A 2002 nationwide poll of 1,854 priests in the United States and Puerto Rico reported that 30% of Roman Catholic priests described themselves as Liberal, 28% as Conservative, and 37% as Moderate in their Religious ideology. 53 percent responded that they thought it always was a sin for unmarried people to have sexual relations; 32 percent that is often was, and 9 percent seldom/never.
28 percent judged that is always was sin for married couples to use artificial birth control, 25 percent often, 40 percent never.
15 percent of the clergy polled listed themselves as "gay or on the homosexual side." Among younger priests 23 percent did so.
44 percent of the priests said "definitely" a homosexual subculture'--defined as a `definite group of persons that has its own friendships, social gatherings and vocabulary'--exists in their diocese or religious order. Los Angeles Times (extensive) nationwide survey (2002). http://www.bishop-accountability.org/resources/resource-files/reports/LAT-Priest-Survey.pdf
Those who have left Catholicism outnumber those who have joined the Catholic Church by nearly a four-to-one margin. 10.1% have left the Catholic Church after having been raised Catholic, while only 2.6% of adults have become Catholic after having been raised in a different faith.^
4% of Americans raised Catholic are now unaffiliated; 5% are now Protestant. ^
Over 75% of those who left Catholicism attended Mass at least once a week as children, versus 86% having done so who remain Catholics today.^
Regarding reasons for leaving Catholicism, less than 30% of former Catholics agreed that the clergy sexual abuse scandal played a role in their departure. ^
71% of converts from Catholicism to Protestant faith said that their spiritual needs were not being met in Catholicism, with 78% of Evangelical Protestants in particular concurring, versus 43% of those now unaffiliated. ^
50% of all Protestants converts from Catholicism said they stopped believing in Catholicism's teachings overall. Only 23% (20% now evangelical) were unhappy about Catholicism's teachings on abortion/homosexuality (versus 46% of those now unaffiliated); 23% also expressed disagreement with teaching on divorce/remarriage; 16% (12% now evangelical) were dissatisfied with teachings on birth control, 70% said they found a religion the liked more in Protestantism.
55% of evangelical converts from Catholicism cited dissatisfaction with Catholic teachings about the Bible was a reason for leaving Catholicism, with 46% saying the Catholic Church did not view the Bible literally enough.
81% of all Protestant converts from Catholicism said they enjoyed the service and worship of Protestant faith as a reason for joining a Protestant denomination, with 62% of all Protestants and 74% Evangelicals also saying that they felt God's call to do so. - Pew forum, Faith in Flux (April 27, 2009) http://pewforum.org/uploadedfiles/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/fullreport.pdf
“Protestant converts from Catholicism said they enjoyed the service and worship of Protestant fait”
Like I said before anyone that would give up the Eucharist for Jimmy Swaggart waving a Bible around were totally ignorant of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It is absolutely impossible to be raised a devout Catholic and leave the faith for a man-man faith that has no sacraments and no structure. It shows a lack of understanding and never taking the faith seriously to start with.
And by they way there are percentage wise more sexual abuse in protestant faiths than the Catholic Church. If you care to see the numbers I can certainly get them.
AMEN.
This is also in the poll, but not being played up by the liberal media and certainly not anything you would find interesting.
“While the findings of the survey are an obvious concern to Catholics, they first must be understood within the larger context of the study, something that many of the sensational stories did not do. The survey showed that 44 percent of adult Americans are no longer practicing the religious affiliation in which they were raised as children, which means that, across the board, only 56 percent of American adults are still adhering to their childhood affiliation. Since 68 percent of those baptized and raised Catholics are still Catholic, that means that the Catholic Church is doing well relative to the American norm.
Compared to Catholics, only 60 percent of Baptists, 58 percent of Lutherans, 49 percent of Pentecostals, 48 percent of Methodists, 48 percent of Church of Christ members, 44 percent of Episcopalians, and 36 percent of Presbyterians, are still practicing in the Church of their childhood. The only major religious affiliations that are doing better than the Catholic Church in retaining their members are the Jews at 74 percent and the Mormons at 72”.
Looks like Rome needs to have Counter Reformation II.
you don't "convert" from Catholicism....Convert indicated an advancement or upward movement. You deny true Christianity and follow a human founded sect when you fall away from the church.