Catholics have become so mainstream in America that, according to a poll, they are indistinguishable from the general population.
In a poll of 876 Catholic adults released Monday by the California-based Barna Group, Catholics shy away from discussing their religious views openly and reading the Bible, and rank below the average American adult in basic religious practices.
The survey was released while the Vatican made two moves to correct liberalizing trends stemming from some interpretations of the Second Vatican Council. On Saturday, it loosened the rules on celebrating the old Tridentine Latin Mass; on Tuesday, it released a document saying that only Catholicism “has the fullness of the means of salvation.”
The Barna poll found huge gaps in the church’s American component.
Compared with the general populace, the average American Catholic donates 17 percent less money to church and is 38 percent less likely to read the Bible, 67 percent less likely to attend Sunday school, 20 percent less likely to share their beliefs with someone of a differing viewpoint and 24 percent less likely to say their faith has changed their lives, according to the poll, which was conducted by phone in the latter half of 2006.
The poll has an error margin of 3.4 percentage points.
Answers given by Catholics were compared with a much larger sampling of adults who were asked at the same time about their religious practices. The total number of persons polled, including Catholics, was 4,014, with a sampling error of 1.7 percentage points.
[blockquote]In a poll of 876 Catholic adults released Monday by the [b]California-based[/b] Barna Group[/blockquote]
Whilst things are far from perfect in the American church I think this pretty much undermines the credibility of the survey.
Conor: Nonsense. Barna has compiled a very credible record.
If they conducted the survey in California, I’m hardly surprised they got the results they did. That was my point.
Actually I just found out over on Stand Firm that the poll was conducted by an ex-Catholic Evangelical. I’m afraid that this completely undermines any “findings” for me.
Barna is headquartered in Ventura, CA. That doesn’t confine them to polling only in CA. If you look here you will find that
“38 % less likely to read the Bible.” But what do they include as reading the Bible or “Bible Study” (which Catholic parishes are often accused of not offering). However, at our parish “Bible Study” is offered 365 days a year during Daily Mass. This includes an Old or New Testament reading, a psalm, and a Gospel reading followed by a lesson or sermon on one or more of the readings. In the parishes of our city some Daily Masses are attended by as many as 100 people each day–in our small parish it averages 50-75 per day. What Protestant Parish anywhere matches that for daily “Bible Study.” It is just that in our secular Protestant culture only classroom lectures or small group seminar style meetings seem to qualify as Bible “study.”
This is a perfect example of how one has to look very carefully at basic premises of opinion polls behind any question–especially if the question involves religion.
The Barna Group is a highly reputable research firm specializing in religious quantitative surveys. Their findings about ALL of Christian faith in the U.S. is most valuable — and I will no more ignore this report than ignore the reports that they have issued that are quite negative to Protestants.
In regards to this particular survey: “This report is based upon nationwide telephone surveys conducted by The Barna Group with a random sample of adults, age 18 and older, conducted between August 2006 and January 2007. In total, 4014 adults were interviewed, allowing for a maximum margin of sampling error of ±1.7 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. Within that aggregate, 876 self-identified Catholics were interviewed, providing data for that group with a maximum margin of sampling error of ±3.4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. Statistical weighting was used to calibrate the sample to known population percentages in relation to several demographic variables.”
I can’t tell that this survey controls for actual religious practice, which is a major problem. Fr. Andrew Greeley has made the point people tend to self-identify as Catholics unless they actually join another religion. They may not darken a church door for years, thank you, but, by God! they are CATHOLIC.
Deacon John –
One suspects that what the survey means by Bible reading is an individual sitting alone in a room reading privately. There are a lot of other cultural differences. For example, we tend to fund things differently than protestant churches: in our area, CCD is paid for mostly by tuition, not from the operating budget. We also tend to fund special projects outside of the budget. I doubt those sorts of funds get measured properly. Over the past 3 years I have come to appreciate the generosity of dedicated Catholics. It’s really hard to give to projects in my parish, unless you get word about the need early.
But what’s odd about the survey results? They fit broadly about what we know about American culture anyway. The Pope’s actions recently tell us the HE knows. The RC church has become slack, its standards lowered, its services enervated by a dedication to novelty and fashion. And the Pope has responded. Is this not the case, the culture which says that porn bosses can become Episcopalians with no questions raised is the same culture that allowed homosexual priests to abuse boys of all ages – and to be protected by their bishops. This is all one piece of cloth. We live in – and have vouched for – a culture of moral slackness and decadence. We have lost our spine for fear of being called judgmental and we have lost the courage to defend our substantive convictions in the face of attack. You have all seen it; indeed, you have seen it here again and again. The attack is ramped up. We talk. LM
What I would like to know is the racial and ethnic breakdown in the survey group. Many a tale may hang thereby. Larry
Barna is working from an evangelical Protestant mindset and that is very evident in his choice of questions. Catholics don’t call religious instruction Sunday school, and while there is Scriptural study (in addition to mass readings), it may not be “Bible study” in the traditional, Protestant sense. It’s like British pollsters asking Americans how often they eat “chips” at McDonald’s and then expressing shock when the answer is rarely or never.
Of course we Catholics have a lot of work to do internally and in the world, but I don’t necessarily think this survey is helpful in diagnosing the problem or providing solutions.
Conor – your logic is formally “ad hominem.” If you want to dispute the study, you might look at the questions first rather than who made them. You insinuate that any objective analysis – at all – is impossible simply based upon who the person is. That’s too bad.
It seems, looking back, that the 20th century was a Perfect Storm of “duh” moments for Catholic leadership. They picked the worst possible time to start getting all easy going with discipline, formation, and instruction and managed to hold an ecumenical council whose documents, while perfectly orthodox and valid if read through the lens of prior councils and teachings, due to their somewhat vague language, lend themselves quite easily to a revisionist agenda, giving us the infamous “Spirit of Vatican II”. Which really isn’t the Spirit of anything except the time period Vatican II was held.
On the plus side, a lot of younger Catholics are past all that nonsense. For one example, the Eastern Dominicans have a record number of Novices this year. Other orthodox religious orders and dioceses are having similar increases to their vocations and donations. There’s still a lot of silliness going on, but things are improving!
#12: Now this is good news I had not heard bout. Larry
There’s a nice upbeat piece on dioceses and orders with thriving vocations at http://blog.ancient-future.net/ It’s the second post down.