Author: Tia Noelle Pratt (St. Joseph's University)

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ABSTRACT

The current study seeks to examine what Catholic young adults think about the Roman Catholic Church's pro-life teachings and how their attitudes toward these teachings could inform the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' strategy for politically engaging this constituency. In the fall 2013 semester, I conducted four focus group sessions at a midsize Catholic university in the northeastern United States. Each focus group lasted about one hour, and participants were recruited via snowball sampling. At each focus group session, the participants were asked a series of questions related to their knowledge of and attitudes toward the Church's pro-life teachings. The results fell into three main categories: their feelings about the pro-life movement; their feelings about the Catholic Church and what they, as Catholic young adults, want from the Church; and the potential of Pope Francis to influence them to alter their feelings toward the Church.