UNITED STATES
National
By WILLIAM V. D’ANTONIO
Our research teams have carried out four surveys of American Catholics. The first survey in the spring of 1987 was carried out in anticipation of Pope John Paul II’s second visit to the United States. Our fourth survey was carried out following his death just after this past Easter and coincident with the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to the papacy as Benedict XVI. The four surveys were carried out by the Gallup Organization in six-year intervals, always in the weeks immediately following Easter. This 18-year time period has enabled us to track trends of change as well as areas of relative stability in the beliefs, practices and attitudes of American Catholics.
One of the major concerns we had as we awaited the results of this survey was the impact of the sexual abuse scandal first exposed in 2002, a scandal that continues to occupy church officials and laity alike around the country. We wondered how this scandal might affect the attitudes and commitments of Catholics. Several of the essays to follow will make clear that this scandal has had little measurable impact. The patterns of beliefs and commitments we reported in our story in NCR in October 1999 have been quite stable.