BishopAccountability.org
	Is There a Gap between the Faith and the Church? By James D. Davidson The Tidings [United States] March 25, 2006 http://www.the-tidings.com/2006/0324/signs.htm The Catechism of the Catholic Church makes it clear that there is a very close relationship between the Catholic faith and the Catholic Church. In paragraph #171, the Catechism says that the Church "guards" the faith, "hands on" the faith, "teaches" us "the language of faith," and "introduce[s]" us to "the understanding of the life of faith." In other words, the faith and the Church are inseparable. Accepting the faith is to endorse the policies and practices of the Church. To belong to the Church is to embrace the Catholic faith. But, in the wake of the sexual abuse scandal, some laypeople have suggested that the faith and the Church are quite different entities. For example, members of the Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) say Catholics can accept the faith but also question the policies and practices of the Church. This view is clearly expressed in VOTF's slogan "Keep the faith, change the Church." The clergy sex abuse scandal has seriously and adversely affected Catholics' views of the clergy and their leadership. Yet, when it comes to Catholics' faith, it is as if nothing had happened between 1999 and 2005. The empirical question, then, is to what extent are the faith and the Church are one and the same thing in the minds and hearts of U.S. Catholics? To what extent are only loosely connected or even negatively related? Have Catholics' views of the faith and the Church changed as a result of the sexual abuse scandal? One way to find out is to see what Catholics thought about the faith and the Church prior to the sexual abuse scandal and what they think about the two today. Another way is to see what they say about their and the scandal itself. Let me explore both of these possibilities with data from three national surveys of U.S. Catholics. The first study was done in 1999, the second in 2003, and the third in 2005. The data clearly indicate that the scandal rocked the laity's confidence in the Church. As Dean Hoge and I reported in Commonweal (Nov. 19, 2004), the vast majority of Catholics were ashamed of and embarrassed by the behavior of priests who abused young people and by the bishops' mishandling of the situation. Nearly two-thirds said the bishops were covering up the facts. Only 20 percent said the bishops were being "open and honest" with the laity. However, Catholics' adherence to the core teachings of the Church has not changed since 1999. For example, in 1999, 80 percent of Catholics said the sacraments are important to them personally. In 2005, 77 percent gave the same answer. In 1999, 70 percent said belief in Mary as the Mother of God is important to them. In 2005, 74 percent said that belief in Mary is important. Mass attendance also has not changed. In 1999, just prior to the scandal, 37 percent of Catholics attended Mass at least once a week. In 2005, 39 percent attended weekly or more. Catholics' devotional practices also are unchanged. In 1999, 71 percent of Catholics said the pray privately at least once a day. In 2005, 69 percent gave the same response. In short, the scandal that some observers have described as the most traumatic event in U.S. Catholic history has seriously and adversely affected Catholics' views of the clergy and their leadership. Yet, when it comes to Catholics' faith, it is as if nothing had happened between 1999 and 2005. The net effect is that the scandal opened up a gap between Catholics' faith (which seems unaffected by recent events) and their confidence in the Church (which has been severely shaken). James D. Davidson is professor of sociology at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. His most recent book is Catholicism in Motion: The Church in American Society (Liguiori/Triumph, 2005).
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.