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Faith Salience in College Students

Jena Garrett

Katie Patrick

EAF 461

Illinois State University

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INTRODUCTION

Faith and religion are topics so deeply woven into the fabric of many of our lives. We are

born into families who hold specific values and beliefs, who in turn teach us those values and

beliefs, until we have the ability to choose our own values and beliefs, and then we continue the

cycle with our own families. Growing up Catholic in a world of technology, social media, and an

overly abundant plethora of information and conflicting viewpoints from those close to us as

well as from strangers online about religion, can complicate one’s relationship with their own

faith. As students grow up in today’s day and age where their identities are so closely

scrutinized, how do students transition into the world of higher education with their Catholic

faith? In order to explore a religious transition theory about faith salience in first year college

students, we must first examine what it means to be Catholic and how students are raised in the

faith, first as infants, then as young adults, moving into adulthood and coming to a point in which

they are choosing their faith identity for themselves.

As students who have spent much of their adolescent life adopting the Catholic faith

(such as our upbringings were) and observing the practices of said faith enter college where their

main influences might no longer be present, students are faced with many choices. Not only are

students left to navigate a new world of academia, their sense of belonging and personal identity

may be shaken. Love (2001) explains how theorist Sharon Parks (1986) extended the work of

James Fowler’s theory of faith development (p. 7). What Parks discovered was that Fowler had

left out a crucial stage in his theory - a stage for young adults which included college students.

Before diving into our theory on religious salience, we must first define what religion and faith

are vs. spirituality. “Religion is a shared system of beliefs” (Love, 2001, p. 8) in which one may

join a group to express common values of faith. Spirituality is a more abstract idea of searching
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for purpose and meaning in one’s life (Parks, 2000). Students may come into college with high

religious salience, but low spirituality. Some may hold spirituality in high regards but may not be

religious at all. Students may also fall in the middle of both. Students entering college are facing

an excessive amount of transitions, not just religious. Student affairs professionals must keep in

mind that students are coming to college at different points in their faith and religious journeys

and theories such as this may help aid professionals in assisting students through these times of

transition.

When overviewing the Catholic faith, it is important to note that there are seven major

sacraments that are fundamental to being recognized as fully Catholic. Three of these sacraments

take place typically before the age of fifteen. According to John Macquarrie in A Guide to the

Sacraments, “Young children are themselves incapable of professing their faith, so this is done

on their behalf by a sponsor” (Chapter 7). In 2008, the Center for Applied Research in the

Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University conducted a survey given to 1,007 self-identified

adult Catholics. In this survey, 84% of adults noted that they were introduced to the Catholic

faith as infants (which they noted as under the age of one). In addition to that, 90% of adults

were Baptized into the faith before the age of one.

The first sacrament is Baptism, and in the Catholic faith, you must receive this sacrament

before you can receive any other, therefore, most people are Baptized as infants. The sacrament

of Baptism takes place by immersing the person in water, which symbolizes washing away their

original sins. Next is Eucharist, or Holy Communion. This sacrament involves receiving the

Body of Christ for the first time. Individuals receive the bread and wine which are

transubstantiated into the body and blood of Christ. Transubstantiated describes the change by
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which the substance, but not the appearance of, the bread and wine in the Eucharist becomes

Christ’s body and blood.

Next, is Confirmation, which is performed by a Bishop. Confirmation typically takes

place when children are between the ages of seven and thirteen, but seven is the most common.

In this sacrament children are confirming their relationship with God and reaffirming their

commitment made in Baptism. They do this by choosing a new name for themselves, typically

this is the name of a saint that they wish to emulate in their life. It is also customary to choose

someone to sponsor them throughout the process. This person must be Catholic and serve as an

example what being Catholic means. Confession is the next sacrament which is less detailed than

the previous ones. This one requires entering a confessional booth or speaking face to face with a

priest and confessing your sins. After confessing your sins, the priest will give you an act of

penance, which typically is a set of prayers or an act of charity work. After the priest gives his

penance, they will say a prayer of absolution that absolves all sins.

The final three sacraments are more situational and not performed by all. Specifically,

Holy Orders, which is the sacrament of ministry work (i.e. becoming a priest). The next is

Marriage. Marriage of two Baptized people in the Catholic Church is seen as one of the

sacraments that Catholics are expected to partake in, as it brings us closer to each other and God.

