Yamane studies the relationships between religion and social norms.

Social norms and religious change

Assistant Professor of Sociology David Yamane connects trends such as the Roman Catholic Church's declining conversion rates and numbers of priests and nuns in the U.S. to changing social norms on marriage, sex, and the roles and status of women.

Yamane, who also is a faculty associate in the religion department and teaches the sociology of religion in the Divinity School, is a specialist in the interface between organized religion and secular institutions and culture. As a convert to the faith who spent five years on the faculty of Notre Dame, it stands to reason that the Roman Catholic Church would command a portion of Yamane's professional attention.

Brought up in what he calls the "religiously indifferent" culture of suburban northern California, Yamane converted to Roman Catholicism when he was a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin. Like many contemporary converts, he was introduced to the faith by his wife-to-be.

"Most people convert because of well-established network connections or for other mundane reasons, such as a marriage or the birth of a child," he points out. Although, as he notes, over 150,000 Americans converted to Catholicism last year, the long-term trend is downward. "The traditional reason why most non-Catholics converted—it was their spouse's religion, and unanimity was thought to be important for child-rearing—is much less important now, with more options and fewer sanctions for religiously mixed marriages."

Culture and Catholicism

Contemporary America is experiencing a rise in "seeker spirituality," but few of these seekers opt for Catholicism. Part of the reason, Yamane says, is that Catholic doctrine is self-consciously out of step with present-day culture. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Church's teaching on sexuality and the role of women, which is related to the drastic decline in Catholic religious vocations. "American culture is not welcoming of celibacy and the barring of women priests," he states.

As women's social status has risen over the past half-century, the number of nuns has dropped precipitously. In contrast, vocations to the priesthood in Asia and Africa are booming and helping to fill the shortage of priests in the U.S. The priesthood's economic and social status can make it an attractive option in the developing world. It will be interesting to see whether vocations in Asia and Africa decline as well once the standards of living on those continents rise." —David Yamane

Yamane believes the Church eventually will be forced to change its centuries-old dictates against married and women priests. "Catholicism has to choose if it will continue to require these non-essential characteristics of priests, which threaten the viability of the priesthood and the Church, or if it will come into line with contemporary norms to save what is essential about the Church: the sacraments," he says. "The shortage of priests is bad enough that it could bring about incremental change—first, welcoming back former priests who are now married; then, permitting married laymen to enter the seminary; and, finally, allowing ordained priests to get married. I don't expect it all to happen in my lifetime, but I think it will come."

Yamane, who with his wife, Megan Polzer, has three children 12 and under, is anticipating his next research subject. "My projects always emerge from my personal experiences," he says. "Certainly, for my work on the Church, it was fortuitous that I was at Notre Dame. Now that I am at Wake Forest, I wonder what will strike me as interesting locally. The rise of the Catholic South, perhaps?"

By David Fyten
Office of Creative Services

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