Support for gay marriage has increased in the United States in recent years, and it's actually higher among Catholics than it is among Americans overall. A majority of Catholics, 54%, now support gay marriage, compared to 47% of all Americans, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll. It's not the first time in recent history that Quinnipiac has found more support than not for gay marriage among Catholics. A poll in December of white Catholics found that 49% favored gay marriage and 43% opposed it. This latest poll surveyed total Catholics, not just whites, and found a higher level of support than among whites only.The poll also looked at how American Catholics view the Catholic Church. Adult Catholics, it indicates, think the Church is out of touch with the views of American Catholics, as a majority disagree with key Church positions, such as opposition to gay marriage. American Catholics also want the new pope to facilitate a transition to more modern practices. A majority think the next pope should allow priests to marry and should soften the ban on contraception.
This is exactly why Bishop Vasa is working on the Catholicity of our parochial schools in the diocese. We are living with the results of a very real crisis in Catechesis. Speaking as someone who went to 13 years of Catholic school, during the 1970s and 80s, I learned NOTHING about Catholic moral teachings or dogma. Nothing. I didn’t know what the Church taught concerning: premarital sex, homosexuality, abortion... I assume that most of those polled were similarly misled and or under-educated. I am not willing to write these poor misguided people off; for I was once one of them. I bought into every liberal lie.