JS: Milwaukee Archdiocese survey finds diverging views among area Catholics

The majority of Catholics responding to a survey by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee do not accept church teachings that ban artificial contraception or prohibit divorced and remarried members from receiving the sacraments.

They believe the church should permit same-sex unions. [I couldn't find anything in the survey to back this claim, I may be missing something?]  And they do not consider the church as the moral authority on issues related to the family.  [assuming this means contraception]

Those are among the findings of a first-of-its-kind survey of area Catholics solicited by Pope Francis and posted last month on the archdiocese's website.

The results of the survey, conducted at Francis' behest by dioceses around the world, will provide the context for an extraordinary synod on marriage and the family planned by the Vatican for October.

The 1,300 respondents represent just a fraction of the 10-county archdiocese's reported 600,000 members. And the results aren't particularly surprising: They're in sync with those in other U.S. dioceses that have made theirs public, and research has long suggested that Catholics mirror the broader society on many social issues.
Read more from Journal Sentinel: http://www.jsonline.com/news/religion/milwaukee-archdiocese-survey-questions-church-on-family-issues-b99258971z1-257418241.html#ixzz30ZzNq76g
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Results are posted here:
http://www.archmil.org/ArchMil/Resources/COMM/2014ExtraordinarySynodResults.pdf

Like she says, not particularly surprising, and a low number of participants(not to mention a rather low percentage of young participants).

"understand the Church teaching"
- Over 64% say they understand the Church teaching on regulation of birth
yet
- Less that 10% recognize any of the listed methods of natural family planning

They gay marriage stuff can be summed up as follows:
- Over 73% say people do not understand the meaning of “natural law”

I think what would be more interesting is to survey all the priests of the Archdiocese to get their responses.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not at all surprising, of course. But the next time we hear one of the higher-ups talk about the glories and benefits of "Catholic education" (diocesan schools) remember these stats. Behold the fruits of forty years of abysmal leadership in Milwaukee.

M. Prodigal said...

Do we get to be like protestants and vote on what immoralities we want to embrace with impunity?

Badger Catholic said...

Agreed, however it is interesting to see how deep the knife has been driven into our chest.... or back, depending on how you look at it.

Anonymous said...

The headline should be "Majority of Milwaukee Area Catholics Aren't Catholic." Why do we keep delaying the pruning the we have known has to occur for decades now in the church in the West?Seriously it's like taping branches back onto a rose bush to expect it to grow and stay healthy.

Anonymous said...

No surprise here given that Weakland and his minions continue to run the diocese.

Dad29 said...

I think what would be more interesting is to survey all the priests of the Archdiocese to get their responses

You don't really want to know, do you?

You know about Belloc's famous term "wage slaves." There's an analogy here: pastors of many parishes are "debt/deficit slaves," unable to instruct their congregations on Catholic morals when facing the very real possibility of bankrupting the parish by so doing.

Dave said...

Just out of curiosity: has one of our younger priests done that yet in this diocese - preach actual Catholic orthodoxy, and emptying the pews in doing so?

Dave P.

Dad29 said...

Don't know.