Americans’ view of the honesty and ethics of clergy has fallen to an all-time low in a ranking of different professions released by Gallup.
The Gallup poll, conducted between Dec. 3-12 of 1,025 U.S. adults, found that only 37 percent of respondents had a “very high” or “high” opinion of the honesty and ethical standards of clergy. Forty-three percent of people gave them an average rating, while 15 percent said they had a “low” or “very low” opinion, according to the poll that was released on Dec. 21.
The margin of sampling error for the survey was identified as plus or minus 4 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.
Gallup noted that the 37 percent “very high” or “high” score for clergy is the lowest since it began asking the question in 1977. The historical high of 67 percent occurred back in 1985, and the score has been dropping below the overall average positive rating of 54 percent since 2009.
“The public’s views of the honesty and ethics of the clergy continue to decline after the Catholic Church was rocked again this year by more abuse scandals,” Gallup noted in its observations.
In the Gallup poll, 48 percent of Protestants rated clergy positively, compared to only 31 percent of Catholics.
Full story at The Christian Post.
I think quite a large number of Catholic clergy don’t believe in the faith. It’s all pretend for them. How else explain how they act? Why they support what they do, why they are silent on what they are, and the things they do choose to do? It’s not mere human weakness. It’s more sinister because it’s consistent and knowingly deliberate. My opinion of Catholic clergy is sure at an all-time low, and I’m not the only Catholic who thinks that.
“Pretend.”
I think you made a bulls eye — one that few are willing to speak. It is a pitiful state in which the Church of Jesus Christ finds herself.
Pretend…
Is this a surprise?
If the question was re-framed to include only bishops, thr rating would be even lower.
Of course, there will continue to be “listening” sessions in each diocese
Here is a first-hand example of what was allowed to occur:
https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/questions-from-one-of-mccarricks-victims
That Catholics think less of clergy than Protestants is not surprising give the last fifteen years of sex abuse scandal revelations. In my opinion, this unfortunately besmirches the public opinion of the vast majority of individual priests who obey their vows. Did Gallup ask about the public opinion of Bishops? That might have rivaled Congress members for low rankings.
This is tragic news. It is the price being paid for tolerating dissenting clergy. Unless or until the Church deals with the problem of homosexual clergy and clergy not following the teachings of Christ and His Church in other ways, this will likely only worsen. People, both the lay faithful and a watching world, are not buying the same old PR spin and coverups about child abuse. This is truly scandal, a stumbling block. Let us pray that the credibility of clergy will be restored, after repentance and purification, and that the lay faithful, like Saint Francis was for most of his life, work for the rebuilding of the Church and no longer tolerate unfaithful leaders.
Could it be that the teachings contained in the Catechism, Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition are incomplete and need to be applied selectively, according to one’s individual subjectivity?
Accordingly, we can be a loose confederation of ecclestical communities according to the teaching of those whose message we prefer. Thus, depending on our own preference, we can attend rhe church of James Martin, Blaise Cupich, etc. As our tastes change, we can move to the community which fits us best.
Of course, this wouldn’t be Catholic, becaust it lacks universality. But so what?
One must ask how many of the 1,025 people that Gallup polled actually go to Sunday Mass on a regular basis. I am sure that the average faithful Catholic who goes to Mass regularly have a high regard for the priests who serve them quietly, unassumingly in their parishes. However, in spite of the constant media coverage of this new angle in the “abuse crisis”, that only 15 percent have a “low” to “very low” regard is remarkable. Again, a great rebuke to the vociferous anti-Catholic clergy ranters out there. God bless the Catholic Church, all its bishops, priests, and the Holy Father!
The fact that people have such a low opinion of clergy is one huge reason why they have stopped attending Mass.
