Every election season, the various media and polling outlets conduct polls and surveys and publish the results on a plethora of topics and how the various demographics pledge their support. (Before I begin, I’d like to remind all readers that polls are conducted to influence public opinion, not gauge it.) A vast number of these polls try to pin the position of a “majority of Catholics” on certain issues, whether it be presidential candidates or moral positions.
When I attended college at “lumberjack university” over a dozen years ago, I was looking for a good Catholic girlfriend. I didn’t have one in mind, but I was looking for her, whomever she might be. A mutual friend put me in contact with a girl who supposedly fit the bill. After an hour or so of conversation on our blind date, I discovered, to my disappointment that my date was baptized Catholic, but hadn’t been to church in years. Thus began the revelation that a large number of people who call themselves Catholic actually have no affiliation with the Catholic Church other than infant baptism.
After living in the Bible Belt for the last six years, I’ve figured out that what one deems as their church doesn’t necessarily indicate that they participated in any activity or initiation in order to achieve member status. Some start as Baptists, then go to the Methodist church and call themselves Methodists, then stop going to church altogether but still assume membership in whatever denomination they last participated. The same seems to be true in “Cathol”, except we have a list of duties, or precepts, which are required of each Catholic (fodder for future blog posts).
Interested in further dissecting the details for a smidgen of truth in my hunch, I delved into a google search for Gallup polling with regards to self-described Catholics, political opinions, and moral beliefs. Last May, Gallup published the results of a poll which stated that 82% of Catholics believe that contraception is “morally acceptable”. In addition, 67% of Catholics believe divorce is morally acceptable, 58% believe embryonic stem cell research is morally acceptable, 59% for sex between unmarried man and woman, 54% gay or lesbian relations, 45% doctor assisted suicide, 38% abortion, 31% pornography, 11% polygamy, 7% believe married people having an affair is morally acceptable. According to Catholic teaching, every one of these actions are inherently evil, yet X number of Catholics believe they are morally acceptable.
There are a couple of reasons why this disconnect exists between Catholic teaching and knowledge and understanding of Church teaching by Catholics. One cause could be that the message about these activities is simply not being taught from the pulpit. Another is that the Church is not spreading the message to the public in ways other than the pulpit. The third, and most likely in my opinion, is that there are simply a large number of people who consider themselves Catholic without having any real connection of belief to the Church.
Pope Benedict XVI gave an address on Sunday during the Angelus in which he explained that humility is required for faith. The last weeks of the Gospel included the Bread of Life discourse, in which Jesus explains the Eucharist to his disciples. Many of them left because it was too difficult a teaching for them to understand. Conversely, many of them remained with him even though they did not fully understand, but they believed. So too should we believe, even if we do not yet fully understand. The pope further explained:
Jesus knew that even among the twelve apostles there was one that did not believe: Judas. Judas could have left, as many of the disciples did; indeed, he would have left if he were honest. Instead he remained with Jesus. He did not remain because of faith, or because of love, but with the secret intention of taking vengeance on the Master. Why? Because Judas felt betrayed by Jesus, and decided that he in turn would betray Him. Judas was a Zealot, and wanted a triumphant Messiah, who would lead a revolt against the Romans. Jesus had disappointed those expectations. The problem is that Judas did not go away, and his most serious fault was falsehood, which is the mark of the devil.
Judas didn’t believe, remained with Jesus, and eventually betrayed him. His greatest fault was the insincerity of his intentions. In the same way, many who call themselves “Catholic” either refuse to adhere to Catholic teaching, or are ignorant or complacent. If belief is absent, then what is the point of calling one’s self Catholic? Human Life International’s Rome Director, Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro, commented on Pope Benedict’s address to LifeSiteNews: ”[F]or those Catholics who cannot bring themselves to believe the formal teachings of the Church on life and family matters it would be more honest to leave the Church rather than betraying Her.” But, he added, “We regret very much that the person is so inclined and we wish they would have a conversion to truly believe.”
Considering the fact that so many who self-identify as Catholic don’t actually believe Catholic teaching on a myriad of moral issues, there are a couple of solutions I would like to purpose. Certainly the first echoes what Msgr. Barreiro suggested, which is to leave the Church. If the Church is a lifeboat, then those who don’t believe are bailing water into the boat, causing chaos and distractions to those who otherwise would be rowing to safety. Since that is highly unlikely, maybe it would be more transparent for Gallup to ask about the religious participation of those Catholics whom they survey.
Neither of those are very likely to occur, which basically means the Gallup polls on the subject are basically useless as they neither poll practicing Catholics, nor explain how practicing Catholics differ on a variety of issues. Essentially all Gallup shows is that beliefs by people who call themselves Catholics are as numerous as the stars. The only truly good use of those numbers is to illustrate the scope and size of the fields for organizations like Calling Catholics Home and the USCCB, as well as lay people. After all, evangelism is useless if there is no one left to evangelize. The harvest is great, but the laborers are few, so lets get crackin’!