Posted on 11/12/2012 7:29:12 PM PST by campaignPete R-CT
WASHINGTON - A large national study on faith and political views released Oct. 23 highlighted Catholics' interest in having social justice take a bigger role in the church's policy priorities.
The American Values Survey by Public Religion Research Institute queried a cross section of all Americans but zeroed in on the opinions of Catholics, in particular, on topics including contraceptive coverage in insurance and the death penalty as well as on the pending presidential election.
In interviews during September, a majority of Catholics told pollsters that they would prefer it if the church would focus its public policy statements "more on social justice and the obligation to help the poor, even if it means focusing less on issues like abortion and the right to life."
Sixty percent of Catholics concurred with that statement or with another version in which the phrasing was reversed.
Among those Catholics who attend church at least weekly, 51 percent chose the social justice emphasis, while 65 percent of those who attend monthly or less often made that choice. Among the various demographic breakouts provided by the study, just two segments -- self-identified conservatives and Republicans -- agreed with the statement by less than 50 percent, 46 percent and 47 percent, respectively, though that was still the plurality response.
Social justice was chosen by slightly more poll participants who self-identified as conservative and Republican than selected the opposite. For instance, 44 percent of self-identified conservatives chose: "should focus more on issues like abortion and the right to life, even if it means focusing less on social justice and the obligation to help the poor," or its parallel wording. Ten percent of conservatives answered "neither" or said they "didn't know."
Michele Dillon, a professor of sociology at the University of New Hampshire who specializes in research on religion and culture, said the response reflects a long-term pattern in Catholic thinking, despite what she considered a drawback in the question forcing a choice between just two concepts.
She said previous open-ended polling elicited similar priorities.
"Care for the poor and needy has been a strong theme in Catholic teaching since the end of the 19th century," Dillon told Catholic News Service in an Oct. 25 phone interview. "That's been totally in continuity with the church leadership over the decades and it's still primary for a lot of people in defining what it means to be Catholic."
"It's right up there with belief in the Resurrection with what people say it means to be Catholic," she said.
Coincidentally, two items on the agenda for the annual fall general meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops are a proposed document on preaching that emphasizes the need to connect homilies with people's lives, and a message on the economy, "Catholic Reflections on Work, Poverty and a Broken Economy."
There's a pretty good link between the polling data and the two documents, in the mind of one theologian who advises the bishops.
"Spiritually, people are thirsting for the message of the Gospel and to find hope in the midst of economic suffering," said Meghan Clark, an assistant professor of theology and religious studies in moral theology at St. John's University in Queens, New York, and a consultant to the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.
In an Oct. 25 interview with CNS and a related exchange of emails, she said that people may feel they hear enough about abortion and related topics because, "many priests are comfortable delivering a counter-cultural message on life issues because they are perceived as black/white issues."
The survey suggests that Catholics "want them to issue the same challenge on social justice issues, which are at the heart of the Gospel," Clark added. "It isn't primarily about politics, but about communicating the challenge of the Gospel -- that discipleship requires concern for the 'least' and dismantling structures of sin."
Clark, who teaches moral theology, said "frequently the only thing my non-Catholic students know about the faith is the teaching on abortion." The Catechism of the Catholic Church says abortion is "gravely contrary to the moral law" in all cases.
"There's no doubt, no confusion about what the church teaches on abortion," she said. But the social teachings are less well understood, she added.
She said she wasn't surprised that even the most regular churchgoers also want to hear more about social justice.
"People want to live integrated lives, to follow the Gospel, to have integrity in what they do Sunday and every day," Clark said.
Clark said the bishops' decision to write a reflection on the economy came out of concern that people are suffering from poverty, unemployment, underemployment and other financial difficulties. Like most documents of the bishops' conference it is a product of months of effort.
The American Values Survey was based on interviews with 3,003 adults phoned between Sept. 13 and 20. The margin of error for the total survey is plus or minus 2 percentage points. No margin of error was given for the subset of Catholics in the study.
Editor's Note: A CNS video story about the survey can be found at www.youtube.com/watch?v=No2X2CW5IGs&noredirect=1.
Copyright (c) 2012 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic
there are open threads often. We just wanted this one closed.
There are closed threads from time to time. (see the top, the title of the thread)
You’re not an infidel, but you could comment on the open threads even if you were one.
if either of you want to ping your lists, that would be great.
you’re still a harmless lovable fuzz-ball
Feel free to make your argument on any “open” Religion Forum thread. The closed ones (caucus, prayer, devotional) are to be treated like church services behind closed doors.
Sorry, I must have missed “closed” “caucus” and “ devotional” in the keywords when I responded. So it was “open” before it was “closed”. Right?
And any poster can at any time ping you to “close” a previously “open” thread. Is that also correct?
Just want to make sure I understand the rules, or lack thereof.
Thanks.
i put it in the title of the thread.
no offense taken.
My mistake. Please accept my apology.
For more on the RF Guidelines click here.
The Church has faced dark times before and has prevailed. I had the good fortune to attend an Opus Dei school for six years. They are the Catholic version of Preppers. They have stocked up a surplus of knowledge and grace and can out last any siege.
I think the Church will get smaller before it prevails again, but when it does, it will speak with a louder and clearer voice.
I was hoping the Catholics posting here would be knowledgable about the subject ... so far very little luck.
I made it closed so I’d get more informed posters. I am more concerned about how the Bishops are involved in this, rather than the people who were polled.
A few of us tried to organize a small number of pro-life Catholics from surrounding towns and meet to discuss the Life and Marriage issues and exchange information.
We found it difficult because most the of the parish pro-life groups have permission from their pastor to exist, but they think if they actually talk about anything as it relates to elections, they will be shut down.
Therefore, we got little done. The Social Justice groups preceded us into the parishes and know how to keep the pro-lifers silenced. It’s as if we need to find someplace to meet outside the reach of the parishes. You cannot organize inside your adversary’s camp.
if you see my links above, you see the number of paid staff people ... paid and supported by the Diocese. Anybody run into this before and have ideas?
Money talks. Tell the pastors and their staffs that unless they start putting pro-life prayers in the intentions and putting pro-life support materials in their bulletins you will stop the donations/tithing.
I really wish they would describe “Catholics” as generalized here as American Roman Catholics. Not all Catholics here are American, or Roman. I suspect that the others may...uhhh...differ in these opinions.
Set up a Eucharistic Adoration group....poorly catechized folks just don’t get it. Once you establish who your allies are you can go about evangilizing the rest of the parishioners.
In my parish two weeks ago we had a sermon from a visiting Bishop from Cameroon. The congregation applauded after his sermon because it was so refreshing to hear the Church’s doctrine so clearly (not the English though) passionately and unapologetically expressed.
For inspiration, I listen to some old school sermons from a retired priest who was retired at my parish. My father recorded them every day on cassette tape so my house bound grandmother could listen. The priest was a former philosophy professor, so they are quite well prepared. We put them on the web here: www.wellchosenremarks.com
There are about 800 of them- Enjoy!
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