Five years after U.S. Catholic bishops approved new steps for addressing and preventing sexual abuse of minors by clergy, most U.S. adult Catholics are unaware of these efforts, according to a recent study released by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University.Only 17 percent of Catholics say they have heard of steps taken by their diocese to prevent abuse and only 34 percent say they have heard of the policies created in 2002 by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) for handling allegations of abuse in the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People according to the survey.
"Clearly there is an information gap for the Catholic public on how their Church has responded," said Mark Gray, research associate professor and coauthor of the study.
"The poll provides evidence that if Catholics knew more about the responses, they would likely have more confidence in how Church leaders are addressing the issue of clergy sex abuse."
The survey was the latest in a series of nine national polls conducted by CARA since 2002 that were partially funded by the USCCB in an effort to assess awareness of the sexual abuse issue among U.S. Catholics and opinions about how Church leaders are addressing it.
In this most recent poll, CARA partnered with Knowledge Networks to interview a nationwide sample of 1,048 self-identified adult Catholics between February 21 and March 5, 2007 (margin of sampling error ± 3 percentage points).
Respondents were presented with 13 specific policies and procedures that have already been implemented by the bishops to prevent abuse, deal with allegations and reach out to victims.
For each item, a majority of Catholics indicated they were not aware (between 14 percent and 45 percent indicate awareness for each item).
Catholics are most likely to be aware (45 percent) of the Church policy that dioceses are to report an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor to public authorities and cooperate with investigations of abuse.
Respondents had a similar awareness (43 percent) of the zero tolerance policy, whereby anyone credibly accused of abuse is removed from ministry.
Catholics are least likely to be aware that dioceses must annually report on the adherence to the Charter (15 percent) and that independent audits are conducted of each diocese to determine whether they are enforcing sexual abuse policies (14 percent).
Only about a third (32 percent) are aware of diocesan requirements for outreach to victims of sexual abuse and their families to provide help such as counseling, spiritual assistance, support groups, and other social services.
Although few Catholics are aware of the steps the Church has taken, when informed about the, large majorities approve these actions.
When presented with descriptions of the policies and procedures that have been implemented by the USCCB, between 76 and 89 percent of all respondents say they either “somewhat” or "strongly" approve of these procedures.
Knowing about many of these policies and procedures is likely to increase confidence in the bishops.
"Catholics are not aware of many of the specific policies implemented by the U.S, Bishops and two-thirds say the policies should go further,” Gray said.
“When they are informed about these policies, however, many say their knowing about these increases their confidence in the Bishops. Indeed, many of the respondents’ initial suggestion about how the policies could go further actually mirror existing policies.”
The study also explores U.S. Catholics’ general perceptions of Church leadership, and whether sexual abuse allegations or Church responses to these allegations have altered attendance or financial giving behaviors.
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