ABCNEWS Poll Finds Dropping Opinion of Church as Bishops Gather
Analysis by Gary Langer
June 12
— American bishops gather in Dallas this week under a broad and still-growing cloud of public disapproval over their handling of child sexual abuse by priests, including overwhelming rejection of their plan to give some one-time abusers a second chance.
The page you've requested either does not exist or is currently unavailable.
You may use the "Back" button on your browser to return to the previous page, visit the ABCNews.com Home Page, or view the Site Map. You can also search our site by using the search form below.
If you require further assistance, please contact us.
Overall favorable opinions of the Catholic Church have dropped from 63 percent in February to 47 percent now, an ABCNEWS poll finds. And 73 percent disapprove of its handling of the scandal, up 14 points since the U.S. cardinals met in Rome in late April.
Among Catholics, who make up about a quarter of the nation's population, 63 percent disapprove of the church's handling of the crisis. And while 70 percent still hold a fundamentally favorable view of their church, this has worsened by 18 points since the scandal erupted.
Catholics, moreover, are equally likely to reject the suggestion, included in a draft policy to be considered by the bishops in Dallas, that a one-time, past abuser of an adolescent child might be allowed to remain in the priesthood after counseling, review and monitoring. Eighty-two percent of Americans, including 81 percent of Catholics, say such men instead should be expelled automatically from the priesthood.
Onus on Bishops
There are expectations for progress in Dallas: Fifty-nine percent of Americans, rising to 77 percent of Catholics, think the meeting will produce meaningful improvements in the way the church handles this issue.
That makes the meeting an opportunity for the bishops, but it also raises the risk of unmet hopes. Before the cardinals' meeting at the Vatican in April, 64 percent of Americans expected the session to produce meaningful progress; after it, though, just 31 percent (including fewer than half of Catholics) said such progress had actually been produced.
Some onus is on the bishops because some of their own decisions are seen as having contributed to the problem. Forty-eight percent of Americans believe that decisions of individual American bishops — rather than policies set by the Vatican — are mainly responsible for the way the church has dealt with the issue, and this advances to 56 percent of Catholics. (Thirty-one percent of Catholics mainly blame Vatican policy.)
Far and away the chief contributing factor to the scandal in the public's view is the failure of church officials in the past to call the police when abuse was alleged; 88 percent of Catholics and non-Catholics alike call this a "major" part of the problem. (Earlier polling has shown similarly broad criticism of the practice of transferring accused priests to other parishes.)
Other items are seen as factors, but are far less likely to be cited as "major" factors. These include inadequate screening of priest candidates in the seminaries, the ban on marriage by priests and the number of priests who are homosexuals.
Interestingly, among Catholics, lack of screening in the seminaries ranks highest among these second-tier factors (57 percent call it a major part of the problem), while the number of homosexual priests — an issue raised by the Vatican — ranks considerably lower (41 percent call it a "major" factor.)
'Major' part of the problem
Catholics
All Americans
Not Calling Police
88 percent
88
Lack of Seminary Screening
57
53
Ban on Marriage
43
51
Homosexual Priests
41
47
Catholic men are 20 points more apt than Catholic women to see the marriage ban as a major factor; they're also 14 points more likely to see the number of homosexual priests as a major factor. Catholic women, for their part, are 12 points more likely to see inadequate screening in the seminaries as a major part of the problem.
The Media Is Not to Blame
There is little agreement with another issue recently raised by some church officials — criticism of the news media for its coverage of the situation, described by Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga in a recent interview as anti-Catholic, "a persecution against the church," and reminiscent of Stalin and Hitler.
In this poll, however, 77 percent of Americans, including 65 percent of Catholics, say recent news coverage of the issue has been fair to the church, essentially the same as it was in a late March poll.
Finally, this poll finds no significant change in local experience with an abuse allegation. Thirteen percent of Americans say there's been an allegation against a priest in their community; it was 10 percent in late March. Among Catholics, 7 percent report an allegation within their own parish; it was 6 percent in March.
Disapproval of the church's handling of the issue peaks among people who know of an allegation in their own community. In this group, 82 percent disapprove of the way the church has dealt with it, and 67 percent disapprove "strongly."
Methodology
This ABCNEWS poll was conducted by telephone June 7-9 among a random national sample of 1,004 adults, including 225 Catholics. The results have a three-point error margin for the full sample and 6.5 points for Catholics. Field work was done by TNS Intersearch of Horsham, Pa.
Previous ABCNEWS polls on this and other topics can be found in our PollVault.
The page you've requested either does not exist or is currently unavailable.
You may use the "Back" button on your browser to return to the previous page, visit the ABCNews.com Home Page, or view the Site Map. You can also search our site by using the search form below.
If you require further assistance, please contact us.
The page you've requested either does not exist or is currently unavailable.
You may use the "Back" button on your browser to return to the previous page, visit the ABCNews.com Home Page, or view the Site Map. You can also search our site by using the search form below.
If you require further assistance, please contact us.
PRINT THIS PAGE
VIEW MOST EMAILED