Chapter 4: Expectations of the Church
Many Catholics say the church should change its stance on key issues. In particular, they would like to see it expand eligibility for the priesthood, relax restrictions on the reception of Holy Communion and drop its ban on artificial birth control for family-planning purposes. There is less consensus on whether these changes will happen within […]
Appendix A: Methodology
The analysis in this report is based on telephone interviews conducted May 5-June 7, 2015, among a national sample of 5,122 adults, 18 years of age or older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia (1,800 respondents were interviewed on a landline telephone, and 3,322 were interviewed on a cellphone, including […]
Chapter 5: Beliefs About Sin
Roughly nine-in-ten U.S. Catholics say they believe in the concept of sin – that there are actions or deeds that can be offensive to God. But there is less unanimity among Catholics about which specific actions or behaviors constitute a sin. For example, while most Catholics say abortion is sinful, they are divided as to […]
U.S. Catholics Open to Non-Traditional Families
When Pope Francis arrives in the U.S., he will find a Catholic public that is remarkably accepting of a variety of non-traditional families, according to a new survey on family life, sexuality and Catholic identity.
Chapter 1: Exploring Catholic Identity
Connections to Catholicism run broad and deep in American society. One-in-five U.S. adults identify Catholicism as their religion. In addition, about one-in-ten are cultural Catholics – people who have a religion other than Catholicism, or no religion, but nevertheless think of themselves as Catholic or partially Catholic in other ways. A similar share of U.S. […]
Chapter 2: Participation in Catholic Rites and Observances
About four-in-ten U.S. Catholics say they attend Mass weekly. Few cultural Catholics (4%) say the same, but nearly half report attending Mass at least occasionally. Meanwhile, a strong majority of ex-Catholics (82%) say they never attend Mass at a Catholic church. A similar pattern is seen on some other measures of observance of Catholic rituals, […]
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