American Catholics Reveal Their Views on Marriage and Other Important Social Issues in Wide-Ranging Survey

SAINT LEO, Fla., Oct. 9, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- As Catholic bishops from around the world convene in Rome for a special synod (conference) on family and marriage, American Catholics favor inclusivity in a number of situations, as responses to a new national survey by the Saint Leo University Polling Institute show.

Catholics expressed strong support for allowing divorced or remarried Catholics to receive the sacrament of Communion (68 to 18 percent). By a 3-to-1 margin, Catholics say the Church should drop its opposition to contraception (66 to 21 percent). A smaller majority supports dropping opposition to pre-marital sex and cohabitation (50 to 33 percent). A narrow plurality says the Church should recognize same-sex marriages (42 to 40 percent).

Michael Anthony Novak, assistant professor of theology and religion at Saint Leo University, found some of the responses to be somewhat surprising. "Catholics take marriage, the family, and the sacraments seriously. But these results seem to verify that there is a frustration with the Church's pastoral policies regarding divorce and remarriage," Dr. Novak noted. Among non-Catholics, there were three times as many respondents who didn't know or were unsure about their beliefs, which he found interesting. "Few Catholics want to exclude their divorced or remarried friends from participating in the Church, including receiving sacraments, and yet there is likely uncertainty about how, at the same time, we try to promote a serious vision of marriage within the Church. That tension will be keenly felt at the Synod on the Family," Novak added.

There was a 3-to-1 split on responses with Catholics favoring the opinion for the Church to drop its opposition to contraception, which didn't surprise Dr. Novak. "We've seen a fairly steady opposition to this position since the 1960s. Even in Catholic theology and philosophy, much less within the broader Christian context, there has been considerable debate about whether non-abortive contraception is as problematic as was originally supposed," he said.

Pope Francis continues to be embraced by American Catholics, with an 85 percent favorability rating among U.S. Catholics. Non-Catholics also like the Pope, giving him a 54 percent favorable, 12 percent unfavorable rating.

For more information, visit http://polls.saintleo.edu.

SOURCE Saint Leo University Polling Institute