Faith in Practice

WASHINGTON — Young, orthodox Catholics are more enthusiastic about the pope than are many in the older generation, said Colleen Carroll Campbell, author of The New Faithful, a book about the youthful set. "They like his countercultural stance on a lot of things. ... They also like his emphasis on Catholic identity and fidelity to Catholic doctrine."

Such young Catholics' strict obedience to the tenets of their faith makes them an anomaly in their generation. Only 14 percent of Catholics ages 20 to 40 attend Mass at least weekly, according to research by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, and just one in five goes to confession once a year or more.

For conservative Catholics, that's unthinkable.

"You have to live your faith and practice, not just learn the doctrine," said Anne Francoise Guelcher, 40, the mother of six children — ages 15 months to 14 years — who lives with husband James in Montclair, Va.

Guelcher home-schools her children. "That way, I can really teach them about the faith," she says.

The family goes to Mass every Sunday and on Holy Days and celebrates the myriad Catholic feast days. They say the rosary and pray to the saints daily. Like other devout Catholics, they keep holy water, which has been blessed by a priest, in a small font by their front door.

"We live it every day," Guelcher said.

Like Catholics of their generation, young conservatives grew up under the liberalizing changes to the church brought on by the Vatican II Council in the 1960s, but some have rejected those reforms as they reached adulthood.

Chris Paulitz, 32, a Senate aide, remembers "lots of guitars and banjos" at church services and priests who had fallen away from practicing church doctrine.

"I felt uncomfortable about it constantly," he said.

To traditional Catholics, the old Latin Mass — a formal rite entirely in Latin — stands in marked contrast to the more informal modern Mass ushered in by the Second Vatican Council. Benedict last year loosened restrictions on the traditional Latin Mass, also called the Tridentine Mass, cheering conservative Catholics everywhere.

It is not an easy existence. Conservative Catholics, compared to "cafeteria Catholics" — the term for Catholics who pick and choose which doctrines to follow — say they can feel off the beaten path culturally.

Those who eschew artificial birth control and have large families say they hear comments and rude remarks when they venture out with their children: "Don't you have enough?" and "Aren't you done yet?"

Sam Fatzinger, a suburban mother of 11, has learned to respond with a tart, "No, I'm just getting warmed up."

"So many people think that with large families you're weird or crazy," said Nicole Santschi, 41, of Manassas, Va., who is expecting her eight child. "But we're normal, down-to-earth. But our goal is to get our kids into heaven and doing what God wants us to do. It's hard, but He gives us the grace to do it."