Monday, April 14, 2008

Millenials Are We

Do converts after 1981 count as Millenials?

Shawn Tribe reports at the New Liturgical Movement on the results of a survey on American Catholics by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Interestingly, Millennial Catholics (born after 1981) pursue religious practice with fervor akin to pre-Vatican II Catholic (born before 1943).

1 comment:

David Nybakke said...

So what do you get when you merge the results of that survey with the following 2 articles? First, a 9/07 article from the Boston Globe.

The New Me Generation
The crop of talented recent graduates coming into today's workforce is widely seen as narcissistic and entitled. And those are their best qualities.

"Narcissism also appears to be reaching new highs, even within the Entitlement Generation, among American college students. Another national study involving the NPI, conducted by Twenge, shows that 24 percent of college students in 2006 showed elevated levels of narcissism compared to just 15 percent in the early 1990s."

"All of this would seem to suggest that this generation, which is flooding into the workforce, will create chaotic, unpleasant, and utterly unproductive work environments that will drive many a good business directly into the ground. But there's another very real possibility. It may be that this much-reviled generation will revitalize the economy and ensure the prosperity of America for years to come. Painful as it sounds, in the not-too-distant future, we may owe a debt of gratitude to these narcissists... (however the article goes on)..."

"Michael Maccoby is the first to admit (the problems of) this. He says that narcissists tend to be oversensitive to any kind of criticism and are often incapable of learning from others. What's more, they frequently bully subordinates and don't care at all about the feelings of others."

(Look at the heightened mimesis at work here with these Millennials. Is this a good thing or a dangerous thing?)

or this article: The scourge of the Entitlement Generation

"The work ethic of new entrants into the labour market is under assault. The "Entitlement Generation" - those born between 1979 and 1994 - have been described as impatient, self-serving, disloyal, unable to delay gratification - in short, feeling that they are entitled to everything without working for it."

The article concludes with maybe a slightly interesting connection to the survey, "'These individuals will not put up with the ambiguity that saturates most work settings. If they don't know where they can get, how to get there, and what it will get them, they are not going to 'buy in' to the objectives of the firm.'"


A good question might be: Are you put-out by the post Vatican II ambiguity? Then maybe you belong to this group of Millennials. I wonder though, because they seem very put-out with mystery, as they demand to know where, when and how...

So I, for one and also a convert after 1981, would be a bit careful associating myself with the Millennials. Narcissim is a very dangerous spell to be dealing with (I know, my son has been inhaling the fumes of it for way too long).