Does anyone know where I can find the most reliable statistics on Mass-going Catholics, containing a breakdown on what percentage believe in the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist?
I'm preparing for a talk for early February, so any info/links you can provide would be extremely helpful!
6 comments:
Jimmy Akin just posed on this topic the other day. Apparently the numbers aren't as bad as they've been presented.
Thanks! I just went to his blog and followed the links. That helps a lot!
I had read Jimmy Akin's post, and the First Things link. They confirmed my feeling that the famous poll which said that only a third of Catholics believe in the Real Presence was skewed. Any of us who have answered surveys know that the questions can be worded in a confusing way. Geographic areas can vary greatly; and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that Catholics who attend Mass every weekend are going to answer differently than those who rarely darken the door of a church. Polls can be a useful tool; however one should be careful about attaching too much importance to them. I'm afraid a lot of misunderstanding may have been wrought by the first poll.
I'm uncertain about the validity of those surveys, and CARA's methodology. Keep in mind that Mass attendance has been dropping sigificantly in many dioceses in the last five years. I doubt a decrease in Mass attendance correlates with an increase in undertsanding of the Eucharist.
Here's more details on the past survey:
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-79305248.html
One wonders why the Bishops aren't more concerned....
As the Real Prescence is defined as a dogma of the church, by an ecumenical council (Trent),that makes it de fide: 100% of Catholics believe in it.
Unfortunatly there are people who think they're catholic who don't, and go to Mass.
IR ~ Well, yes, it IS doctrine of the Church, however, that doesn't mean that everyone believes it. Some people don't KNOW what "true presence" means because of all the wacky theology out there. So they haven't been TAUGHT to believe it. And some people have been warped by bad theology.
So while they SHOULD believe it, they don't. Are they Catholic? Yes. They might even be doing everything else according to Catholic teaching without that belief for lack of understanding or whatever.
So then, are they really Catholic? We can't say because we don't know WHY they don't believe. I suspect the issue is education. For my part, I will be educating people on this. :-)
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