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This paper reports some of the findings from a study of social and religious change with random samples of both Catholic and non-Catholic electors in four Roman Catholic parishes in England in the mid-1970s. The hypothesis that, as a result of the post-war expansion of educational provision in Britain, Catholics, with their largely urban, immigrant, working class origins, would have experienced a 'mobility momentum' relative to the rest of the population, was not supported. Social mobility experiences were shown to be less important than parish effects on sexual morality and the stable middle class were less likely than other groups to defer to authority. The analysis of attitudes to contraception and to recent liturgical changes indicated that attitudes to religious authority were being transformed. There was little evidence that the shifts of religious ideology legitimated by the Second Vatican Council had any salience for Catholics generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focused interviews with Catholics in four parishes in England in the mid-1970s revealed that Catholics exhibited a variety of heterodox beliefs and practices. The conceptualization of such heterodoxy in terms of "common religion," a term introduced by Towler, proved unsatisfactory. The term "customary religion" is proposed to cover those beliefs and practices derived from "officiaI religion" without being under its control. It is suggested that the beliefs and practices that make up customary religion are the product of formal religious socialization but subject to trivialization, conventionality, apathy, convenience and self-interest. Customary religion therefore tends to be unstructured and heterodox. The notion of "common religion" should be restricted to noninstitutionally contexted religious beliefs and practices which often have the character of magic and superstition. The term "official religion" should be restricted to the orthodox beliefs and practices of functionaries and activists within a religious institution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]