In addition, it is a promise to bring children into the world and into the faith. The final sacrament

is typically Anointing of the Sick. This is when a member of the church is gravely ill or has

reached a time in their life where they, or their family, worry that they are close to death. In this

time the person will have oils used to make a cross on their forehead, and certain prayers are

said. The Anointing of the Sick is used to provide strength and heal the person, and also

pardoning their sins, should they pass on. When discussing the sacraments, it is important to note
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that these are not the only expectations or practices Catholics partake in, but those are the

practices that solidify being a member of the faith. It is also expected that members attend Mass

on Sunday and celebrate all religious holidays including: All Saints Day, Ash Wednesday, Lent,

Easter, Christmas, and Palm Sunday.

It is important to understand the timeline and commitment required of members in the

Catholic Church, because as you are able to see, membership typically begins very early on in a

person's life. When looking at Fowlers stages of faith, a large percentage of the stages also begin

early on in life. According to Fowler, “Pre-stage 1—Primal faith is when a prelinguistic

manifestation of faith arises in the person's first years in the context of relationships with primary

caretakers. These relationships shape one's first images of God.” (Patton et al., 2016, p. 199) The

next two stages discuss that through family, peers, and more outside sources, they are fowlerable

to better understand their faith. We see this in Confirmation when individuals are required to

have a sponsor to guide them through this process.

The beginning stages of Fowler’s Stages of Faith theory (Fowler, 1981) parallel the

timeline of the sacraments, and as individuals move along Fowler’s stages, we observe more

outside influence and individualism. It is in these stages that we see individuals are moving into

college and away from family pressures. We are focusing our research on this time of transition

to see how student faith is impacted when families and communities are no longer pressures, and

outside influences are more present. There are three phases that we have found that students

move fluidly between and we have labeled them as Religious Obedience, Chreaster, and

Religious Disaffiliation.

We believe that having a deeper knowledge of the Catholic faith allows our audience to

step into the lifestyle of Catholicism. While the seven sacraments mentioned are not the entirety
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of what being a Catholic means, they are an insight into the beginning years of a child's life in

the Catholic faith, which are the most active and demanding times. Throughout this paper, we

will support the phases we have named above with academic support, as well as our own

personal points of view. Due to our similar backgrounds, we are able to provide new ideas to

previously constructed theories that we believe show a modern take of faith salience.

Acknowledging the importance of the sacraments and practices of the Catholic faith provides a

base for our theory that explores how a student may or may not move through the three phases of

Catholicism: Religious Obedience, Chreaster, and Religious Disaffiliation.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

In our theory, we have identified three possible “stages” that a student may fall into

during their college career which are situated in a Venn diagram. The theory is a faith transition

theory as well as a theory that identifies students faith identities as fluid that may change with

circumstances that come up in their lives at any point in time. While we call them “stages”, you

will see that the arrows that move between these stages point both ways, showcasing that a
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student may move back and forth between them. These are not permanent stages; however, one

typically enters some form of the “Chreaster” stage to move between Religious Obedience and

Religious Disaffiliation.

Before we explain these stages in further detail, we ask the readers to keep in mind that

this theory is in no way an all-consuming theory for all faiths. Catholicism and the commitment

to Catholicism, begins when a child is baptized, usually by the choice of the parents or guardians

who are raising that child. If a child is not baptized as an infant, but as a willing adolescent or

adult, these stages may look different. We, as white, cisgender, middle-class, females, are

exploring this theory through our personal lenses. The stages we have come up with may vary

for students with different identities, such as race, gender, class, sexual orientation, etc. This

theory will be tailored more towards those students who were baptized into the Catholic faith by

their parents’ choosing, have been raised in a Catholic manner, and are now entering the world of

higher education and must navigate that world with or without their faith as the salient part of

their identity.

Looking at the depiction of the theory will show the reader three circles: Religious

Obedience, “Chreaster”, and Religious Disaffiliation. We start our theory with Religious

Obedience as the largest circle and we hypothesize that our theory will start on day one of a

student’s college career as soon as they step foot on campus. Although some students may come

into college already at the stage of “Chreaster” or Religious Disaffiliation, we have determined

that the largest number of students would fall into the category of Religious Obedience as the

Pew Research Center has collected data stating that 40% of 18-29 year olds find religion

important in their life while 28% also find religion somewhat important (2019).
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Religious Obedience, or being immersed in Catholicism, is the idea that a student has

been adamantly raised in the faith and is an active and willing participant in their faith

development. We define “Religious Obedience” as agreeing with the Catholic faith and

accepting the teachings of the Catholic Church, but this does not mean that those who are

obedient are following blindly. One may be in the phase of Religious Obedience, meaning they

are acting and playing the role of a devout Catholic, but may be questioning the teachings, which

could move them into another phase, which will be explained later on. This circle is the largest

based upon Pew Research Center’s data that 64% of younger millennials are Catholic (2019).

