ENGLAND
The Catholic Herald

December 4, 2017

By Fr. Alexander Lucie-Smith

And what we can do about it

A recent piece of research shows that trust in the clergy has declined markedly in recent years, as this magazine reports. Though the clergy are far more trusted than politicians and journalists, they lag behind nurses and doctors.

The survey should not come as a surprise to anyone, but one might like to give a little thought to why this is the case.

Once, the clergy were often the only highly educated men in their communities, and thus their words would have counted for much. Now, they are just one of many professions, one set among many qualified people.

Social change has led to a decline in clergy status, which would have happened anyway, but this has undoubtedly been accentuated by self-inflicted wounds, in particular, that of the…