Family is the main source of meaning and fulfilment in the lives of many people, according to the findings of a survey conducted in nations with advanced economies, but faith and religion are well down the list.
Last month, the Pew Research Center in the US published the results of a survey taken with 18,850 adults in 17 advanced economies on what gives them meaning in life.
People’s responses were coded into 17 broad topics.
According to the Pew website, for most of the nations, family was the top “topic” for giving meaning in life. In 14 of the 17 advanced economies surveyed, more mention their family as a source of meaning in their lives than any other factor. In Australia, New Zealand, Greece and the United States, around half or more say their family is something that makes their lives fulfilling. (The three nations that did not have family as the top category were Spain (the top “topic” was health -maybe reflecting Covid), South Korea (the top topic was material well-being) and Taiwan (the top topic was society)).
In the US, 15 per cent of those surveyed mentioned God or religion as a source of meaning. This was the fifth most frequently mentioned category in that nation. But outside of the US, religion was not among the top 10 topics for any nation. Nonetheless, out of the 17 nations, New Zealand had the second highest percentage of people mentioning God and religion as a source of meaning (5 per cent – which was higher than the percentage in New Zealand who mentioned pets as a source of meaning at 4 per cent. New Zealand had the highest percentage among the nations surveyed in terms of pets being a source of meaning and fulfilment). People generally mentioned religion with the same frequency regardless of age, income, education or gender.
For New Zealand, the top five topics for giving meaning in life were – family, occupation, friends, material well-being, society. This was identical to the results for Australia. In the US, the top five were family, friends, material well-being, occupation, faith.
Theologian
New Zealand-based theologian Fr Neil Vaney said that when he first read the summary of the Pew research, he was mildly surprised that “family emerged very clearly as the prime candidate in establishing and providing meaning for people’s lives in many developed nations”.
“On reflection, however, I could see a constant thread running through the last years of the pandemic,” he added.
“It came through in the constant media reports of families separated by border restrictions grieving over inability to be at the bedside of dying parents or siblings, or by long absences from loved partners. This was reinforced by the conclusion that it was not Covid itself that rocked individuals’ value systems, but rather problems like such separations that it forced upon them.”
Another finding of the Pew research was that 14 per cent of New Zealand respondents mentioned nature as a source of meaning and fulfilment, which was ahead of all the other nations.
“The United Kingdom, Australia, France, New Zealand and Sweden also stand apart for the relative emphasis they place on nature compared to many other places surveyed. In each of these countries, nature is one of the top eight sources of meaning,” the survey summary stated.
Fr Vaney was “not too surprised that Kiwis rated nature high among elements that brought fulfilment to its citizens”.
“Though we have some larger cities all lie in easy reach of beaches, mountains and forests accessible to all,” Fr Vaney said.
“There are still many areas of our land that are, relatively speaking, unspoiled and marked by pristine beauty. Our education system and climate make good use of these assets available to nearly all of us.”
Reflection
Fr Vaney thought that the Pew findings “should lead to reflection by Catholic Church leaders and ministries”.
“Clearly the joy and support that families provide should emphasise the need to provide the best staff and programmes available for work in marriage preparation and support (where we are thin on the ground), and aid for needy families and communities,” Fr Vaney said.
“It also means that Sunday homilists, mostly celibate men, need to learn and mirror the concerns, images and needs of married and family life and reflect these positively in their preaching.”
Fr Vaney added that it is also significant from the survey that younger people are more focussed on friends, education and hobbies, as against an older generation, which may be preoccupied with retirement and health issues.
“If we are to promote lively and attractive parishes, it is therefore important that active ministry does not get too locked into the needs of this older group, who form much of our Sunday congregations.”
The findings that faith and religion did not generally rank highly as sources of meaning and fulfilment in very secular Western nations did not surprise Fr Vaney.
“This would seem to point to the Church’s need to propose faith not so much in terms of commandments and structures, but more to stress how faith can lead to deep personal fulfilment in relationship with Jesus, to strong mutual bonds in community and a deep appreciation of the world of nature of which we are an integral part – all themes strongly proposed by Pope Francis”.
Asked if he thought the responses might have differed had the survey been carried out among people in developing economies, Fr Vaney said that two issues came to mind for him – work and health.
“Work and career rank highly in nations like Italy and the USA, but these were clearly linked to dimensions of personal ambition and fulfilment,” Fr Vaney said.
“In many developing nations, work is often onerous, poorly-paid and dangerous; it is a burden needed to support one’s family. The same dynamic is reflected in the sphere of health needs. Taiwan reported great satisfaction in social organisation, partly because its government deployed resources and strategies quickly and effectively in the face of Covid, and this was especially true in the field of health and medicine.
“Many developing nations lack effective infrastructure in doctors, clinics and medicines for coping with such emergencies. We have already seen how such countries such as Papua New Guinea and Fiji have struggled in these areas.”
This is difficult to read because it almost seems like the reporter and the ‘theologian’ are commenting on two different sets of data.
A couple of ironic comments, “It [a thread] came through in the constant media reports of families separated by border restrictions grieving over inability to be at the bedside of dying parents or siblings, or by long absences from loved partners. This was reinforced by the conclusion that it was not Covid itself that rocked individuals’ value systems, but rather problems like such separations that it forced upon them.”
“If we are to promote lively and attractive parishes, it is therefore important that active ministry does not get too locked into the needs of this older group, who form much of our Sunday congregations.”
This shows little consideration of the experience of the average-Pew sitter over the last two years. “separations that it forced upon them” – Parishes and dioceses fell over themselves to shutter, stop access to sacraments, smother any clever work arounds, and, in short, deny any supernatural necessity of “Church” that might supersede preserving our own skins. And that’s not to mention the unpleasantness of now obliging untrained parishioners on “greeter/passport checker duty” to turn away people at the door while, quite safely and meters away, the ‘presider’ of “this older age group” talks about inclusion and community.
Lastly, there are plenty of atheists, agnostics, and pagans with “strong mutual bonds in community and a deep appreciation of the world of nature”. My electric car, permaculture garden, and regular walks will not save my soul not matter how pretty the created natural world or how community minded I might be.
Be objective. Go and really look at the “lively and attractive parishes”. It’ll be sustaining itself, producing babies and converts and the occasional vocation. Or is it a Potemkin village of modern screeds by ‘old men in a hurry’ made on yellowed spiral bound vision statements carried out again, again, and it’ll work this time with a rebrand; again.