According to CNS News, the survey, entitled "Catholics in America: Persistence and change in the Catholic landscape" was commissioned by the liberal National Catholic Reporter and is part of ongoing research by teams of sociologists led by Catholic University sociologist William D'Antonio. Because the survey information was gleaned from 1,442 Catholics who completed self-administered online surveys instead of phone interviews as in the past, "care must be exercised when interpreting change over time," the survey team said.
A majority in each age group sampled said they believe that the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ at the consecration, and also agreed that the four core elements of the faith - the sacraments, belief in Jesus' resurrection, helping the poor and the Church's teaching on Mary - are very important to them.
However no majority in any age group said they considered "teaching authority as claimed by the Vatican" to be "very important." This, D'Antonio said, "is held by the Vatican (as very important) but is not seen in that way by the laity." In fact, teaching authority ranked behind prayer, opposition to abortion, devotions, and opposition to same-sex marriage on the scale of importance.
The survey also found that Mass attendance is continuing to slip. Attendance by "pre-Vatican II" Catholics (those born in 1940 or before) slipped to 54 percent, which is down 10 percentage points since the high recorded in a 1999 survey. But this number topped all other age groups. Only 31 percent of baby boomers (those born between 1941 and 1960) attend Mass regularly, and "post Vatican II" Catholics (those born between 1961-78) is down to 29 percent. Millennial Catholics (those born since 1979) have the lowest Mass attendance at just 23 percent.
When asked why they were skipping Mass, older Catholics cited "I'm just not a religious person" as their reason while younger Catholics claimed family responsibilities as their main reason.
This was the also first time that a majority of respondents said an individual has the final say in what is right or wrong in the areas of abortion, homosexuality and sex outside of marriage with only a small minority saying church leaders alone should have the final say.
Despite these bleak numbers, healthy majorities in all age groups agreed with the statements, "I cannot imagine being anything but a Catholic" and "being a Catholic is a very important part of who I am."
"One reason why Catholics continue to remain loyal to Catholicism while skeptical of some of its teachings and practices is that there are many aspects of Catholicism that they find meaningful," said Michelle Dillon, who chairs the sociology department at the University of New Hampshire, in an essay accompanying the survey findings.
Catholics, she added, can "disagree with or make moral judgments that contravene church teaching and yet also respect the church's moral stance. Thus, for example, although six in 10 Catholics ... think that a person can be a good Catholic without helping the poor and without agreeing with church teaching on abortion, very large majorities nonetheless also say that it is meaningful for them that the church shows active concern for the poor (88 percent), and that it is willing to stand up for the right to life of the unborn (72 percent)."
However, large majorities (86 percent) believe a person can still be a good Catholic while disagreeing with aspects of Church teaching. For instance, 60 percent say one is still a good Catholic if they use birth control. Only about 30 percent said they support the "teaching authority claimed by the Vatican."
As a result, Catholics are also disinclined to agree with the Church's stance on political issues. For instance, the majority of all age groups except Vatican II Catholics disagreed with the U.S. Bishop's opposition to ObamaCare. When it comes to opposition to same-sex marriage, only the majority of pre-Vatican II respondents were in agreement, while all other groups reported support of 49 or 50 percent.
Interestingly, a plurality of all but the oldest Catholics considered themselves to be independents, with majorities in all age groups saying they "lean Democratic."
Not surprisingly, the less committed Catholics among the respondents were the most likely to embrace other spiritual beliefs such as in reincarnation, yoga, and "spiritual energy." Yoga had the higheset support with 21 percent of self-described committed Catholics saying they embraced the practice.
The survey, which was conducted online by Knowledge Networks, included an oversampling of Hispanics and young people under age 32. The results were adjusted to account for the oversampling. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
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