Students who have been religiously obedient, for all or the majority of their childhood and

adolescence, believe or somewhat believe that there is a God, that there is a Heaven and Hell,

and they are also committed to continuing the values of the Catholic Church (Pew Research

Center, 2019).

Religiously Obedient characteristics:

- Faith was taught to the student by their circle of influence (parents, guardians,

friends, loved ones, trusted teachers) and the student accepted those ideas of

Catholicism as truth

- The student has a strong faith (by their own standards)

- The student regularly attends mass (by their own choosing) and actively

participates in their faith development through sacraments and observes holy days

of obligation

- The student mostly, or completely, agrees with historically traditional Catholic

values, beliefs, and rules

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Before a student is able to explore their own religious development, they must be taught

values from someone else as a starting point. Religious obedience molds student’s understanding

of community in an “us” versus “them” fashion (Love, 2001, p. 10). Adolescents believe what

their mentors are saying as truth and if people outside of their community try to combat their

beliefs, they will be wrong in the eyes of the student. One way that students shift from Religious

Obedience to a Chreaster (which will be explained further on) is when the authority figure

behaves contradictory to what they have been teaching the student all along. Mentors have an

obligation to be true to the values that they say they uphold if they want to continue holding

students in the Religious Obedience circle.

We, as the theorists, believe that well-meaning parents and guardians instill Catholic

values into children at a young age and as those children grow, they may begin to question their

faith. Because there are various types of formal elementary and middle school opportunities,

each educational setting would bring their own unique perspectives to this theory. From personal

experience, this theory is written from the lens of students who have been raised in the Catholic

faith and attended a Catholic school. We were the students who came to feel that they are simply

going through the motions of their faith, not having had a chance to choose it on their own, but

are still committed to what it means to be Catholic.

“Chreaster”, according to Dionne (2018), is a term that blends the words “Christmas”

and “Easter” to identify Catholics who only participate in mass and actively practice their faith

on those two religious holidays (n.p.). Chreasters generally receive negative attention from those

who identify as Religiously Obedient, according to French (2015). Chreasters may find

themselves taking up space in a pew that is inhabited by a Religiously Obedient the other 50

Sundays of the year and may feel like they are unwelcomed (French 2015). Chreasters, while the
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term usually holds negative connotations, are great reminders of the Catholic values of

acceptance and that each person’s relationship with their faith is at a different point than

someone else’s.

Chreaster characteristics:

- The student attends mass during major Catholic holidays: Christmas and Easter

- The student practices Catholicism out of familial pressure or to conform to

societal norms based on their direct surroundings

- The student may be exploring their religious salience and may be transitioning to

a time of self-reflection of their beliefs and values

A Chreaster may be a college student who has spent most of their free time outside of

class working to pay for school who cannot attend mass at the times it is offered in their

community. They could be someone who has been forced by their family to get up every Sunday

morning for the past 18 years to attend mass with them and is finally deciding that while they are

in college they refuse to attend mass, unless they are home for Easter or Christmas with their

family to appease them. They could also be a student who is exploring other faiths while at

school, yet they are keeping their secret religious explorations underwraps from their family

members and attend services with them during holiday breaks.

We use the term Chreaster not only to encompass those students who are literally

attending mass only on Christmas and Easter, but also to encompass students who are battling

with internal religious turmoil. Parks describes this feeling as a student experiencing a phase of

“shipwreck” which can provoke a spiritual “crisis” (Cady, 2007, p. 98). Students may feel that

the challenges they are facing have left them siloed in their feelings of faith. Chreasters may feel

that they are not supported in their current faith community and feel stranded trying to navigate
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the waters of belonging. Pulling from Sanford’s theory of challenge and support, a student

should be appropriately challenged in their beliefs to grow from their current understanding, but

if there is no support, their developmental progress will be stinted (Cady, 2007).

Many times, moments of distress or unrest comes not from being a college student, but

from being a young adult in the world, who also happens to be in college. These feelings of

shipwreck have little to do with the classroom or the world of academia, but rather with who the

student is when they are in and out of the classroom. The support students are looking for is a

type of mentor to guide them in their exploration of faith, spirituality, and navigation of life

circumstances. Student affairs professionals should be actively engaging in spiritual

conversations with students to allow them the opportunity to air their concerns and questions

about what the meaning of religion is and to help them engage in self-reflection and discovery of

who they are and who they want to be.

