A survey entitled “Youth Without a Church in Mexico City” concludes that 62 percent of the capital’s young adult population doesn’t practice Catholicism or other religion. They say they believe in God but not in the hierarchies of the churches.
The study, carried out by the Catholic research agency Adoremuslabs, was based on surveys carried out in the almost 900 parishes located in the capital city, although it is said that only a third have youth groups, with an average attendance of about 15, including boys and girls.
The basic findings of the research indicate that the Catholic churches are being abandoned by young people, especially in this archdiocese, where one-third of the population is between the ages of 18 to 35, amounting to approximately three million people in the Federal District, which itself has a population of more than 14 million people.
Thirty percent of the young people that do not practice Catholicism come from Catholic schools or universities. Sixty percent said they attended mass as children, but, on average, stopped attending church when they were 22 years old.
Only10% of those that do not practice a faith consider Catholicism to be the Universal Church.
For its study, Adoremuslabs used a population of 1,184 youth 18-29 who do not attend any religious community.
Forty-three percent affirmed that they have a certain kind of spirituality and another 31% said that they were as much spiritual as religious, even though they did not attend any parish on a regular basis.
The survey also shows that 40% of the young people interviewed do not identify themselves with the Catholic religion, with 16% saying that they belong to some club or organization that brings them the same benefits as attending a congregation, and 9% consider themselves to be atheist, humanist or “realistic,” according to the answers given.
Finally, four of every five youth interviewed believe that a superior being exists, and three-quarters proclaim the existence of God present in their daily lives.