Posted on 04/04/2005 8:00:34 AM PDT by SmithL
WASHINGTON - Most Americans want the next pope to work for changes in Roman Catholic Church policies to allow priests to marry and women to join the priesthood. And they want more done to combat sexual abuse by priests, an AP-Ipsos poll found.
A solid majority of Americans, and Catholics in the country, are calling for the changes even while saying they widely admire Pope John Paul II, who supported traditional policies against priest marriage and against allowing women into the priesthood.
"He crossed so many boundaries, opened doors to many governments," said Joseph Riess, a Catholic businessman from Vienna, Va. "But I think it's time for changes."
Just over half of Americans, 51 percent, and almost three-fourths of Catholics say John Paul, who died Saturday, will be remembered as one of the greatest popes, according to the poll conducted for The Associated Press by Ipsos-Public Affairs.
The U.S. Catholic church is struggling with a variety of problems, including a dramatically shrinking U.S. priesthood, disagreement over the proper role for lay leaders, and a conservative-liberal divide over sexuality, women's ordination and clergy celibacy.
About two-thirds of those polled said priests should be allowed to marry and almost that many said they want women in the priesthood. A majority of Catholics supported both steps.
More than four in five Americans - and about the same number of Catholics - said they want to see the next pope do more to address the problem of priests sexually abusing children.
The church has been trying to deal with an abuse crisis that bubbled to the surface in January 2002 in the Archdiocese of Boston, then spread throughout the country. Since then, the church has adopted a toughened discipline policy, enacted child protection and victim outreach plans in dioceses, and removed hundreds of accused priests from church work.
Americans were divided when asked from where the next pope should come. Just over a third said he should be from Europe, while a similar number said he should be from a part of the world where Catholicism is growing fastest, like Africa or Latin America. The rest weren't sure.
"I don't think it matters where they're from," said Heather Schramko, a clinical researcher and a Catholic from Perrysburg, Ohio. "But they need to modernize the church."
The AP-Ipsos poll of 1,001 adults was taken Friday to Sunday and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Some of the interviews were conducted before news broke Saturday about the pope's death, but most people knew he was gravely ill.
but you are a Catholic? correct?
(I think that's right: I had four years of Latin but that was decades ago.)
No. Some are Catholic and some are Orthodox. I already said that and this is getting really, really intensely tedious. If you want to use catholic in the generic sense, then start typing catholic and not Catholic. Better yet, I'm going to drop this altogether so type whatever you want.
Let me know what your Eastern Orthodox relatives say when you a accuse them of not being Catholic! LMAO
I agree with that idea (if a last chance solution to prevent local interference by the bishop). But that sounds too much like the "national" parishes of day's gone by, where certain ethnic groups went to certain parishes (ie. in my mom's neighborhood, Poles and Lithuanians went to the Annuciation, Italians and Irish usually went to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.
As for cultural vs. religious problems then yes, because there wasn't as much of an open door to discuss things in the Church prior to Vatican II. Although i would argue that VCII also caused many to lose their compass. They didn't even come out until 8-10 years ago.. Prior to that, even if it were serious, bringing forth allegations against your priest were just simpy unthinkable for most.
How about Garry Kasparov as Russian President? He quit professional chess to challenge Putin. Is Lech Walesa term limited in Poland?
Give it another yeear or two at most, Merkel will probably be die Chancellorin. BTW, is she Christian Democratic Union or Christian Social Union (they're technically two different parties that caucus together), CDU is the Protestant wing for the northern and southwestern part of the country, CSU is the Catholic wing that operates primarily out of Bavaria, an offshoot of the Catholic Center Party in the Weimar period.
i meant to also add, it's a little early, since he just got elected, but once Yuschenko leaves office how about Yulia Tymoshenko as President of Ukraine?
What about most Catholics?
Merkel is CDU. Stoiber is still leader of the CSU I believe.
You have to remember that all of these cardinals are men of Vatican II. They celebrate the Novus Ordo in their dioceses, and see even the allowance for the Tridentine Mass as a kind of promotion of it, which they will never do.
I think many more bishops would be open to Tridentine Masses if those who wanted them were more diplomatic in asking for them. Often, they march into the bishops' office, in a confrontational manner, and wave Ecclesia Dei in the bishop's face.
The traditionalists we have here on FR are, by and large, such people: angry, demanding and uncompromising.
I'd like to see the traditionalists accommodated, but this kind of stuff does not help.
God is the same today as he was yesterday, and the same as he will be tomorrow. Isn't this God's church?
The MSM has conducted another useless poll, so what.
Salvation is not by majority rule.
I read that it arose out of a conflict concerning Catholic owned land and medieval land inheritance laws. An unmarried man wouldn't have any sons (well at least legal sons) to challenge the church.
Not so, many evangelicals consider JP II the evangelical pope and many considered him a major force for Christianity in general.
Not just the geographical/linguistic differences loosening the bonds, but also a temporal shift. Post Vatican II i have seen about 2-3 changes, albeit minor, in the Liturgy, and a LOT of changes in the music. It went from the reverent Mass In Honor of Pope Paul VI to the Guitarzan mass (barf alert on the latter). The Tridentine mass was intended to be the same not only no matter where you go, but no matter WHEN you are. It was offically promulgated in the 1500s, but had been in practice since the early Church. In almost 1700 years there were NO siginificant changes where one would see a substantial difference in the Mass. Come along 1962 and John XXIII et voila, lots of liturgical experimentation, etc etc etc.
Take a man from 1962 forward only a few decades later and he'd wonder if he had stepped into a Methodist service.
That's how much things have changed.
A nice start on liturgical renewal would be outlawing OCP and Gather hymnals from all U.S. Catholic churches immediately.
But having talked to a conservative papabile just a few weeks ago (I won't say who), I don't think that's in the cards.
I'll admit that GATHER is loaded with Protestant hymns, but that's because the Protestants wrote good hymns.
If we did as you suggest, all we'd be left with is tripe like "Daily, Daily sing to Mary."
No thanks.
That happens sometimes, and that is unfortunate. Even the worst bishop deserves some measure of respect, and a bishop you're starting up a communication with deserves the benefit of the doubt.
But I do know of respectful and terribly deferential requests which have gotten ignored entirely or treated disdainfully.
Most bishops simply don't like the old mass and think allowing it very much or at all would be counterproductive. And are naturally suspicious of those who do like it. (and let us admit that a few folks do nothing to lay these suspicions to rest.)
Which is a shame, because the N.O. liturgy is in pretty dismal shape in many parishes - and directly tied, I think, to decline in belief in the Real Presence.
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