This circle in the theory is smaller than Religious Obedience due to the fact that we

believe that while students may explore new ways to express their Catholic faith, students will

most likely not stay in this circle during their whole collegiate career or even after graduation.

Our postulation for this idea comes from our own experiences of becoming more concrete in our

beliefs of faith. Conflicting identities can come into play and can influence one’s religious

salience, especially during such a time as college which can sway a student from one phase to

another. For example, a student who identifies as a Catholic may also identify as a member of

the LGBTQIA+ community. They accept values of the Catholic Church such as “honor thy

neighbor” (Matt 2: 34-40, King James Version) and “love one another as I have loved you”

(John 13:45, King James Version), but Catholics, as a community, also believe that if you are not

heterosexual, you are “wrong”, although this teaching was never one of Jesus’.
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These identities come into play as a student may battle the idea of wanting to belong to

both groups, but that may not be possible. Dionne explored the idea that Chreasters came about

because of the concerns from members of the LGBTQIA+ community that they were no longer

accepted by their faith."Christianity has long since ceased to be coextensive with our culture," he

wrote, and "our age is post-Christian both theologically and culturally" (2018, para. 9). Students

who have moved out of the Religious Obedience circle have typically done so because of a loss

of trust with their authority figure (Love, 2001). Their innocent view of the world and what they

have always known has been interrupted and can cause a loss of faith or internal conflict.

Chreasters seem to be living in a constant phase of more questions than answers and although

they may not know exactly who they are or what they believe, they are starting to understand

who they do not want to be and what they do not believe in.

Religious Disaffiliation occurs when a student has decided that they are prepared to

completely sever ties with their Catholic faith. According to Wheeler, “Catholicism has

experienced the greatest net losses as a result of affiliation changes” (2018) and occurs sometime

between the ages of 13-20. Disaffiliation is a personal choice and as such, data collected on this

topic must be self-reported. St. Mary’s Press recently conducted a two-year study on why young

people are leaving the Catholic Church and the results are compiled in the comprehensive report

Going, Going, Gone: The Dynamics of Disaffiliation in Young Catholics. “The study found that

disaffiliation is a process that happens over time for young people, typically prompted by a series

of events or unresolved questions that accumulate over time” (Wheeler, 2018).

Disaffiliation from the Catholic Church does not mean complete disaffiliation from the

lessons that Jesus taught, but that organized religion and the corruption of the Catholic Church

have altered Jesus’ fundamental teachings. As stated earlier in our section on Religious
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Obedience, “religion was forced on them” and students in the Religious Disaffiliation phase

“report feeling freer and happier without what they experience as the burden of religion”

(Wheeler, 2018, para. 11). To stay that religion is a ‘burden’, means that religion is heavy in your

life and will be central to other aspects of your existence. Religious Disaffiliation allows students

an opportunity to be relieved from that burden and lightens the responsibility to adhere to a

religion that they did not choose for themselves.

Religious Disaffiliation characteristics:

- No ties with Catholicism

- Does not participate or interact with the practices or beliefs of Catholicism

- May or may not participate in another religion outside of Catholicism

- May or may not still believe in a spiritual being

The transition out of Chreaster into Religious Disaffiliation is no easy task. It requires

self-reflection and complete acceptance of who you are without the worry of repercussions from

those with whom you previously held similar religious beliefs. There must be a leap to where

one can become able to critically choose their own beliefs and values. We see this leap in the

arrows between Religious Obedience and Chreaster, and between Chreaster and Religious

Disaffiliation (Love, 2001). Just like Religious Obedience, students are seeking a compatible

social group within the circle of Religious Disaffiliation. Finding a group who understands a

student’s unique faith identity, or lack thereof, is essential for belonging and being recognized.

This group would provide the challenge and support that the student would need at that point in

their faith development. A student may move between the stages of this theory at any moment

and would need adequate challenge and support at each stage.

INVOLVEMENT
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According to Pascarella and Terenzini's (1991) landmark synthesis of 20 years of

research, How College Affects Students, found "statistically significant declines in religious

attitudes, values, and behaviors" (p. 280-281) among college students.” Throughout this study,

Hartley (2004) found that colleges have a liberalizing effect on students' values and attitudes.

College is a time where students become more understanding of other religions and form more

individualized views of their faith. What we believe is leading to this ‘liberalizing effect’ on

students is the fact that we see students choosing to be a part of communities that no longer

revolve around faith.. They are brought together by other aspects of their lives, and this gives

them new perspectives and can sometimes challenge pre-existing ideas of their faith.

