Protectionism, lack of lay role blamed for church problems

Published: 2003-11-14

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Two new polls of U.S. Catholics and lay Catholic opinion leaders direct much of the blame for the church's sexual abuse problems at the hierarchy's desire to protect the church's reputation and a lack of consultation with lay people in decision-making. The polls by Zogby International released Nov. 13 showed that, despite people's strong criticism of how the church has handled sexual abuse by priests, 49 percent of the general Catholic public rated the U.S. bishops' overall job performance as good or excellent. Forty-eight percent rated their overall performance as fair or poor. Among Catholic opinion leaders, 32 percent rated the bishops' job performance as good or excellent, compared to 67 percent who described it as fair or poor. In both polls, nearly three-quarters of those surveyed said the U.S. bishops are best at representing the position of the Vatican on matters of church doctrine. Fewer than half in both polls said they do a good job of listening to the needs and concerns of American Catholics and parish priests or of representing those needs and concerns to the Vatican. The polls were commissioned by Geoffrey T. Boisi, former chairman of the board of Boston College and a member of the Papal Foundation.

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