Posted on 04/17/2005 1:53:52 PM PDT by madprof98
ALBANY -- Elaine Ranc attends Mass every week and describes herself as a faithful disciple of the Catholic Church.
But she also believes in a woman's reproductive rights. She thinks gays should be able to marry. And she has no problem with using contraception.
"The church has helped me with some decisions in life," said Ranc, 36, of Voorheesville. "But I don't always agree with everything they say. I think women have the right to become priests, and that priests have the right to get married."
Ranc is among a number of Catholics in the Capital Region who believe the church is out of touch with its flock on a number of moral and social issues.
A Times Union/NewsChannel 13 poll conducted Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday by the Siena Research Institute found about 88 percent of local Catholics support the use of contraceptives by married couples, 34 percent support gay marriage, and 79 percent say abortion should be allowed in at least some situations.
The random sample phone survey, conducted as the church's cardinals prepare to select a new pope in the wake of Pope John Paul II's death, polled 622 people, including 284 Catholics, in Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga and Schenectady counties. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.
The findings, sociologists and religious scholars say, are nothing new and reflect the results of other surveys conducted nationally. Kevin Christiano, sociology professor at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., said the large gap between personal opinions and church teachings goes back at least to Pope Paul VI's 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae, which firmly established the church's opposition to any type of artificial birth control.
"In the '60s, there was some sense that the church was going to turn a corner on that issue," Christiano said. "And when that didn't happen, a lot of people tuned out."
A sort of selectivity arose even among the most faithful, another expert said.
"I don't know that you could find any Catholic anywhere who would agree 100 percent with the church," said Michele Dillon, an associate professor of sociology at the University of New Hampshire. "One of the reasons Catholics stay faithful is that they put more emphasis on the liturgy and Mass (than on doctrinal matters). And many of those who disagree with the church on contraception or abortion may be strongly in favor of the church's opposition to war or the death penalty."
In many instances, local Catholics' viewpoints mirror that of the general population. The Siena survey found 41 percent of all of those polled say gays should be allowed to marry, 82 percent believe abortion should be allowed in some instances and 89 percent support the use of contraception by married couples.
Among Catholics, contraception remains the area of greatest dissension between the laity and official church doctrine.
"Family choices change as development increases," said Mark Gray, research associate in the center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. "And it's very expensive to raise a child in a developed country."
Ranc said she began taking birth control pills to combat painful ovulation as a teenager, but said she feels contraception should be available to anyone.
"I think condoms should be used by young people," she said. "And who wants the spread of AIDS to continue?"
Local Catholics who participated in the survey also disagreed with the church's stance on allowing women to be ordained and priests to marry. While Pope John Paul II refused to budge on those issues, 70 percent of those surveyed said they would have no problem with priests marrying, and 63 percent said the church should allow women into the priesthood.
"People are more aware of the so-called priest shortage," Christiano said. "There are about 20,000 parishes in the United States, and about 3,000 do not have a parish priest. About 50 years ago, many would have had more than one resident priest. Outlying missions would have been the only ones that wouldn't have had a priest."
Capital Region Catholics are more in line with the Vatican when it comes to abortion, with only 17 percent saying it should be allowed under all circumstances, though 62 percent thought it should be accepted under some circumstances.
Albany Bishop Howard Hubbard said teachings must evolve "in continuity with core doctrine and in light of careful study and examination of new knowledge and insights."
"It is the responsibility of church leaders to present faithfully the teachings of the Scriptures and the tradition of the church," he said in a written statement Friday. "While church teaching can change, it cannot simply be reactive to the fads and fashions of the moment or to the ebbs and flows of public opinion polls."
Despite the contention over social issues, many Catholics in the area said they had a favorable view of Pope John Paul II as a person. Millions of the faithful from around the world flocked to Rome after he died April 2.
"I liked the man," Jean Horgan of Niskayuna said. "I liked the way he spoke, and he created a lot of energy among the young people. But I would like to see somebody a bit more liberal, a bit younger, a bit more open-minded take over."