Student involvement is one of the cornerstones of Student Affairs. As professionals

within this field, we seek to mentor and guide our students in their abilities to become involved

and passionate participants of any given organization. In order to meet all the goals we set for

ourselves to holistically help students, we have to consider their faith and spirituality.

“Parks (2000) viewed faculty as having major responsibility for guiding students'

spiritual lives by creating communities of imagination where students' ideas can be both

challenged and supported. Parks (1986a; 2000) also stressed the responsibility of higher

education as a whole to create communities in which students feel welcomed and safe while

being provided with experiences that will encourage them to explore and address conscious

conflicts, have opportunities for pause, and be supported as they clarify, confirm, and test their

new images.” (Guido, Patton, Quaye, & Renn, 2016, p. 208).

While students are expanding their understanding of the world and of those who inhabit it

with them, there are also students who are continuing to seek connection to their religious

obedience. In regards to religiously affiliated involvement, Parks (2000) described the need for
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mentoring communities in which young adults can feel recognized and accepted based on their

personal faith (Hartley, 2004).

Students movement through different communities can be seen in Parks (2000) forms of

community (Patton et al., 2016). The first form being conventional community. Conventional

communities are the communities that are continuously around us that help us define ourselves

when we are children. People in this stage of their life typically adhere to what the community is

doing and fall in line with all the values and norms. As previously noted, Catholicism is a faith

that is introduced to a large percentage of people as children and requires constant participation.

Students who were raised Catholic have a strong sense of this community and may find it hard to

transition into the next form of community. As students transition into college and become more

engaged on campus, they move into a diffuse community. In this type of community, students

begin to see new ways of being and question their previous views. This time of questioning leads

to students finding new places of belonging.

As previously noted, mentoring communities have been known to be highly liberalizing

on students. This happens because of the fact that this form of community is one that supports

and encourages students to distance themselves from their past and previous beliefs. This can be

a challenging community for some as it pushes students outside of their comfort zone. As

students move into a deeper understanding of who they are, they move into self-selected groups,

which is a type of community we often see in college. This group is a chosen group of people

that share the same set of beliefs. While some students may have gone through a type of

transformation throughout college and now have new beliefs and a new community, not all do.

As student affairs professionals, it is our job to ensure that students have the capability to

be a part of a multitude of communities with different sets of beliefs - to grow as a student

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holistically and explore life outside of the parameters that have been previously set for them. By

giving them the opportunity to interact with different types of people, we allow them the choice

to define who they are and how they want to identify themselves. Without the options we

provide them, they may continue with the communities that were provided to them at birth.

While this is not a bad thing, college is a time to challenge and support students and without this

type of communal challenge coming from student affairs professionals, students may never get

that chance of exposure again.

STUDENT POINT OF VIEW

Authorial Narratives

As the authors of this theory, we would be remiss if we did not include our personal

experiences and knowledge on this topic as additional context. While we, Jena and Katie, grew

up in separate parts of the Midwest with different k-12 experiences, we have similar views on the

k-12 Catholic school system and how that impacted our transition to non-religious institutions of

higher education. A research project for this specific theory has not been conducted, but as the

theorists we are using our personal voices to implicate ourselves into the theory.

Jena

I, Jena, was raised in a family of three children who all attended Catholic school from

kindergarten through senior year of high school. Mass was required each Sunday with my

parents and required as part of our curriculum once a week in elementary school and once a

month in high school. Through my adolescent years, I started to rebel against most of the

Catholic values, the Ten Commandments, and even the Golden Rule. It was a tumultuous time

between myself and my parents who had sworn to the Lord at my baptism that they would raise

me the same way they were raised. While attending college at a small, liberal arts institution in
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Wisconsin, I moved through many stages of my religious salience and found myself wavering

between Obedience and Chreaster often.

Now that I am a mother, my worldviews have shifted and I am constantly growing as my

toddler daughter grows. I seek patience, grace, humility, forgiveness, and gratitude - all hot

topics of discussion in many sermons during Mass on Sunday mornings. It is difficult for me to

venture away from my Catholic roots because I do believe that there is something larger than

myself that can help me through the tough times and, for me, it’s somehow more rational to cope

with breakdowns and the downfalls of life by praying about it and to ask “why” than to simply

say “life happens”.

