Religion & Law

I came across this site, "Headline Bistro," a "service of the Knights of Columbus dedicated to bringing readers the top, daily headlines that Catholics need to know."  One of the (many) pieces currently up describes a recent poll conducted by CBS and The New York Times, regarding the effects of the recent coverage of some bishops' mishandling of clergy-abuse cases on practicing Catholics' relationship with the Church.  The poll (seems to me to) point in a number of different directions on a number of matters.  The story's lede, though, is worth re-printing here:

A new poll conducted by CBS News and The New York Times has found that 77% of Catholics who attend Mass weekly say that ?the Vatican?s handling of recent child sex abuse reports? has had no effect on how they ?feel about the Catholic Church.? An additional 12% of practicing Catholics say that they have a more positive feeling about the Church as a result of the Vatican?s handling of the scandals. . . .

88% of Catholics-- practicing and non-practicing-- report that the scandal has had no effect on their dealings with priests. 82% say it will not affect their Mass attendance, 79% say it will have no effect on donations, and 87% say that it will have no effect on their children?s involvement in Church activities. . . .

It is interesting (to me) that, at a time when (we're told that) Catholics, as a group, think about contested questions of public policy and morality no differently than do non-Catholics, there is, despite the latest round of coverage -- which has, in my view, at times been unfair and misleading -- a signfiicant gap between the views of Catholics and those of non-Catholics (e.g., "only 17% of practicing Catholics, and 33% of Americans overall, believe that the Vatican is currently engaging in a cover-up").  Interesting . . . but also worrisome.