I have a low opinion of certain specific, high-ranking bishops and a low opinion of episcopal conferences.
jon, do you believe yourself to be a God-appointed prophet/common scold to the rest of us faithful. on what basis? you clearly have no expertise respecting the theological/canon law issues which you assert with such certainty. sure, feel free to express your opinions. but not in the style of infallible dicta. and, if you’re honest and sincere, be ready to have your inexpert opinions rigorously tested, too. that’s not a sign of ill will, but of honest discussion. whether you mean to or not, you paint yourself as superior in both knowledge and observance of what God wants from us. i’d wager that you are not better either in that knowledge—or in observance—than the rest of us in the pews struggling to keep the faith. we’re…
It would have been interesting to only include the the weekly mass attenders, since the remainder of Catholics skip mass attendance either out of ignorance or in spite of knowing they may be committing a serious, mortal sin. Those who at least try to obey the Lord’s expectation of weekly mass attendance, I believe too, is a totally different statistical population.
I’m sure the statistics are even higher for the bishops and cardinals. Their credibility must be in the negative.
I not only have a negative view of the clergy, I have a very low view of the Church as a whole. The Catholic Church in particular and the Christian churches in general are for the rich. Poor people are told to pray, obey and put money in the collection basket while the rich get special privileges. It’s ridiculous!
“Poor people are told to pray, obey and put money in the collection basket while the rich get special privileges.”
This tired old trope would be hilarious if it weren’t such an ignorant cliche…oh yes, special privileges…let me see…always the first on the list to be hit up when the roof leaks or the pipes burst…stale donuts after Mass…visiting homebound with the Eucharist…heading out to the prison for a bible study…you know…the usual “privileges”. Not to mention the Eucharist, Reconcilliation…oh wait…that’s for everyone….
You could at least try to be original
Again, the problem is conflating the Church and her ministers with a secular organization. It is a mystical, supernatural reality that, as long as we are here in this world, is attacked from inside and out. Polls measure (pretty poorly) perceptions of humans that have no bearing at all on this reality. The Church isn’t Amazon or Apple or congress…Faith in Christ, pray, hope and don’t worry.
Wrong, per usual, “jon.” The poll says, “31% of Catholics and 48% of Protestants rate the clergy positively.” Why? Certainly the scope of the homosexual scandals in the Church has reached all self-identifying Catholics, and impacts their views of clergy. But any honest assessment of the low “positively” score must also be read in correlation with the catastrophic drop in regular Mass attendance and use of other Church sacraments, like marriage and baptism. Catholics are less “positively” thinking about their clergy because their clergy “officiate” at individualized, sing-song events like the Novus Ordo that fail to convey anything of the sacrifice, and beauty, of the TLM. Rewording of the sacraments means that the Church…
The Novus Ordo can be celebrated worthily. I’ve been to dreary TLMs. TLM is not the future of the church.
(Part Deux) ” . . . simply no longer believes in itself (the institutional church, that is).
So, if the Church rejects itself, then why can’t each person simply make up their own faith? In fact, that is what Martin Luther advocated and what Protestants do (all 10,000 sects of them). And, you can now add Pope Francis and the Zombie-Liberals to the Lutheran-Protestant conga line. Smoke ’em if you got ’em; that’s the ticket. The clergy are just actors for the George Soros school of the Vatican now. Disgusting, and an insult to Christ.
Folks, for “SC” to say that the Ordinary Form “fail to convey anything of the sacrifice” is false if not heretical. There is MUCH in the Mass in the Ordinary Form that conveys the Sacrifice of Our Lord. “SC’s” viewpoint is an outdated, biased, blinkered opinion. Folks, many people are being sanctified, nourished, and sustained in their faith by the Ordinary Form, much so than in the Extraordinary Form. When someone denigrates any of the sacraments like this, it’s time to call out his/her falsehood and heresy.
Simply the latest “state of the flush” we have arrived at since Vatican II.
Sounds like a reasonable opinion for people to have come to. I don’t forget the embarrassment I felt when I saw Cardinal Wuerl among the line of clergy entering National Cathedral for the funeral of President G.H.W. Bush. I was alone at my desk monitor and I cringed in shame and at his shamelessness in participating.
