U.S. Catholics' Faith in Clergy Is Shaken

[NeoGreen]

https://news.gallup.com/poll/245858/catholics-faith-clergy-shaken.aspx

U.S. Catholics' Faith in Clergy Is Shaken
by Megan Brenan January 11, 2019

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Amid turmoil in the Roman Catholic Church in the ongoing fallout from priest sex abuse scandals, a record-low 31% of U.S. Catholics rate the honesty and ethical standards of the clergy as "very high" or "high." This marks an 18-percentage-point drop between 2017 and 2018, when more sexual abuse allegations against priests surfaced and questions arose about the Vatican's response.

Gallup has measured the public's views about the clergy's ethical standards since 1977 as part of its broader "honesty and ethics of professions" poll. Initially high ratings of the clergy have been declining steadily among all adults since 2012.

The latest findings, from a Dec. 3-12 Gallup poll, come after a Pennsylvania Grand Jury report in August detailed accusations of sexual abuse involving more than 300 Catholic priests over 70 years. The report indicated that Catholic bishops and other high-ranking church leaders covered up these incidents.

The latest drop in Catholics' positive views of the clergy's ethics, from 49% to 31%, is the second double-digit drop since 2004. Both declines were clearly associated with scandals in the Catholic Church even though the question about clergy does not specify a denomination.

Between 2004 and 2014, a majority of Catholics rated the clergy's ethics highly, but opinions fell sharply between 2014 and 2015. That 13-point drop from 57% to 44% followed the release of a study by the Catholic Church that found more than 4,000 priests had faced sexual abuse accusations in the prior 50 years.

Emphasis added.

[MineralMan]

1. Not a good-looking trend for the RCC...

Il Papa must be concerned, I'd think.

[trotsky]

2. The RCC's strategy seems to mirror the tobacco industry's...

when they finally lost the "does smoking kill" debate. Try to keep a small part of the US market going, but focus more on the International market for growth.

[MineralMan]

3. Problem is, they have the same problem everywhere.

They've been misbehaving everywhere by sexually abusing their flock's children. Bad shepherds!

[Major Nikon]

6. The international market isn't doing so well either

South America has finally had enough of their shit and the Irish are kicking them to the curb. Africa represents one of the few growth markets as they try to displace native religions, but they have serious competition from Islam.

[LuvNewcastle]

8. That's a great analogy.

I never thought about it that way, but the comparison is accurate.

[Pope George Ringo II]

4. The conditioning to ignore reality is still holding for some, though.

Leading to the obvious question: Was that on purpose?

[NeoGreen]

5. It's a feature...

...not a bug.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

7. Just like with Trump, apparently you can fool 31% of the population regardless

of how big a shithead you are.