The nationwide poll, which surveyed 1,347 people including 326 Catholics, was conducted between April 1 and 9 amid almost daily revelations of coverups by bishops of the Catholic church.

The overall poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percent; the poll of Catholics has a margin of error of plus or minus 5.4 percent.

In Massachusetts, where there is a growing body of evidence that Cardinal Bernard Law knowingly moved pedophile priests among parishes, allowing them to continue abusing children, 60 percent of Catholics said Law should resign.

And in Connecticut, where court documents have revealed that Cardinal Edward Egan ignored allegations of sexual abuse by priests when he was the bishop of Bridgeport, 31 percent of Catholics said he should resign.

While most Catholics said recent disclosures of sexual abuse by priests and coverups by the church have not shaken their faith, 13 percent did say the issue makes them "less likely to remain a practicing Catholic."

"One out of seven Catholics ... say their faith has been shaken and they might leave the church," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

Other results suggest some Catholics may be boycotting the collection plate as a result of the controversy. In Connecticut, 25 percent said they are "less likely to contribute money to the church." In Massachusetts, the figure was 29 percent.

Overall, 32 percent of Catholics say their faith in bishops and cardinals has been shaken. In Massachusetts, the epicenter of the controversy, 55 percent of Catholics say they have lost faith in church leaders.

"American Catholics have lost a little faith in their parish priests and a lot of faith in their bishops because of the flare-up of sex-abuse charges involving priests," Carroll said.

For the most part, however, the pope has floated over the controversy. Only 13 percent of Catholics overall said they had lost faith in Pope John Paul ll. The number, though, was 23 percent in Massachusetts.

Sixty percent of Catholics feel the church has mishandled allegations of sexual abuse, with 69 percent (81 percent in Connecticut and Massachusetts) saying church officials should report all allegations of sexual abuse to authorities, whether or not they believe them to be true.

And 78 percent of Catholics felt that even allegations made as long as 10 years ago should be reported.

Sixty-seven percent of Catholics said they favored allowing priests to marry. And 65 percent favored the ordination of women.

Perhaps this is because a sizeable minority, 29 percent, of Catholics felt celibacy contributes "a great deal" to the problem of sexual abuse, Carrol said.

Asked whether the media had given too much, too little or about the right amount of coverage to the issue, half of Americans and 45 percent of Catholics said it was the right amount.

There are polls, and then there are people.

Oftentimes, when polls ask simple questions such as "Who will you vote for?" there is a certain congruence between people's answers and what they really think.

Other times, when polls venture into more emotionally freighted territory, people will tell you that when it comes to what they think, the poll isn't really asking the right questions at all.

Area Catholics, asked for their own thoughts on the poll questions Thursday, complained that the issues are more nuanced.

"The Catholic church isn't a democracy. It doesn't go by opinion polls, and I don't think it should," said Jacqueline Twedt of Colchester. "I think that they should admit that they made mistakes, own up to all of it, be sorrowful and repentant about it. If someone resigns, it doesn't make what happened better."

"I think people are angry and they want a simple solution," said Mary Neilan, who teaches second grade at St. Mary's School in New London. "They think if the bishops resign that's going to make their pain go away."

Now, said Twedt, the church should refer allegations to authorities.

"Legal authorities should be the ones to decide whether a crime had been committed," she said. "A priest isn't a lawyer, so they shouldn't be making legal decisions."

What about those Catholics who say they may withhold funds from the church?

"I think that's wrong," Twedt said. "The church isn't just about paying a bishop's salary. It's about helping all the different outreaches of the church. If they couldn't run a soup kitchen because they couldn't get enough money, what is that saying? We're going to punish many innocent people for the acts of a few?"

All expressed concern for the innocent priests who are trying to do their jobs in the midst of the controversy.

"I really do believe that there's more good than bad," Neilan said. "I feed really bad for the clergy who are good, dedicated people, especially now with the shortage of priests. They're working doubletime and they're exhausted."

Asked whether they thought there was a connection between celibacy and the problems the church is now facing, Catholics interviewed for this story said they could see none.

On the other hand, they differed on the idea of allowing priests to marry.

"I would not have a problem with priests getting married," said Joan Davoren of Niantic. "That's a church law, not a law that God wrote down anywhere."

Twedt disagreed.

"The church made a decision that priests should be focused entirely on their work," she said, "and married people know that having families takes time away from that."

And what of women? Should they be ordained?

"It would not be my solution, but ... I wouldn't have a problem with it," Davoren said. "Faith is not about all that stuff."

Overall, local Catholics report feeling distressed for their church, but they have not let recent events shake their faith.

"It just seems sometimes that the media dwells on this," said Neilan. "They are overlooking a lot of the good people in the church."

"It's a terrible scandal for the church," Davoren said. "It's evil. I believe it's the devil in action.

"The basic thing is that faith is a gift. You have to work very hard to keep it. This is a scandalous thing that's happened, but it shouldn't shake anybody's faith. There are many more innocent people here than there are guilty."

The Quinnipiac University Poll, directed by Douglas Schwartz, Ph.D., conducts public opinion surveys as a public service and for research. Complete poll questions and responses are available at www.quinnipiac.edu.

Jacqueline Keller, spokeswoman for Bishop of Norwich Daniel Hart, said the bishop would have no comment on the poll.

k.robinson@theday.com