The Nones: The Drifters

It may be the case that this turns out to be the shortest of the three descriptions on the categories of disaffiliates, which by my estimation makes it the most disheartening, which is why I have saved this group for last.

This group, as the name implies, simply drifts away from the Church because nothing - nobody - grounds them. “Some young people felt abandoned or left on their own to navigate their faith. WIthout peer or adult support this journey became tiresome or even lonely” (Going, Going, Gone 18).

Kinnaman calls this group ‘Nomads’ further highlighting their wandering nature.

They may describe themselves as Christian, they have not outright disavowed their upbringing, but they have begun to recognize their faith as optional, something they can pick up or put down as they see fit. 

This group may be spiritual experimentalists, seeking spiritual experiences from a variety of traditions. One might witness a drifter learning about different faiths through the internet, but most likely through peers. 

The reason being these drifters lack a grounding force, someone to walk with them as they weigh their options, as it were. For the drifters, faith is something that needs to ‘fit’ the person. Lacking that grounding force, they simply fade away from the Church.

It should be clear that this is not a failure of catechesis, in fact 68% of these drifters have been sacramentalized up until their Confirmation (Going, Going, Gone p. 70). Rather, the issue is one of accompaniment and evangelization. 

The next step in the process is to consider the process of just how one might go about accompanying these disaffiliates. To do this, we will examine two important aspects of this relationship, both provided by Springtide Research Institute. These two aspects are the Belongingness Process, and Relational Authority. For those reading along at home, check out the works cited section as you wait for next week’s article.

Works Cited

Kinnaman, David. You Lost Me: Why Young Christians are Leaving the Church and Rethinking Faith. Baker Publishing Group. Grand Rapids, Michigan. 2011.

Saint Mary’s Press & the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate. Going, Going, Gone: The Dynamics of Disaffiliation in Young Catholics. Saint Mary’s Press. Winona, Minnesota. 2017.

Springtide Research Institute. Belonging: Reconnecting America’s Loneliest Generation. Springtide Research Institute. Winona, Minnesota. 2021.

Springtide Research Institute. The State of Religion and Young People 2020: Relational Authority. Springtide Research Institute. Winona, Minnesota. 2020.