Majority of Catholics Believe Racism Prevalent in Society and Church Should Do More To Eradicate It
Pope's Approval Rating Strong, but Weaker in Area of Improving Status of Women in Church
President's Ratings Up

RACE RELATIONS

Most American Catholics (76%) feel that racism is a significant problem in America today while nearly 80% agree that African-Americans experience discrimination. A vast majority (88%) feel the Church should play a role in ending racism, yet only 36% of American Catholics reported that in the last 3 years anyone in their parish had delivered a sermon on racism and only 31% reported that their parish had activities designed to reduce racism or improve race relations.

Forty-one percent of Catholics felt that African-Americans are worse off than other Americans, with 46% believing that African Americans are about the same off as whites. Nearly 33% of those polled feel that African-Americans have fewer opportunities than other Americans, while over 50% of Catholics feel that African-Americans have the same opportunities.

There are significant differences between the responses of white American Catholics and African American Catholics. African American Catholics see problems of race and discrimination as more serious and more persistent than do white American Catholics, both in the U.S. and in the Church.

When asked if Catholics were familiar with the 1979 U.S. Bishops' statement against racism called "Brothers and Sisters to Us," only 18% of Catholics were aware of it.

"This poll illustrates that Catholics feel there is a discrepancy between beliefs and actions within the church in regard to eliminating racism," said Charles J. Beirne, S.J., President of Le Moyne College. "It's clear that there's more work to be done within the Church, particularly on issues of social justice."

POPE'S APPROVAL RATING

While 64% of American Catholics agree that the Pope has been an effective leader in improving the status of women in the world, only 53% agree that the Pope has been effective in approving women's status within the church. Overall the Pope receives an 81% favorable job performance rating with 87% of Catholics giving him high marks for leading the worldwide church. The Pope also received strong support for his leadership in the areas of economic justice, concern for the poor, peace efforts (although only 53% agreed with his opposition to war with Iraq) and gestures of reconciliation toward Eastern Orthodox Churches, Jews and Muslims.

The Pope received moderate to strong approval of his leadership on issues such as abortion, capital punishment, euthanasia, and human cloning. Approval of the Pope's leadership of the American church and of his understanding of the challenges facing it is strong, in the range of 65-75%. He received very strong approval (94%) for his leadership by personal example, especially his spirituality and personal holiness.

U.S. BISHOPS’ RATING:

While a strong majority of American Catholics believe their bishops are doing a good job, support of the American bishops has eroded significantly compared to previous CCT surveys. The following table summarizes responses by Catholics to the question, "Do you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree that the American bishops are doing a good job leading the U.S. Church?"

Responses	Fall 2001	Spring 2002	Fall 2002	Spring 2003
Strongly Agree	43.4%	26.6%	26.7%	21.4%
Somewhat Agree	40.1%	41.4%	42.3%	37.9%
TOTAL	83.5%	68.0%	69.0%	59.3%

It is likely that the noticeable decline in approval for how American bishops are leading the church is due largely to continuing concern over their handling of the clerical sex abuse scandal. Evidence for this conclusion can be found in increasing levels of support for the Pope's taking disciplinary action against bishops who do not remove or have not removed known abusers from ministries involving contact with minors:

Responses	Fall 2002	Spring 2003
Strongly Agree	73.7%	86.5%
Somewhat Agree	15.1%	7.9%
Cumulative Percent	88.8%	94.4%

In light of the increase in the number of American Catholics who "strongly agree" with papal disciplining of bishops who fail to remove offending priests and in the overall support for such measures, it is apparent that all subgroups of American Catholics are profoundly concerned with this issue and that concern has increased even further during the past five months.

PRESIDENT BUSH'S APPROVAL RATING

President Bush's approval rating among American Catholics immediately after Sept. 11, 2001, was quite high, and remained high through Spring 2002. By Fall 2002 at a time of greatest uncertainty about possible war with Iraq, his approval rating declined by about 15 percentage points. In Spring 2003, as the war with Iraq appeared to have been successful, his approval rating increased by about 5 percentage points. In comparison, President Bush's national approval rating is included:

WAR WITH IRAQ

When asked in November 2002, about 38% of American Catholics agreed that all war should be condemned as immoral. In April 2003, only 28.9% agreed with that proposition, with nearly all of the decline occurring among those Catholics who had previously "strongly agreed" with the anti-war position.

Support for the bishops' opposition to the war on "just war" grounds was 48.2% -- a decline of 8 percentage points since Nov. 2002, possibly because the war is now widely perceived as successful.

For additional information:

For more information on the latest polling results contact Le Moyne Director of Communications Joe Della Posta at 315-445-4564