Dayton, USA - A majority of Catholics are optimistic about their religion, according to a new study.
The latest 2009 Le Moyne-Zogby Contemporary Catholic Trends survey reported that 73 percent of Catholics were optimistic about the future of the church despite some recent difficult issues, including the ongoing sex abuse scandal, a priest shortage, dwindling parish memberships and church closings, according to the report.
The poll included 3,812 randomly sampled members of the Zogby Interactive panel, including 767 Catholics.
When asked whether they were optimistic or pessimistic about the future of the church, 36 percent said they were “very optimistic,” and 37 percent replied “somewhat optimistic.” Just 18 percent were “somewhat pessimistic” and 5 percent said they were “very pessimistic.”
Progressive Catholics were the most likely to be pessimistic, according to the report, which found 40 percent of progressives saying they were somewhat or very pessimistic. Only 7 percent of the Orthodox Catholics polled were at all pessimistic.
“These numbers remind us that news headlines are only part of the Catholic religious experience,” said Matthew Loveland, principal investigator of the project, in a news release. “When asked to reflect on the church, I expect that most people think of their personal religious lives, not the national headlines.”
In addition to studying the optimism of Catholics, the report also found:
• Of Catholics polled, 20 percent described themselves as progressive, while 11 percent chose orthodox. The least-frequent descriptors chosen were evangelical (7 percent), fundamentalist (4 percent), and born-again (3 percent).
• More of those who described themselves as orthodox (79 percent) attend mass at least once a month than those who described themselves as progressive (63 percent). On a weekly basis, just 19 percent of progressives attend mass, while 65 percent of orthodox Catholics attend weekly mass.
• Catholic panel members were asked to rate the personal importance of a number of elements of their faith. Around 64 percent said the Sacraments are very important, while 23 percent said they were just somewhat important; 61 percent said the church’s concern for the poor was very important, and 29 percent said it was somewhat important. Teachings about Mary as the Mother of God also ranked highly, with 54 percent saying it is very important, and 27 percent saying the teachings were somewhat important to their Catholic faith.
• More than one-third of Catholics polled said they felt it was important the priesthood remain all male, with 24 percent saying it was very important and 12 percent saying it was somewhat important to their faith.
• More than one-fourth of Catholics polled said they felt is was important the priesthood remain celibate, with 19 percent saying it was very important and 13 percent said it was somewhat important.