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Those of us who love our Catholic faith and who sincerely believe in Jesus often lament the decline in religious belief and practice. We can remember a time when people went to church more often and tried to govern their lives by religious principles. People used to pray more and go to church more.

There are plenty of studies that demonstrate the decline in religious practice and the decline in membership in churches and other religious organizations. However, I recently found the results of a study of confidence in religion by the National Opinion Research Corporation at the University of Chicago. The NORC is a well-respected sociology research organization that has conducted regular studies of Americans' confidence in religion and other institutions over many decades. The results are stark:

• In 1973 about 16% of Americans reported that they had "hardly any confidence" in religion.

• 50 years later, in 2024, 35%, more than one third, of Americans reported "hardly any confidence" in religion.

Why have people lost confidence in religion? The study does not answer that question, but sexual abuse and financial scandals by church leaders have contributed to the loss of confidence in religion. Some people criticize the clergy for being too political, or not being political enough. Some people say that the religious morality is too strict or not strict enough. It is not difficult to find reasons why people might be skeptical about organized religion.

But the NORC survey offers some other very interesting insights:

• In 1973, about 15% of Americans had hardly any confidence in the press and 22% had hardly any confidence in television news.

• In 2024, 55% of Americans have hardly any confidence in the press and 48% have hardly any confidence in television news.

Even though some Americans have lost confidence in organized religion, Americans have lost confidence in the news media even more. The same is true of other institutions, for example, government and corporations.

The conclusion of the study is that Americans are losing confidence in all institutions, including religion, but that Americans are more cynical about the media, government and business than they are about religion. It is not good news that Americans distrust their institutions. Arguably it is good news that Americans trust their churches more than they trust other intuitions; but still, more than one third of Americans have hardly confidence in religion, and that's not good.

There is a well-documented trend that many Americans now have no religion, that they don't affiliate with any church or other religious organization. Though the NORC study does not differentiate between religious and non-religious Americans, I think it is likely, perhaps certain, that religious Americans trust religious institutions more than other Americans.

In a time of declining trust in institutions, we Catholics should do our best to be trustworthy. The Catholic Church operates schools and social service institutions that are useful to many people, Catholic and non-Catholic alike. Our churches and our people should strive to be good neighbors who have a positive impact on society. I recently read another study that says that the more churches have a visible ministry to the poor, the more credible the churches are.

Saint John's has a long history of being everybody's church. We welcome the rich and the poor, locals and visitors, people of all races and political opinions. Saint John's remains an anchor in our struggling Market East neighborhood. I believe that our neighbors see us as a welcoming and positive institution. Let's continue to do our best to be honest, friendly and generous. Let's be a trustworthy member of our community.