In terms of our theory, if I were to pinpoint my salience today, I stay close to the circles

of Obedience-Creaster; wanting to believe in a Higher Power, but also wanting to live my life

without fear of the wrath of God. I attended mass regularly with my parents back home and still

believe in God, but am able to question my faith and challenge ideas that do not sit right with me

without feeling guilty.

Katie

I, Katie, was also raised in a family of three children who all attend Catholic school. My

older sister and I attended kindergarten through our senior year of high school, while my brother

chose to attend a public high school after eight years of Catholic school. During my years in

school we were required to take a religion course every year, which typically required us going

to the church connected to our school once a week to pray. In addition, we would have school

wide mass every week, and as a family we would attend mass every Sunday as well. Throughout

my time in school I was very accustomed to this lifestyle and did not venture outside the

Catholic bubble of beliefs. When I went to college, I immediately used that freedom from my
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family and Catholic community to meet new people, discover new ways of thinking, and use my

time as I wanted.

I started off college fully in the Chreaster mindset, but as time went on I moved farther

into Disaffiliation. I specifically remember one turning point where I first fully questioned my

religion. One of the first friends I had made in college had waited some time into our friendship

before he told me that he was gay. He said that when we met and discovered that I attended

Catholic school he was afraid that my religion would get in the way of our friendship and that I

would look at him differently if he told me. I remember this moment so vividly because it broke

my heart to think that someone so important to me had this image of me in their head because of

the religion I identified with. Even though at the time I was not fully invested in the faith, it was

still the idea of what my religion stood for that made him worry. Before going to college, I had

never had a conversation along those lines before and after that my eyes were opened to how the

rest of the world viewed Catholicism.

Throughout the rest of my time in undergrad, my family would occasionally want to

attend mass for Christmas and Easter, but as the years passed we all stopped attending. There

were times in college when I thought about attending mass, but always decided against going.

Looking at the diagram and where I am today, I would say I am in the lower end of the

overlapping bubble between Chreaster and Disaffiliation, as I, like Jena, also want to believe in a

Higher Power, but I personally struggle with some of the ideals that surround Catholicism.

WHO USES THIS THEORY?

Theory, as a framework for understanding people and spaces created by those people, can

be used by a number of people in the educational field. Specifically, in the world of higher

education, this religious transition theory will be able to be used by offices within Student
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Affairs such as Recruiting and Retention offices, Residence Life, First Year Experience,

Counseling, and Student Involvement organizations. Campuses all across the country also have

various religious student organizations and places of worship. This theory may also be of use for

those professionals leading said organizations or religious centers to better understand the faith-

based needs of the students they are working with in terms of programming, personal and

professional development, and student involvement.

Residence Life and First Year Experience offices may use this theory to implement

activities and to facilitate conversations amongst students who may be around students of a

different faith or spiritual background for the first time in their lives. Religious transition theory

would be beneficial for residence assistants (RA) during their annual training to explore how

each of their students will come to college at different points in their spiritual journeys. It is also

a good reminder that as an RA, students are looking at you for setting the tone of the floor. If

there is religious discrimination or bias, students may feel uncomfortable coming to you if they

are having issues, whether those issues are religious or not. It is completely possible to have

students of different religious backgrounds on your floor who all get along as long as a

community of acceptance and respect has been agreed upon by the residents.

The Department of Residence Life and where a student lives on a college campus

continues to have a significant impact on changes in religious values (Pascarella & Terenzini,

1991). If a student lives at home with their parents or religious-parental authority, they are less

likely to have any religious deviation than if a student lives on campus (Hartley, 2004). Knowing

that humans are social beings, our social surroundings are high impact opportunities to exchange

beliefs and ideas, providing the opportunity for students to move through the stages of religious

identity more frequently than if a student has little to no interaction with groups on a college
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campus. Haynes (2002) noted, “American higher education is once again a hospitable

environment for conversations about faith and learning” (p. 30). What Haynes is saying is that

now is the time to open up the lines of communication between students to students, students to

staff, staff to faculty, etc. about how our religious beliefs can be used to promote education and

research about not only ourselves, but about the world around us. College campuses and

departments within the divisions of both Academic Affairs and Student Affairs should be

incorporating religion and spirituality into the core of what that institution says it is and stands

for. Our students are diverse, holistic beings. University departments cannot discredit religion

and faith when looking at diversity and inclusion, as so many missions and visions of today state.

Colleges that have a diverse student population must account for their students’ religious

beliefs and create programs and spaces where they feel valued and respected. At Illinois State

University, a large public institution with a total undergraduate population of over 18,000

students, there are 28 religiously affiliated Registered Student Organizations (IllinoisState.edu).

