Tuning in the Spirit: Exposure to Types of Religious TV Programming among American Catholic Parishioners

Abstract

Data on registered Catholic parishioners in the Notre Dame Study of Catholic Parish Life were used to test two theories that account for Catholics' exposure to religious television programming: the informational needs theory and the situational cross-pressures theory. Results from discriminant function analyses provided support for both hypotheses. The findings also indicated that younger, single Catholics who displayed low levels of involvement in institutional religion showed little interest in the electronic church. Catholics who did watch religious TV, and particularly Protestant programs, tended to be younger converts from heavily Protestant regions of the U.S. These individuals appeared to find little religious fulfillment in traditional Catholic worship, but they did seem to find friendships and positive social contacts within their parishes.