37% of U.S. Catholics Question Their Church Membership After Sex Abuse Scandals

[NeoGreen]

https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2019/03/13/37-of-u-s-catholics-question-their-church-membership-after-sex-abuse-scandals/

37% of U.S. Catholics Question Their Church Membership After Sex Abuse Scandals
By Hemant Mehta, March 13, 2019

A new Gallup poll finds that more than a third of Catholics (37%) now question whether or not they should remain in the Catholic Church — a number that’s much higher than the 22% who said the same thing in 2002, shortly after the child sex abuse scandal was first exposed by the Boston Globe‘s Spotlight team.

Still, only a third? What the hell is wrong with the rest of them? The vast majority of Catholics apparently see child rape story after child rape story and think, “Yeah, I’m sticking with this team.”

There’s a possible explanation for that, though. While 41% of U.S. Catholics said they had total confidence in the priests at their own church, only 19% had a great deal of confidence in U.S. bishops and Catholic leaders in other countries. Much like Congress, they’re fine with their representatives; it’s everyone else who’s the problem.

As Gallup notes, however, when you survey Catholics who attend services regularly, the numbers skew in favor of the Church.

But it’s not like the abuse scandal is going away. How many of the questioning Catholics, then, will actually make the leap and stop supporting their local churches? That’s the true test of how seriously they take the abuse. By remaining in the Church when diocese after diocese is finally coming clean about how many predators have worked for them over the decades, they’re allowing the Church to pretend it’s on the right side of the issue rather than trying to put a positive spin after years of being on the wrong side of it.

Mix that with relatively low support for Pope Francis and the general demographic shifts away from organized religion, and things are not looking good for the Church.

Worth repeating:

Still, only a third? What the hell is wrong with the rest of them? The vast majority of Catholics apparently see child rape story after child rape story and think, “Yeah, I’m sticking with this team.”

[SallyHemmings]

1. Only?

I am stunned, appalled & sad.

[Duppers]

4. Exactly. What about the others? nt

[Major Nikon]

8. If you have deluded yourself into the belief that religion bears no responsibility for child rape...

then there's no reason to just keep right on supporting child rapists.

[guillaumeb]

9. More straw in evidence.

Please cite the relevant Scriptural references to support your assertion.

The responsibility for child rape lies with predators. Religion has nothing to do with it unless you are claiming that child rape is only committed by theists.

[Act_of_Reparation]

10. "The responsibility for child rape lies with predators"

That quote captures perfectly your failure to understand the problem and and your failure to appreciate its scope.

[NeoGreen]

11. How blinded are Catholics? What part of COVERUP do they not understand?...

...

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1218308714

Cardinal Admits the Catholic Church Destroyed Files to Cover Up Child Sex Abuse

and the subsequent:

Those actions, Marx argued, led to even more children being harmed at the hands of priests.

How many times does this need to be repeated until it truly sinks in that the CHURCH (aka 'god's' instrument on earth) is guilty, not just culpable, as admitted by a cardinal.

I.e. 'god' is to blame.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1218308714

[Major Nikon]

12. Kinda funny you'd claim that

Seeing as how you think religion deserves the credit for anything good, but can’t possibly be blamed for anything bad.

Orwell referred to this as doublethink.

[Ohiogal]

2. Many, especially in the older generations,

Have been taught to accept without question or else you go to hell for eternity.

Spoken as someone raised in the Catholic church as a kid in the 1960s, but a non attendee now.

[doompatrol39]

3. My parents are in their mid 70's...

..and have until recently, spent their whole lives as devout Catholics. They were definitely more liberal (pro-choice, pro-gay rights) and much more in tuned with the compassion/social justice/charity message of the church but they were still very devout, weekly mass, all holy day church going, money donating, Catholics. This most recent bout of scandals, coupled with watching the movie that came out a few years ago about the articles that exposed the issues in the church (was it Spotlight?) they have stopped going altogether and are very angry.

[Prosper]

5. Rationalization.

I dropped out of the Church when I was in high school due to apparent improprieties of our priest. The only answer I come up with why there is support for the church is the belief in the absolution of sins from the sacrament of confession. There are multiple contradictions with the sacrament of confession. Most significant is to receive absolution the penitent must profess true sorrow for sinning and must promise to never do it again. There is no recourse in the church for violating the sacrament of confession. I argued this point with the priest that taught my religion class. His answer was that as long as the penitent believed when asking for absolution that the sinner would never do it again then it was valid and okay. That must satisfy the faithful.

[mrs_p]

6. That's 37% of those that are left

Many of us bailed in the mid-2000s with the first reports. We left and tried to go back. But I just sit there pissed off during mass. Good riddance. And that’s coming from a former nun.

[edhopper]

7. Catholics:

losing the next generation.