hand and heart

The recent post office troubles have impacted our regular fundraising efforts. Please consider supporting the Register and Catholic journalism by using one of the methods below:

  • Donate online
  • Donate by e-transfer to accounting@catholicregister.org
  • Donate by telephone: 416-934-3410 ext. 406 or toll-free 1-855-441-4077 ext. 406

Catholics at odds with Vatican on moral issues

By  Mark Pattison, Catholic News Service
  • April 2, 2009
{mosimage}WASHINGTON- Telephone polling of Catholics and non-Catholics over three years shows the degree of difference between the two groups on abortion, the death penalty and other moral issues about which the Catholic Church has spoken.

According to figures released March 30 by the Gallup Organization in Princeton, N.J., only on the abortion issue did a minority of Catholics overall find it acceptable — 40 per cent compared to 41 per cent for non-Catholics.

The only other moral issue which Catholics overall found less acceptable than non-Catholics was the death penalty, but substantial majorities — 61 per cent of Catholics and 68 per cent of non-Catholics — still found capital punishment morally acceptable.

Besides abortion and the death penalty, other moral issues covered by the polling included sex outside marriage, divorce, gambling, homosexual activity and having a baby outside of wedlock. The polling figures were taken from Gallup’s 2006, 2007 and 2008 Values and Beliefs surveys, in which 3,022 respondents were polled. The margin of error is plus or minus two percentage points, which means that Gallup has a 95-per-cent degree of confidence that, were the survey to be repeated, the results would be within two percentage points of the current results.

Even when separated from Catholics and non-Catholics who attend church regularly, a majority of Catholics polled found a majority of the issues raised to be morally acceptable — and, with the exception of the death penalty, declared the issues to be more morally acceptable than their non-Catholic counterparts.

On embryonic stem-cell research, 63 per cent of Catholics overall believe the practice to be morally acceptable, compared to 62 per cent of non-Catholics. Among regular churchgoers, 53 per cent of Catholics approve of it while 45 per cent of non-Catholics do.

How Catholics polled

Catholics tended to be at odds with Church teachings:

  • Sex between an unmarried man and woman: 67 per cent of all Catholics and 57 per cent of all non-Catholics said it was acceptable; among regular churchgoers, 53 per cent of Catholics and 30 per cent of non-Catholics said it was acceptable.

  • Divorce: 71 per cent of all Catholics, 67 per cent of all non-Catholics; among regular churchgoers, 63 per cent of Catholics, 46 per cent of non-Catholics.

  • Having a baby outside marriage: 61 per cent of all Catholics, 52 per cent of all non-Catholics; among regular churchgoers, 48 per cent of Catholics, 29 per cent of non-Catholics.

  • Gambling: 72 per cent of all Catholics, 59 per cent of all non-Catholics; among regular churchgoers, 67 per cent of Catholics, 40 per cent of non-Catholics.

  • Homosexual relations: 54 per cent of all Catholics, 45 per cent of all non-Catholics; among regular churchgoers, 44 per cent of Catholics, 21 per cent of non-Catholics.
  • Abortion: 40 per cent of all Catholics, 41 per cent of all non-Catholics; among regular churchgoers, 24 per cent of Catholics, 19 per cent of non-Catholics.

  • Capital punishment: 61 per cent of all Catholics, 68 per cent of all non-Catholics; among regular churchgoers, 52 per cent of Catholics, 69 per cent of non-Catholics.

The Gallup results mirror a poll taken last fall by the Knights of Columbus in that churchgoing Catholics tended to favour the church’s teaching on moral issues more than non-practising Catholics, although the two polls did not always cover the same issues.

The results for churchgoing Catholics, described as going to church every week or nearly every week, are “much more in line with the church’s teachings than are the views of non-practising Catholics,” said a statement by Gallup announcing the results.

“However, even among committed Catholics, a slim majority seem to be at odds with the church’s positions on premarital sex, embryonic stem-cell research, divorce and the death penalty,” it said.

 
More in this category: « Only resurrected Christ can fill emptiness in peoples hearts Pope Benedict praises African women »

Please support The Catholic Register

Unlike many media companies, The Catholic Register has never charged readers for access to the news and information on our website. We want to keep our award-winning journalism as widely available as possible. But we need your help.

For more than 125 years, The Register has been a trusted source of faith-based journalism. By making even a small donation you help ensure our future as an important voice in the Catholic Church. If you support the mission of Catholic journalism, please donate today. Thank you.

DONATE