Religion on Campus: Folk Catholicism Among College Students

Abstract

This study sought to find out whether folk Catholicism still persists at this present age particularly on the campuses. Specifically, the research aimed to describe the religiosity or the degree of folk Catholicism among students enrolled in the University of the Philippines Manila College of Arts and Sciences (UPM CAS), one of the firsts if not the first study to be done on folk Catholicism in the University of the Philippines. It sought to know the religious images, beliefs, devotions, and practices held and exercised by the students. Moreover, it determined the students’ perceptions on the person and function of God, Jesus Christ, and Virgin Mary. Since courses in UPM CAS have different orientations, the study also tried to find out any significant differences, if there are, between the Catholic beliefs and practices held by Bachelor of Arts students and those adhered to by Bachelor of Science majors. Lastly, the study aimed to infer, at least partially, whether the specific religious attribute of an institution (e.g. public nonsectarian) could be related to the religious perception and behavior of the people in it. Hypotheses were generated and tested, as in the case of the religious perceptions about God, about Jesus, and about Mary. In sum, the hypotheses tested in the research were: (1) The Null Hypothesis (Ho): That there is no significant difference between the religious perceptions about God, Jesus, and Mary held by Catholic Bachelor of Arts students and those adhered to by Catholic Bachelor of Science majors, and (2) The Alternative Hypothesis (H,): That there is a significant difference between the religious perceptions about God, Jesus, and Mary held by Catholic Bachelor of Arts students and those adhered to by Catholic Bachelor of Science majors. The study adopted a descriptive research design in collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data on Filipino folk Catholicism. The Survey Method was the main procedure used in collecting data. Specifically, a Catholic Religiosity Scale was devised by the researcher and was used as the main method of data collection. It is a questionnaire composed of seventy-eight (78) items distributed into four (4) subtests. These items were divided into seven (7) content domains, namely: (1) religious beliefs, or the notions or ideas held by a person concerning his/her faith and actions as a Catholic (e.g. religious superstitions), (2) religious practice and (3) religious devotions, both customary ways of expressing one’s faith as a Catholic, (4) religious images, or the pictures and statues of religious characters like Jesus Christ, Sto. Nifio and Virgin Mary; (5) religious perceptions about God, (6) religious perceptions about Jesus, and (7) religious perceptions about Mary. These came mainly from the review of related literature and studies, while items were adopted from both the literature review and the observation and experiences of the researcher. Different scales were used for each content domain: multiple choice and a yes or no scale for religious images, devotions, and practices; a simple subjective rating scale of always, sometimes, or never for religious devotions and practices; and a Likert scale for perceptions about the person and function of God, Jesus Christ, and the Virgin Mary. The respondents of the study were eighty-seven (87) third year Catholic undergraduate students officially enrolled in the University of the Philippines Manila College of Arts and Sciences for the first semester of Academic Year 2000-2001. There are approximately 230 third year Catholic students in UPM CAS, and 87 is 37.83% of the total population. Both males and females were selected regardless of their respective degree programs. Specifically, 51 out of 87 respondents or 58.62% were Bachelor of Arts (BA) majors, while the remaining 36 respondents or 41.38% were Bachelor of Science (BS) students. Most of the respondents were female, comprising 63 or 72.41% of the sample. Only 24 respondents or 27.58% were males. In terms of age, majority of them are 19-year olds (41 or 47.13% of the respondents) and 18 years of age (36 or 41.38% of the respondents), the typical ages of third year college students. Samples were chosen using random probability sampling. Since not all the items in the questionnaire can be added, data presentation was done on a per-item basis. After counting the frequency of responses for the items, the corresponding percentages were computed, from which the final ranking of responses was based. The fourth and last part of the questionnaire used a Likert Scale, and a value was assigned for every option in the subtest (Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, and Strongly Disagree), depending on whether the item was positively stated or otherwise. Specifically, a score of 4 was given to Strongly Agree, 3 for Agree, 2 for Disagree, and 1 for Strongly Disagree. However, the scoring was reversed for item 6, a negatively stated item. A response of Strongly Agree or Agree in all of the items yields a high degree of religiosity in terms of perceptions about God, Jesus, and Virgin Mary. Then, the means and standard deviations of each content domain were computed. Finally, to test the research hypotheses, pooled-variances t-test was performed using a two-tailed direction at 0.05 confidence level. Such test was used to assess whether there is a significant difference between the religious perceptions of Bachelor of Arts students and those of Bachelor of Science majors. More specifically, t-test for independent groups with unequal number of samples was computed for the last three content domains, namely: religious perceptions about God, Jesus, and Mary. In general, the results of the study showed that folk Catholicism continues to exist today, specifically among Catholic college students in the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of the Philippines Manila. They still hold and exercise the religious beliefs, devotions, and practices of a typical Catholic. The beliefs that they hold mostly involve protection from evil spirits and bad luck through religious items such as holy water, blessed palm leaves or palaspas, and images. Hearing mass and praying to guardian angels were two popular devotions among the respondents. There were 60 respondents or 68.97% who still fulfill their religious obligation of hearing mass at least once a week, while 34 or 39.08% always pray to guardian angels. It is also noteworthy as revealed by the gathered data that students no longer believe in the importance of religious images (statues and pictures) in carrying out their faith. Thus, they are less folk Catholic in this particular content domain. In addition, popular religious practices among the students were Simbang Gabi (56 respondents or 64.37%) and praying before (60 respondents or 68.97%) and upon passing a major exam (50 respondents or 57.47%). These practices were more popular among them than lighting a candle when praying (8 respondents or 9.20%) and kissing a religious image as a sign of veneration and respect (10 respondents or 11.49%). The results further revealed that students share strong religious perceptions about God, Jesus Christ, and Virgin Mary. Specifically, they know God as the Creator who is almighty, omnipotent, and omnipresent. Jesus, on the other hand, is viewed as a good provider, protector, and a friend. A significant number of students consider Him the Son of God who is merciful and loves humankind unconditionally. Finally, Mary is agreed upon and viewed as the mother of Jesus who is blessed, pure, and holy. However, students disagree that she is equal to God in power and that she is the mediator between God and humans. They believe that Mary should not be worshipped. The results of the pooled-variances t-test also established that there is no significant difference between Catholic Bachelor of Arts students and Bachelor of Science majors in terms of their religious perceptions about God, Jesus, and Mary. Specifically, a r value of -0.94 was obtained for religious perceptions about God, -0.52 for religious perceptions about Jesus, and -0.82 for those about Mary. All three are within the Hy acceptance region, with a 4 of 0.992 at 85 degrees of freedom. Therefore, it can be inferred that the orientation of a course (i.e., arts- or science-oriented) has nothing to do with the students’ religiosity, since both groups shared the same religious characteristics and attributes. Likewise, it can safely be inferred that the school itself, with the fact that it is liberal in orientation and non-sectarian, has nothing to do with the religiosity of students. Finally, results showed that responses given by the respondents were consistent and therefore reliable, as proven by the high frequencies of respondents who had consistent answers for the six pairs of consistency items distributed throughout the questionnaire. For future researchers on folk Catholicism, the investigator suggests that the questionnaire used in the study be improved by including elaborative questions to capture the deeper significance and purpose of holding and carrying out the religious beliefs, images, devotions, practices, and perceptions. In terms of methodology, it would be better if the researcher would employ the triangulation method in gathering data.