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This chapter talks about how the transition from immigrant to U.S.-born generations is at the heart of the evangelization challenge among Latinos. As they begin to surpass their parents' and grandparents' often limited formal education, young Latinos need catechesis that engages their minds as well as their hearts. They need formation in Catholic faith and teachings that both addresses that reality and builds on their elders' religious traditions. When Catholic families, parishes, schools, and youth ministries do not provide formation that takes into account young Latinos' background and life situation, they are more likely to become adherents of moralistic therapeutic deism, participants in Pentecostal or evangelical churches, or progressively detached from any religious practice or tradition.

Chapter 2 continues addressing the psychological and sociological dimensions of fragmented spirituality among African American youth. African American youth navigate multiple and competing systems structured to pull or push them into “fragmentation.” In a world where basic life skills for young African Americans have come to include “keep your hands where everyone can see them,” the prospect of individuation—based on a notions of autonomous selves and American meritocracy—seem almost fantastical. How does shifting from the assumption of an autonomous self toward an emphasis on relational and communal selves help counter fragmented spirituality? This chapter moves beyond binaries to consider the positive function of fragmentation and developmental characteristics that allow African Americans, and particularly youth, to navigate, interpret, and integrate multiple perspectives without necessitating resolution into a simple “self.”

This chapter returns to the contents of the other chapters of the book and draws some tentative conclusions. At the outset, it presents some of the assumptions of the author as he approaches this topic, reviews briefly the literature on the now-outdated classic secularization thesis, and examines several historical factors that contribute to increasing non-affiliation for Catholics, including the impact and evaluations of the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) and the possibility that we are entering a second axial age. After describing several current ways in which church people are reaching out to the non-affiliated, the chapter concludes on a hopeful note.