Title

Here Come the Nones! Pluralism and Evangelization after Denominationalism and Americanism

Author(s)

William L. Portier, University of DaytonFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-2013

Publication Source

Horizons

Abstract

This essay begins with a four-part overview of American Catholic history focused on the building and dissolution of an immigrant Catholic subculture. The final period, “Catholics and the Dynamics of Pluralism (1968-present)” leads naturally into a discussion of the demography of Catholics in the United States. Particular attention is given to the trend to disaffiliation among millennials and how best to interpret it. Pastoral and theological reflections on the demography of disaffiliation emphasize the need for the church in the United States to take on an evangelical form more suited to a pluralism that is post-denominational and post-Americanist, and how this need might be approached in terms of “evangelization” as described in the 1975 Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi. Concluding thoughts sketch some important characteristics of an evangelical church, more concerned with its mission and witness in the world than with maintaining its internal life.

Inclusive pages

275-292

ISBN/ISSN

0360-9669

Document Version

Postprint

Comments

The article available for download is the author's accepted manuscript, provided in compliance with the publisher's policy on self-archiving. The version of record may contain minor differences that have come about in the copy editing and layout processes.

Permission documentation is on file.

Copyright

Copyright © 2013, College Theology Society.

Volume

40

Issue

2

Peer Reviewed

yes

eCommons Citation

Portier, William L., "Here Come the Nones! Pluralism and Evangelization after Denominationalism and Americanism" (2013). Religious Studies Faculty Publications. 91.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/rel_fac_pub/91