Select a poll question --------------------- BACK TO MAIN LIST OF POLL QUESTIONS --------------------- What is your opinion of Bishop Richard Lennon? What is your opinion of Pope John Paul the Second? What is your opinion of Cardinal Bernard Law? What is your opinion of your parish priest? What's the most important problem facing the archdiocese? Do you agree with the church's position on birth control? Do you agree with the church's position on abortion? Do you agree with the church's position on homosexuality? Would you support allowing priests to marry? Would you support the ordination of women as priests? Would you support prohibiting gay men from becoming priests? How important is the Catholic faith to your life? How important a role does the archbishop play in your life? What's the most important quality for the next archbishop? What's the second most important quality for the next archbishop? First and second most important qualities for the next archbishop? Will the pope choose an archbishop with the right qualities? What should the relationship be between the archbishop and priests? What should the relationship be between the archbishop and the laity? Has abuse scandal caused you to lose confidence in Catholic church? Has abuse scandal caused you to lose faith as a Christian? Do you attend Mass less regularly now than you once did? Have you considered joining a non-Catholic church in the past year? Has the abuse scandal caused you to donate less to church? Do you have any children? Are you less likely to encourage your children to practice Catholicism? Would you encourage your children to practice Catholicism? Did you agree with Cardinal Law's decision to resign? How well has AG Tom Reilly done handling the abuse scandal? Should Cardinal Law face criminal prosecution? Is Bishop Lennon a good choice as permanent successor to Law? How well has Lennon done addressing the abuse scandal? How well has Lennon done managing church finances? How well has Lennon done providing spiritual leadership? Should the church negotiate abuse claims or fight in court? What's your view on people who have filed claims against the church? Do you think a big settlement would imperil the church financially? What's the best way to address the church's financial problems? Should the laity be more involved with management of church finances? What's your opinion on Voice of the Faithful? How well is the church doing dealing with Voice of the Faithful? Should the church accept donations from Voice of the Faithful? Should the American Catholic Church be independent of the Vatican? What's the primary cause for the clergy abuse scandal? What would bring you closer to the church personally? How often do you attend Mass? How old are you? What is your racial or ethnic heritage? What is your annual household income? What is your gender?

Reading the poll results

Q.	Which of the following do you see as the primary cause for the problem of clergy sexual abuse?

Numbers are percentages

		Gender		Attend Mass1				Age			Income2			Law resignation3		Faith importance4
	Total	Male	Female	W	M	Y	<Y	18-39	40-64	65+	<40k	40-80k	>80k	Agree	Disagree	Very	Some	Not
The celibacy that is required of priests	29.9	31.4	28.5	19.0	38.6	36.5	27.4	34.2	28.5	25.6	28.8	33.6	29.6	31.2	19.7	23.9	33.6	35.1
A culture of secrecy among bishops and priests	25.7	20.6	30.4	27.7	20.6	26.0	28.9	19.3	28.5	29.9	24.8	24.1	31.4	26.2	28.3	25.1	27.2	23.9
Homosexuality in the priesthood	8.7	9.8	7.6	8.9	13.1	6.6	5.6	9.1	9.3	6.1	10.9	8.1	7.9	8.1	13.5	8.3	9.9	7.0
A fear of scandal by church leaders	8.3	9.5	7.2	10.3	4.6	7.7	11.1	9.3	5.9	13.2	8.2	8.1	9.5	7.9	14.6	10.8	5.6	8.4
The belief of church leaders that sexual abuse could be treated	7.5	7.0	8.0	10.4	4.6	6.7	7.3	7.5	6.9	9.2	7.5	7.2	6.4	7.6		7.5	7.2	8.1
The centralized power structure of the church	6.2	10.5	2.1	7.3	6.7	4.0	7.1	6.6	7.5	1.4	5.4	6.7	7.0	5.9	5.4	6.3	5.8	6.5
Or is it something else	7.8	6.3	9.2	11.0	5.7	7.5	3.1	9.2	7.9	4.9	8.4	6.1	5.8	7.9	6.2	11.0	6.4	4.0
Don't know	4.8	4.3	5.3	3.8	6.1	2.9	9.4	3.1	4.3	9.7	5.9	4.4	1.1	3.9	12.2	5.7	3.6	5.6
Refused	1.1	0.6	1.6	1.6		2.1		1.7	1.2			1.7	1.1	1.3		1.4	0.7	1.5

¹ Survey participants were asked "How often do you attend Mass?" The answers were: Weekly (W); monthly (M); yearly (Y); and less than once a year (<Y).

² Survey participants were asked "Into which of the following categories does your annual household income belong?" The answers were: Less than $40,000 (<40k); between $40,000 and $80,000 (40-80k); and more than $80,000 (>80k).

³ Survey participants were asked "Did you agree or disagree with Cardinal Law's decision to resign?"

⁴ Survey participants were asked "How important would you say the Catholic faith is to your everyday life?" The answers were: Very important (Very); somewhat important (Some); and not very important (Not).

Margin of error: +/– 5 percentage points on questions answered by all Catholics. When pollsters offered choices to the respondents, the choices were rotated so that different options were offered first to different respondents.

This poll of 400 Catholics living in the Archdiocese of Boston was conducted May 4-6, 2003, by KRC/Communications Research.