Catholics torn by issues: Church, faithful don't agree on many social, moral topics, poll shows

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."

"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."

Gee, is there a similar hue and cry to get, say Baptists, to change what they believe? Perhaps there's an agenda here, in the press coverage. One might suspect that something like, "If they're shooting at me, maybe its because I can shoot back."

"That's called Protestantism, and there are plenty of Protestant churches to accommodate your beliefs or non-beliefs."

Many faithful in Eastern Orthodox churches pretty much lump modern day Catholicism with Protestantism......afterall once you split from the mother church, is it no surprise that you would continue to divide?

Ain't that the truth! It'd be funny if it weren't so sad but then I guess all God's children tend to go off the rails, some WAY off the rails. Thank God for His infinite patience.

"You haven't read any of the very early (dating even earlier than the Bible was codified) council documents that we have in existence."

You have no remote idea of what I have read so that is a really dumb thing to say--in addition to being incorrect.

The fact that you have "primative documents" that speculate on what practices might have been among various fringe groups of believers who for the most part did not have ready access to Bibles to study; many of whom could not read; is all very interesting. And throughout the history of the Church, there have always been isolated groups of monks and others who have at least nominally practiced celebacy.

But quite different from the Roman Church dictate in the eleventh century, also before the printing press and widespread reading study capability, mandating without any authority whatsoever, that professional pastors would do it that way.

The earliest document that I know of is the document from the council of Elvira @ 302. The council was not made up of a 'fringe group' - these were the same councils who codified the Bible that we use. The same councils who formulated the creeds we use. The same council that you cite in the 11th century.

You don't make any sense when you say that "the Roman Church dictate in the eleventh century...mandating without any authority whatsoever, that professional pastors would do it that way." --- so, who had the authority?

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.

Just goes to show what people think of, and describe themselves as are often not what they truly are.... Abortion is, was and always will be murder, it has always been and it always will be... Roe V Wade doesn't change absolutely truth, whether this bimbo wants to actually follow the faith or not is irrellevant.. the faith IS... she can ignore it and pretend she's a faithful follower.. or she can dedicate herself to it and learn the truth.

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