IRELAND
The Association of Catholic Priests
There are some people commenting on the ACP Opinion Poll who do not seem to understand what an opinion poll is, and who interpret it as a list of demands about the way the church should be: they see it as a type of disloyalty or rebellion.
An opinion poll is just that: a way to establish what a particular group of people think about specific issues. It’s like a first step towards the Assembly in Dublin on 7 May: Naming the Reality. This is an important element in our being members of the Church. It is particularly important with those entrusted positions of authority for the service of the people. Parents, for example, may decide that a child should be in bed by 8pm. This may or may not be a good decision ast the time, or it may be imposed in a good way or bad way; but it will be helpful for the parents to know whether the child is doing what they think the child should be doing, and whether they may revise their decision. The Opinion Poll is descriptive, not prescriptive. And it is useful to know that 35% of those who declare themselves Catholic say that they go to Mass at least once a week. That’s about 1,300,000 people every week – they would fill Croke Park more than 15 times. This, of course, does not make headlines.
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