Catholic commitment declines

WASHINGTON, May 7 (UPI) -- Millions of Catholics have given up their absolute commitment to Christianity in the wake of the sex scandals in their church, according to a new nationwide survey, but a senior cleric called this a snapshot reaction Tuesday.

From January to April, the share of Catholics who say they are "absolutely committed to Christianity" has dropped by 11 percentage points to just 30 percent, the California-based Barna Research Group announced Monday.

It added that this was the lowest level of absolute commitment measured among Catholics in the last decade. However, the Rev. John McCloskey, director of the Catholic Information Center in Washington, said he expected this development to be temporary.

"Many who are already weak in faith are using this for an excuse not to go to church," he told United Press International, adding that the scandal could also be seen as an opportunity for consolidation.

McCloskey stressed that between 10 and 15 million Catholics have already fallen away from their church since the 1960s. "It has been said that they constitute America's second-largest denomination."

The Catholic Church, with more than 60 million members, is the largest religious organization in the United States.

"Perhaps we'll be further weakened in numbers but also strengthened in fervor and belief," McCloskey went on.

Another part of the Barna survey seemed to confirm this. It compared Catholic attitudes and religious practice in April with those a year earlier.

While during these 12 months, the absolute commitment to Christianity dropped from 39 to 30 percent -- it had gone up in the interim as a result of Sept. 11 -- weekly church attendance increased significantly from 47 to 53 percent.

"Church attendance rose by large margins among younger and older Catholics," Barna related. "It remained static among Baby Boomers."

The proportion of those who said they had read the Bible in the past seven days also rose, albeit only from 20 to 22 percent.

Like McCloskey, one of Europe's top Protestant theologians sounded optimistic about Catholicism's resilience. "I am certain the Catholic Church will be even stronger once this is behind her," the Rev. Johannes Richter, a retired regional Lutheran bishop of Leipzig, Germany, predicted in a telephone interview.

According to Barna, young Catholics under the age of 18 reacted most vehemently to the current crisis. Their absolute commitment to Christianity is down 15 percentage points, their personal commitment to Jesus dropped by 14 points and the importance of faith in their lives by 10 points.

Summing up his company's findings, pollster George Barna wrote, "Millions of Catholics are torn between their personal faith in God and Jesus Christ and their emotional loyalty to their church.

"Confounding the issue for many Catholics is their desire to honor God -- which includes attending Mass to avoid sin -- yet not wanting to necessarily intimate support for priests and other individuals who tacitly represent the people who have caused pain and controversy in the church.

"This internal conflict of values is most acutely present among the parents of younger children as they strive to reconcile protecting their families with protecting their souls."

Barna added that the constant discussion of the pope's health and the possibility of his abdication added to the anxiety and sense of imminent instability.

"John Paul II is very popular among Catholics and is widely trusted as a man of integrity," the researcher pointed out. He added that while they are increasingly open to other denominations, Catholics evidently do not see them as an alternative to their own crisis-stricken Church.

"Many of the churches whose traditions and practices are most easily understood and adopted by Catholics have embraced gay ministers or are ... debating the acceptance of homosexual leaders," wrote Barna, presumably referring to liturgical denominations such as the Episcopalians and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

He concluded, "Given the nature of the crisis facing the Catholic Church, that has tempered the interest of many Catholics in jumping ship to a 'Catholic-friendly' denomination."