In small towns across Italy, life has changed over the last generation as the Catholic faith loses relevance in people’s routines and choices. From cradle to casket, the church and its teachings no longer drive daily rhythms. Local parishes have stopped functioning as the towns’ gathering spot, where families congregated each Sunday and youth found extracurricular activities from sports to music that schools rarely provided. As one volunteer at a popular sanctuary put it, those in his generation attend service when they feel like it. For people in their 20s, his son's generation, 'there is a rejection in principle.”
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“I remember I spent my childhood in the parish, it was a way to meet. Youth today prefer different gathering spots,” said Assunta Cantalupo in the Sanctuary of San Gabriele dell’Addolorata where she volunteers. “Now even young parents are hard to engage. They bring kids to the doorway for catechism, but don’t cross it for Mass.
“From what I hear, it’s more a question of keeping up a tradition than of faith,” said Michela Vignola of her hair salon clients, who still mostly do church weddings. She estimates believers make up half her town’s population — including a majority who aren’t practicing. “I’ve noticed a gap of more than a generation at Mass,” said elementary school teacher Marcello Ticchioni, who feels closest to his own faith when he goes on yearly pilgrimages to San Gabriele.
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