parishes
3. Visions of Catholicism in RCIA Catechesis
Prelude - The Rite of Election: Through the Cathedral to Purification and Enlightenment
4. Liturgy, Experience, and Formation
Prelude - St. Innocent: ''A People Destined For Heaven Is Born Here From Holy Seed''
5. Objective and Subjective Incorporation through the Sacraments of Initiation
Prelude - Mystagogy: The End and The Beginning
6. The Difference It Makes
Conclusion: Catholic Initiation as . . .
Notes
Index

Becoming Catholic

Finding Rome in the American Religious Landscape

David A. Yamane

Author Information

David A. Yamane, Associate Professor of Sociology, Wake Forest University, USA

David A. Yamane is Associate Professor of Sociology at Wake Forest University.

Becoming Catholic

Finding Rome in the American Religious Landscape

David A. Yamane

Reviews and Awards

"Why do people join the Catholic church? How do they enter? Why do they stay? Do they stay at all? David Yamane's excellent new book offers a clear-eyed look at the process of initiation into the Catholic Church in the U.S. and sheds light on what many observers term the most successful of the Second Vatican Council's reforms: the reinvigoration of the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA). Yamane's is the rare book that is superbly researched, well-written, and, above all, acutely sensitive to the spiritual experiences of those under scrutiny. It deserves to be read by every bishop, priest, brother, sister, and director of religious education in the United States. In fact, it deserves to be read by every American Catholic." - James Martin, SJ, author of Jesus: A Pilgrimage

"this book is well-written and informative." - David Carroll Cochran, Scientific Study of Religion

Becoming Catholic

Finding Rome in the American Religious Landscape

David A. Yamane

From Our Blog

Catechetical session comparisons [infographic]

In his study, sociologist David Yamane found an interesting correlation between the type of catechetical sessions used in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults process (which an adult who wants to enter the Catholic Church undergoes) and the socioeconomic standing (SES).

Posted on May 5, 2014

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Easter rites of initiation bring good news for American Catholics

By David Yamane For many Catholics in America, waking up in the morning to find no news about the church is a relief. They won't have to deal with stories about the lingering stench of the priest sexual abuse scandal, the consolidation of parishes and closing of schools, controversy over Catholic hospitals and the loss of Catholic youth, fewer and older nuns and more and younger 'nones.'

Posted on April 20, 2014

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Reinventing rites of passage in contemporary America

By David Yamane Contemporary ritual studies luminary Ronald Grimes highlights a unique and contradictory aspect of Western industrialized societies when it comes to initiation, one perhaps implied by Eliade.

Posted on April 19, 2014

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Initiation into America's original megachurch

By David Yamane The American religious landscape is ever changing. The rise of religious nones, the spiritual not religious, thoughtful spirituality, the emerging church, online religion, megachurches, and on and on.

Posted on April 18, 2014

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