The recent University Chaplaincy survey found that 91 per cent of students claim to be Catholics, yet only 42 per cent believe in the resurrection of Christ. Christian Peregin spoke to three of the authors.

The Church's teachings are positive and healthy, but unless priests speak the language of young people this will not come across, according to sociologist and Dominican priest Fr Charles Tabone.

Fr Tabone said the most striking finding of the survey was that, in comparison to the 2003 report, fewer students showed faith in the basic tenets of Catholicism.

He believes the Church now has a challenge to make its message more relevant to today's youngsters.

"People do not appreciate dogmatic language any more. We need to speak in terms people can relate to. For example, it is not enough to say pre-marital sex is wrong. We need to explain why certain restrictions make sense. We need more priests who are well-versed in contemporary culture," he says.

Fr Tabone is unable to explain the reason behind the students' attitudes to faith because the survey did not go into that kind of depth. However, he is convinced that there is a large and solid nucleus of students who believe in their Catholic faith with conviction. He said the results were, in fact, better than expected.

This is a view shared by psychology and theology lecturer Paul Galea who said some 50 to 60 per cent of University students were firm believers, with an informed Catholic faith.

However, even some of these had difficulty integrating their faith with their lifestyles, meaning that although they believed in all the mysteries of their faith, they still condoned issues like divorce, cohabitation and contraception.

Fr Galea said this was because the "secular onslaught" was mostly directed at moral teachings - not at core beliefs.

Fr Tabone said the results could not be seen as representative of the population since University students were likely to go through a phase of questioning.

"University students are constantly being challenged and bombarded with rational and scientific arguments. They are encouraged to question everything. This is something healthy, because as we know it leads many of them to a better understanding of their relationship with God, and they emerge more convinced of their faith."

Fr Galea, on the other hand, believes that non-University students have less religious formation. He said that the questioning attitude of University students tended to translate into more serious answers.

"Even those who reject their faith are making an informed rejection," he said.

But despite this large nucleus of well-formed Catholics, compared with the 2003 survey it is clear that the number has dropped in the past five years.

Philosophy lecturer Jean-Paul De Lucca said he expected University students to have a better idea of why they believed in God or not, and for those who believed to have a deeper understanding of their faith.

He said many of the attitudes that emerged in the survey showed alienation and indifference, which was symptomatic of attitudes to public life in general.

But students were not fully to blame for this because those in authority tended to do a "great job" of speaking in ways that encouraged such alienation, he said.

"The Church can be less legalistic and more humane. It should be particularly careful on how it speaks to those who have doubts and difficulties," he said, adding that this survey should prompt the Church to reach out.

He said there would be nothing wrong for the Church to enter into a dialogue with people who disagreed with it on particular issues and, as it has done in the past, update or change its teachings accordingly.

Of even more importance would be for the Church to revise what it emphasised as being fundamental to Christian life and to make an effort to sound less authoritarian.

The survey was carried out by a team which also included Anton Buhagiar, Jimmy Bartolo, Mary Anne Lauri, Christine Rossi and Edward Warrington.

cperegin@timesofmalta.com