The Catholic Church: a Failed Institution?, by John Zogby, Huffington Post, May 6, 2010

The Catholic Church: a Failed Institution?

By John Zogby
Huffington Post
May 6, 2010

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-zogby/the-catholic-church-a-fai_b_566344.html

It's a tough time to be an institution in America.

That's the take home message from some recent polls conducted by my polling outfit, Zogby International. In February, we released a poll revealing the truly abysmal levels of confidence Americans have in many historically significant institutions. While Americans still have "a lot" or "some confidence" in small businesses (83%), local banks (73%), and colleges and universities (60%), government, corporations, the media, and Wall Street all receive a vote of confidence from fewer than 50% of the public. Organized religion finishes in the middle, as shown in the chart below, even with a quarter of Americans saying they have "no confidence at all" in organized religion.

*Confidence in*	Lot	Some	Total	Little	No	Total	Not sure
Small Businesses	32%	51%	83%	14%	3%	16%	1%
Your Local Bank	24%	48%	73%	17%	7%	24%	3%
Colleges & Universities	13%	46%	60%	24%	15%	40%	1%
Local Government	9%	48%	57%	28%	14%	42%	1%
Organized Religions	19%	34%	53%	21%	25%	46%	2%
Public Education	8%	37%	45%	31%	24%	54%	1%
Federal Government	8%	33%	41%	32%	27%	59%	1%
State Government	5%	36%	41%	37%	22%	59%	1%
Corporations	5%	32%	38%	33%	28%	61%	2%
National & Regional Banks	3%	29%	33%	32%	34%	66%	1%
Wall Street	3%	28%	31%	31%	36%	68%	2%
Labor Unions	6%	25%	31%	22%	45%	66%	3%
News Media	3%	18%	21%	34%	44%	78%	1%

More sobering news for organized religion's future as an American institution is found in two polls released this week. The Catholic Church, arguably the most important religious institution in the country, finds itself embroiled in another wave of clerical sexual abuse allegations and subsequent cover-ups by Catholic Church hierarchy. While this latest round of cases concerns incidents that occurred primarily in Europe, these two polls demonstrate that the repercussions from American Catholics concerning their increasingly negative views of Catholic Church leaders are continuing.

	Pope Benedict XVI	American Catholic Bishops
Strongly Approve	24%	8%
Somewhat Approve	32%	37%
Total Approve	56%	45%
Somewhat Disapprove	17%	26%
Strongly Disapprove	15%	17%
Total Disapprove	32%	44%
Not sure	12%	11%

In our own poll, conducted among 705 American Catholics between April 30 and May 3, we found that job approval of Pope Benedict XVI and American Bishops has reached historic lows. Only 56% of American Catholics approve of the overall job that Pope Benedict XVI doing, with an additional 45% approving of the overall job that the American Catholic Bishops are doing. And when it comes to handling the sexual abuse crisis, numbers are even lower. A plurality of respondents gave Pope Benedict XVI (30%) and the American Catholic Bishops (43%) a "poor" rating on their efforts to address abuse within the church.

	Pope Benedict XVI	American Catholic Bishops
Excellent	15%	8%
Good	23%	12%
Positive	39%	20%
Fair	26%	29%
Poor	30%	43%
Negative	56%	72%
Not sure	6%	8%

Do you approve or disapprove of the overall job that (a)Pope Benedict XVI (b) the American Catholic Bishops are doing?

Some have called for Pope Benedict XVI to resign as a result of the sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. Others believe he should not resign. Do you believe Pope Benedict XVI should resign, or do you believe he should continue as Pope?

	Overall
Pope Benedict XVI should continue as Pope	64%
Pope Benedict XVI should resign	16%
Don't know/not sure	20%

One bright spot of support of the Catholic Church hierarchy: 64% of American Catholics believe Pope Benedict XVI should stay in his job. In our view, the historically low job approval numbers of the pope and bishops indicate the continuing impact the sexual abuse revelations have on the morale of American Catholics and their evaluation of their leaders. However, the fact that almost two-thirds of Catholics want Pope Benedict to remain as the head of their church may mean that Catholics are not yet ready relegate their church to the ever-increasing list of failed and failing American institutions. It is a monumental challenge for the Catholic Church to overcome the staggeringly long list of difficulties and general lack of trust it currently faces, but it is a challenge the Catholic Church must overcome if it has any hope of returning to a position of leadership and moral authority for American Catholics and others around the world.