One in 10 adults in the United States is a lapsed Catholic, according
to a 2009 report by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.
But that
number may soon change, some faith leaders suggest.
Pope Francis shares
with his predecessor a deeply conservative view of abortion, gay
rights, birth control and the role of women in the church (the most
common reasons cited for leaving the church), but some lapsed believers say his “human touch” has brought them back to the pew.
As Father Peter Mussett, pastor of the St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder, told
Tracy Connor at NBC News: “I had five people in a week who were saying,
‘Pope Francis has inspired me to return to my faith. It’s pretty
remarkable.”
Brian O’Neill, an Irish-American police officer from
Washington state who hasn’t been active in the church since college,
also sees more of himself in a pontiff who rides the bus and has spoken
at length about the Catholic Church’s commitment to the poor: “I was
shocked and amazed when he started doing those things — you know, ‘No
Popemobile for me,’” O’Neill said. “When the church says that’s the guy
we’re going to put on St. Peter’s throne, that says enough about where
the church wants to go.”
“Will I go back? I’m planning on it — if I can find a good service,” he added.
But
not everyone is as easily charmed by a pope who has offered more of the
same hardline teachings on reproductive and gender justice, and who has
called marriage equality a “rejection of God’s love” that hurts children.
Kathy Budreski left the Catholic Church after the abuse scandal and views Francis as “just another retro pope.”
“He
has a big heart and he loves the poor people, but he’s not going to do
anything to change the stance of the church on birth control and gay
rights,” she told NBC.
“I don’t see him as a mover and shaker. He has some wonderful qualities but he’s another retro pope,” she concluded.