Catholics at odds with the Church

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | May 16, 2003

The Boston Globe poll of local Catholics is imperfect in many ways; it's unscientific, and the questions frequently tilt toward a favored answer. Still, for all its weaknesses, that poll tells a frightening story. The full results of the Globe poll are worthy of notice.

For instance, among Catholics who attend Mass at least once a week,

only 28% support Church teaching on birth control,

a bare majority of 51% supports the Church on abortion;

only 35% support Church teaching on homosexuality;

66% favor the ordination of women to the priesthood;and

62% believe that gay men should be ordained;

And those are the Catholics who do go to Mass regularly-- about one-third of the overall total. Those who don't go to Mass are predictably less inclined to support Church teachings.

If the sex-abuse scandal magically disappeared, there would still be a crisis in the Archdiocese of Boston. There has been a crisis all along. It's only recently come to public attention.

Phil Lawler has been a Catholic journalist for more than 30 years. He has edited several Catholic magazines and written eight books. Founder of Catholic World News, he is the news director and lead analyst at CatholicCulture.org. See full bio.

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