Horgan was among the 12 percent of area Catholics who said they would like to see a liberal selected as the next pontiff. About 16 percent of local Catholics said they would like to have a conservative pope. Thirty-five percent said they would like to see a moderate pontiff, while 34 percent said it wouldn't matter to them.
Ideological and political differences aside, many say emotional bonds keep them close to the church. The 36-year-old Horgan said she quit teaching Catholic school about a year ago because she found herself disagreeing on so many points, especially when it came to abortion and birth control. But she said she attends Mass every couple of weeks.
"I was brought up really strict Irish Catholic," she said. "It's really the only faith I know."
When the shepherd is this far astray himself, it's hardly surprising that the sheep are prey to the wolves.
Those who don't agree with the Catholic stand on issues should find a denomination more suitable to their beliefs instead of telling the Catholic church it has to change. By the way, I am not Catholic.
Frankly I don't see why their opinons matter whatsoever.
They left. Goodbye, and ADIOS.
Everything after BUT is Barbra Striesand!
Gee, I wonder if Pope John Paul II cared much about American opinion "polls". A church that changes it's doctrine according to the whims of it's members, isn't much of a church.
If they do attend mass, then they should leave.
The church offers a free service. They have no right to complain.
So, exactly which sins does she believe Christ died for?
"I don't believe religion should ... like ... tell us what to do and stuff," she said. "It should be like a whadyacallit ... a smorgasbord ... where you get to pick and choose the things you wanna do and the things you don't. Like killing your babies and stuff like that."
"The church has helped me with some decisions in life," said Ranc, 36, of Voorheesville. "But I don't always agree with everything they say. I think women have the right to become priests, and that priests have the right to get married."
"Never mind that far greater minds than mine have examined those issues and cast them down as official doctrine. I think we should be able to vote on Right and Wrong."
Ranc is among a number of Catholics in the Capital Region who believe the church is out of touch with its flock on a number of moral and social issues.
Ranc is among a growing number of Catholics in the Capital Region and elsewhere who are increasingly out of touch with their religion, preferring some social rubberstamp to an inflexible, absolutist doctrine that represents an anchor amid the storm.
A Times Union/NewsChannel 13 poll conducted Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday by the Siena Research Institute found about 88 percent of local Catholics support the use of contraceptives by married couples, 34 percent support gay marriage, and 79 percent say abortion should be allowed in at least some situations.
Note how homo marriage is slipped in between the majority positions, even though it has about 1/3 the support.
Ping to self for later pingout.
Don't like it?
Go to HELL!
There are all the freaks, gays, aborted people, etc.
Amazing these people don't leave and instead want the RCC to mold to THEM. This really is the ME culture.
LOL! Seems that the flock is out of touch with the Church on a number of moral and social issues.
aborted people = people that aborted their children
corectamundo
It says she goes to mass every week. I have run into weekly mass attenders who have the same attitude about gay marriage, priests married, abortion, and etc. I am the opposite. I do not go to mass every week (and yes I feel guilty) but believe in the catechism of the church on nearly every issue.
The thing I can never figure out is why people who believe that they hold the truth and the truth isn't in the Catholic Church (which it must not be since they don't agree with what the Church teaches) don't cease to be hypocrites and quit calling themselves Catholic and go and join a denomination that teaches what they believe is true - plenty of choices offering just what they believe.
These polls are nothing more than "john Paul II" control.
The left fears that people may find their way back to the church. By spining to the left as many of the ignorant catholics, when the new pope is named REGARDLESS of who it is, the left will be able to write countless articles where they says "catholics are ALARMED" at conservative turn of the church.
Mark my words, the NYT probably already has the anti-pope articles written, they just need the name fo the person.
(the NYT will probably be shocked shocked I say, at the anti-homosexual bias of the new pope.)
You can't be faithful and disobedient at the same time. Obedience is one of the hallmarks.
I don't get it either.
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