If a club, or space does not exist for a certain group of students to express their religious beliefs,

it could be beneficial for professionals to have this theory in mind when assisting students in the

creation or formation of one.

HOW CAN THEORY AID EDUCATORS IN SUPPORTING STUDENTS?

Theory should be continuously reviewed, revisited, and revised based on the students of

that time period. What once worked, may not work at this point in time. Theory is a framework,

a lens to see life through that allows us to examine various ways a student “could be”, and not for

pin-pointing exactly how a student “should be”. Our theory, similar to other student development

theories, has the ability to aid educators in supporting students through their collegiate

experience in a great deal of ways. Examining our theory, and other religious or spiritual
FAITH SALIENCE 21

theories, allow student affairs professionals and other higher education faculty and staff an

opportunity to help bridge what the student knows about themselves and who they want to be.

Allen & Kellom state, “physical, emotional, psychological, social, environmental, and

intellectual development are inextricably tied to spiritual growth” (2001, p. 48). If higher

education is meant to develop students at a holistic level, then educators must be concerned with

a student’s religious or spiritual well-being.

Educators must also look at themselves and examine their own religious beliefs. As

“architects of the organizational culture” (Allen & Kellom, 2001, p. 55), student affairs

professionals must take a look inward and reflect on their personal core values to determine how

they will help create campus community spaces and programs that are inclusive and welcoming

for students of all religious beliefs. In the world of higher education, the pace of our work leaves

little to no time for self-reflection; however, taking time to reflect on who you are as a person is

just as important as taking time to reflect on how you conduct your work. We evaluate programs,

policies, procedures, and student work, but we are not taking time to stop and think about how

our own personal religious beliefs and spiritual journeys are affecting that in which we are trying

to evaluate. Theories such as this connect the student’s religious beliefs with their holistic self. If

educators plan to implement said theory, they must also apply it to their own lives.

Small and Bowman (2011) found that as students experience struggle in their lives, they

may seek out faculty support. In their research they stated that “interactions with faculty to

receive support on issues of a spiritual nature increased spiritual identification and spiritual

quest, as well as religious skepticism and religious struggle” (Patton et al., 2016). This finding

shows us that faculty are not fully prepared for conversations regarding religious struggles, and

the conversations they are having are leading to further questions and quest. These spiritual
FAITH SALIENCE 22

quests are described as students journey to find who they are and what their purpose is in life.

Since college challenges students to confront these questions regardless of faith, it is not

surprising that students also bridge these ideas into questioning their faith. Knowing that students

often turn to faculty with questions of faith, it is important for these professionals are familiar

with these stages of faith.

In addition to being knowledgeable about student’s faith, Love (2001) also recommends:

“student affairs professionals be comfortable with their own spirituality. Using Parks's (2000)

theory as a foundation, Love (2001) suggested staff development focuses on how student affairs

professionals make meaning, the role of relationships in this process, and examination of one's

communities, using critical reflection, journaling, and other processes that allow individuals to

look inward. He also advocated recognition of spirituality in students' lives, inclusion of spiritual

development theories in the study of student development and use of these theories in settings

such as judicial affairs, development of mentoring communities and assessment of existing

organizations for their potential as mentoring communities, and bringing spirituality into higher

education in an open manner” (Patton et al., 2016, p. 209).

THEORY LIMITATIONS

One must take into consideration the limitations that this theory has on student

development as not all students are first and foremost, Catholic, nor are all students even

religious affiliated. This study focused on students in America, limiting our data to a smaller

portion of the overall Christian percentage of the world. Christians account for 2.2 billion people

in the world, while 50% are Catholic (Pew Religious Center, 2012). Students may also not have

the opportunity to experience religious exploration as their surroundings may limit them to

continue in Religious Obedience far into their adult lives.

FAITH SALIENCE 23

Another limitation to note is that the ideas behind this model came from two individuals

that attended Catholic school through high school. Catholicism was more present in our lives and

in our youth than most, and because of this, our personal input and thoughts are limited to this

lifestyle. There are many Catholic students in college who did not attend Catholic school, and

their involvement in the church may not have been similar to ours. We also are limited in that

neither of us attended a religiously affiliated college, which could give us a broader viewpoint of

that type of transition.

This theory was written specifically for the Catholic faith, but for future researchers, we

would be interested to know how this would relate to other faiths. Since we both are familiar

with only the Catholic faith and how it has played out in our lives, we are unable to know how

this model would connect to others. In addition to other faiths, we would like to explore how this

model could be used in other countries besides the United States. Our views are based solely on

Western culture, so applying this model elsewhere may not hold true.

