What Catholic Women Think

The Practicing Catholic ^ | 9/4/12 | Lisa Schmidt

[marshmallow]

A preliminary report, “What Catholic Women Think About Faith, Conscience, and Contraception,” co-authored by Mary Rice Hasson and Michele M. Hill, offers new data about the views of church-going Catholic women, ages 18-54, on faith, conscience, and contraception. This report is part of a larger research effort called the Women, Faith, and Culture Project.

Report Highlights

* 13% of church-going Catholic women completely accept the Church’s teachings on family planning.

* Acceptance of the Church’s teaching on family planning doubles (27%) among young women (aged 18-34) who attend Mass weekly.

* 37% of women who both attend Mass weekly and have been to confession within the past year completely accept Church teachings on family planning.

Take-Away: The more plugged-in a woman is to the Church and the Sacraments, the more likely she is to accept the teaching on family planning.

Middle Ground

* 44% of church-going women express a nuanced view of Church teachings on family planning, accepting “parts” but “not all” of those teachings.

* 53% of weekly Mass-goers who accept “parts” but “not all” of Church teachings on family planning say they are receptive to learning more.

* These women expressed interest in learning about the health and relationship benefits of natural family planning as well as its effectiveness.

[wideawake]

The importance of confession jumps right of the page here.

[jboot]

I hear you, but the data suggests that 60%+ of women who DO attend confession STILL reject the doctrine and instruction of the Church. What does that say about their sincerity?

[wideawake]

What does that say about their sincerity?

It says a lot more about the culture they live in, and the quality of instruction they are getting, than it does about them.

The fact that they are still willing to come and confess to sins that they are not fully convinced are sins shows devotion to the Lord and His Church, and reveals the slackness of the moral instruction that is coming from our pulpits.

Often the best homilies from an orthodox pastor are the ones that make several people walk out.

[Buckeye McFrog]

It is just really tough to generalize about every individual case.

For example, in my own family’s past, we had someone with certain health issues that made her prone to miscarriages. She had many, many miscarriages during her married life, some of which were quite serious. Her husband was a pharmacist who knew she could be spared that, were it not for Church teaching. If you had polled either of them I doubt they would have come down 100% on the Church’s side.

[jboot]

You are right. Poor catechis and the invasion of secular culture is not limited to the Catholic Church, either. There are plenty of people who reject the admonition of the Church and the scriptures in Protestant congregations, too.

People walking out on the truth, although regrettable, is not the worst thing that can happen. The worst thing is for the secular culture to prevail inside the Church.

[count-your-change]

“13% of church-going Catholic women completely accept the Church’s teachings on family planning.”

Which would mean that 87% “of church-going Catholic women” do not. And if it's a matter of teaching and proper instruction, what does that indicate about the teachers, the spiritual leaders?

If the figures were reversed it could be argued that there will always be some fraction that will be stubbornly unaccepting of official teachings but 87%?

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

As a life-long Catholic (I’m 50), I can tell you that at least 80% of Catholic women have never read Humanae Vitae, have never hearda homily explaining Humanae Vitae, and have no understanding of the reasoning behind Church teaching, which is based entirely on natural law arguments (while also consonant with Scripture — see Onan).

The clergy have a lot to answer for.

[count-your-change]

As Jesus said to Nicodemus, ‘You're a teacher in Israel and you don't know these things?’.

I wonder how many priests share that distinction with that group of women.

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

-— I wonder how many priests share that distinction with that group of women——

I always thought they were afraid of alienating congregants, but I’m afraid that there’s probably a lot of truth to your suggestion. I forget that the seminaries went down the crapper in the sixties and seventies.