Everyone remember…..the Church is Jesus!!! Do not stop going and receiving our Good Lord because of the failings of some of the Priests. There are still MANY WONDERFUL Priests and Bishops too, pray for them.
It is the hypocrisy that is so off putting. I watch the Bishops and our Archbishop and I notice a bias in who they consider marginalized. It’s political and not a compassion for all who are suffering.
It’s hard to take spiritual advice from someone who doesn’t follow it themselves.
But, we aren’t Catholics because of them. We are Catholics because of Jesus Christ.
You must read Scripture, and brush up on basic Catholic practices, Anonymous: The only way a person becomes a Catholic is through the ministry of the priest who is a delegate of his bishop to a parish. And the only way a person is in Eucharistic communion with Our Lord is through the ministry of bishops and priests who celebrate the Mass. Remove yourself from your bishop, then you are removing yourself from Christ. People, do not delude yourselves: if you separate yourselves from the ONLY legitimate shepherds of the Church, then you separate yourselves from Christ.
It would be interesting to see also, whether collections at the parish and diocesian levels have declined amid all of the lack of credibility.
While it may give some solace that there are clergy and religious who remain true to their vows, it is unfortunate that those innocent and devoted individuals must suffer as a result of irresponsible acts (and omissions to act) of the Church’s leaders.
I’m absolutely sure that percentage of the laity feels outraged, betrayed and ripped off. Here’s a question for the laity…how faithful are YOU to the ethical and moral teaching of the Church? Contraception? Premarital sex? Voted for “same sex marriage”? Pro-abortion politicians? Go to confession more than once a year or 2? Teach your kids the faith? Plenty of blame to go around to the clergy, to be sure. But don’t get comfortable. You’re next…
The negative perception of the clergy has nothing to do with Vatican II or the Mass in the vernacular. Instead the decline in positive perceptions of priests is almost entirely due to priests sodomizing little boys, engaging in heterosexual affairs, cover-ups and financial fraud and corruption.
Yes, in other words too many bishops and priests pretend to be Catholic so they can get the perks of having their economic needs satisfied without having to do much work.
I think this article about the “Lavender Mafia” tells much about these polls
The strange case of Archbishop John Clayton Nienstedt Part IV – Opus Dei’s Role in the Viganò Affair
By Randy Engel
https://www.renewamerica.com/columns/engel/181226
I believe Viganò’s initial testimony is essentially correct in confirming the existence of a massive hierarchial and clerical homosexual “collective” that operates within and without the Vatican, as well as in key dioceses around the world. I documented that very same collective in the United States and the Vatican 12 years ago in The Rite of Sodomy – Homosexuality and the Roman Catholic Church in which more than 40 homosexual/pederast members of the Catholic hierarchy were identified
Has public opinion of homosexuals plummeted?
If disciplinary actions are like this, Fr. Timone has nothing to worry about:
https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/vatican-blasted-for-letting-abusive-clergy-off-the-hook
Better to bypass informing Church officials and go to the police for criminal referrals and other legal advocates for civil money penalties against the dioceses.
More double-talk and inconsistencies:
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/ouellet-letter-us-bishops-vote-on-abuse-reform-measures-was-blocked-to-allow-more-discussion-60649
Who are we to believe, not only about the representations
of the clergy and prelates corrupting the Church, but also whether the teachings of the Church are to be believed when they come from the same corrupt leadres?
Rather than withholding contributions at the parish and diocesian levels, as well as appeals from the Holy See, these contributions will reinforce and remind the prelates of the laity’s role in determining the course of the Church’s temporal activities:
https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/the-millstone-mandate-part-ii
I think the number of immoral priests is below the 1 out of 12 threshold which is a benchmark that goes back almost 2000 years. I’m referring to Judas, the disciple of the 12 who betrayed Christ. Always remember, don’t leave the 11 because of the`12th. Don’t let Judas’ evil tempt you to turn your back on Christ’s Church and to lose the gifts given to the Church: the sacraments of Confession, and the Holy Eucharist, Jesus’ gift to each of us, his body.