Finally, a limitation to this theory is that we are mainly focusing on the religious practices

of a students life, and not discussing the spiritual side. Catholicism focuses more on the physical

practices of religion (i.e. going to Mass) and how those aspects are vital to the religion.

According to Bryant, Choi & Yasuno (2003) “a qualitative study of Catholic disaffiliates showed

that the students did not abandon their religious selves, but maintained a spiritually attuned,

albeit redefined, identity”. When looking at this data, we can infer that while college is having an

effect on their religion, they are not completely abandoning it, but they are changing what it

means to them.

What is difficult about combining the religious practices of Catholicism and the spiritual

side is that once you remove the practices, you are not completely following the Catholic faith
FAITH SALIENCE 24

and therefore are not fully recognized in the church. Using the sacrament of marriage as an

example, there are an excessive amount of requirements you must meet in order for the marriage

to be recognized by the Church. One of these requirements is being present at mass and in the

community and with students moving away from the physical aspects of Catholicism, it is much

more difficult for them to be fully recognized as a member and receive that sacrament. Our Venn

diagram mainly focuses on our participation and actions within the Church and the belief in the

faith, but does not cover when students take pieces of the faith and make their own spiritual

experience.

CONCLUSION

Through cultivating our own personal sense of religion, faith, spirituality, or core values,

we are better able to connect and communicate with those around us. Knowing ourselves comes

first before we can get to know others. In the world of higher education, where one works or

attends classes will have implications on their faith salience and development. Looking at the

stages in this theory, student affairs professionals have the ability to use this knowledge to assist

their students in creating a more concrete sense of belonging with their religion, or they can help

aid a student in exploring religions that reflect their personal values.

In terms of research, more information is needed on what specifically is causing college

to ‘liberalize’ students, as there are not specific events or turning points that are leading to this,

simply that the environment aids in the process. With more research, we would also want to look

more closely at how Catholic students are moving toward more spiritual practices rather than

physical practices (i.e. going to church). In future research, it would be interesting to see if

students identify themselves as being fully Catholic while missing out on the physical practices

that are typically used to define Catholicism. It would also be interesting to watch the
FAITH SALIENCE 25

progression of the church to see if they adapt to followers being more spiritual, and how it would

affect the seven sacraments and possibly requirements for marriage in the church. When looking

at our Venn diagram, we would also like to dive more into the research regarding the

overlapping of the bubbles and possibly look into defining those overlapping moments.

Religious Obedience starts with authority figures being the knower of religion that a

student follows without question. As a student develops the capability to question and combat

ideas of their previously stated religion, they may or may not move into a phase of Chreaster.

This stage allows students to still present as Catholic during major holidays while still feeling

free to express their own religious identity while in college away from their previous

authoritative figures. It is a time of complexity and uncertainty and could either push a student

back to Religious Obedience or into Religious Disaffiliation. If a student enters into Religious

Disaffiliation, they are openly rejecting their previous beliefs and are accepting new religious

beliefs, or may conclude that they have no religious beliefs at all. This stage is not better or

worse than any other stage, but it may come with its own set of familial consequences of

severing ties from a life the student once knew as familiar to enter into a world where they no

longer have the support they had their whole life. Each stage provides the student an opportunity

to seek out mentorship and a community in which they feel challenged and supported,

respectively. The arrows between the stages represent the unique life circumstances that catalyst

a student from one phase to another. A student may move between one or more stages in their

adolescence, or may stay in one stage their whole life. This framework, while it is meant for

student affairs professionals to help aid students, is also a reflective theory that one can use on

their own to examine personal religious beliefs.

FAITH SALIENCE 26

Catholicism was in every aspect of both of our lives growing up and the pressures from

family and peers continue today. With the ideals and values so ingrained into who we are, it can

be hard to completely remove those beliefs. We believe that our theory and Venn diagram must

be interconnected and allow students to move fluidly because of the fact that moving into

complete disaffiliation may take work and is not something easily done. The overlapping

sections of the Venn diagram represent times of decision and contemplation. We both identify in

the middle of two phases, but as we are both in grad school and working through a new

community, it is not likely that we will both settle in one stage for long. Through both of our

experiences, we have formulated this Venn diagram with the hopes that other students facing the

same feelings will have a tool to help them define where they are at in their faith and better

understand themselves.
FAITH SALIENCE 27

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