A new study on the faith of Catholic college students produced a Rorschach moment in today's church that was neatly typified by contrasting headlines in the Catholic media:

"Catholic colleges weakening students' faith, new study finds," declared the conservative-leaning Catholic World News.

"Study: Catholics at Catholic colleges less likely to stray from church," went the headline from Catholic News Service, the media outlet of the American bishops.

So which is it? Are Catholic colleges undermining the faith? Or are they an effective if leaky levee against the growing tide of secularism? The study, "Catholicism on Campus," was released on Jan. 31 by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), at Georgetown University, which compiled the data from national surveys of more than 14,000 students at nearly 150 U.S. colleges and universities. Students were surveyed as freshmen in 2004 and then in 2007 as juniors.

The upshot is that while college-age students at all schools tend to move away from Catholic practices and beliefs, Catholic students at Catholic colleges are less likely to drift than Catholics at non-Catholic schools. The CARA authors conclude that "students self-identifying as Catholic at Catholic colleges and universities remain profoundly connected to their faith" by their junior year. While the study's authors acknowledge that Catholic schools could always do better, they "appear to be doing no harm—certainly in comparison to other types of higher education institutions—and at a more subtle level may be increasing their student's Catholicity."

Rebellion tends to define youth in every era, just as marriage and childbearing tend to draw adults back to their faith. But 46% of the Catholic juniors at Catholic schools surveyed said their "religiousness" became "stronger" or "much stronger" during college and 39% said there was "no change." Almost all expressed a strong belief in God, and nearly nine in 10 said "seeking to follow religious teachings in everyday life" was at least somewhat important to them. Overall, they were slightly less likely to pray when they left Catholic universities than when they entered, but slightly more likely to read the Bible and other sacred texts.

Yet nearly a third of Catholic students at Catholic schools were less likely to attend Mass—the baseline of Catholic practice—than they had been before arriving on campus, and just 7% said they were more likely. And the church teachings to which these students at Catholic colleges adhere most strongly are those that, in a sociopolitical context, would be called "liberal." For example, 21% of Catholic students at Catholic schools moved away from the church's teaching against capital punishment, while 31% moved closer to the church's position—a significantly higher shift in that direction than from Catholic students at non-Catholic schools, where it's almost a wash. On a range of social-justice issues, Catholic students at Catholic schools are even more likely to maintain or move toward church teachings and policies: opposing increased military spending; supporting higher taxes on the wealthy; and expressing much stronger support for "reducing pain and suffering" and "improving the human condition."

By contrast, on issues of personal sexual morality generally considered "conservative," students show the furthest drift from Catholic teachings over their college years.