Parishioners claim BBC branded them dissenters Report, page 46
Few now view contraception as immoral
Christopher Lamb
JUST 4 PER CENT of Catholics believe the use of artificial contraception is wrong, accord- ing to a new poll. The YouGov findings, in a survey of over 1,600 Catholics, also show that little more than a quarter believe in keeping obligatory clerical celibacy, 41 per cent support “loving relationships” whether gay or straight and a big majority –87 per cent –believe the Church has been permanently damaged by revelations about sex abuse. However, there was also strong support for
Pope Benedict XVI, with almost three-quar- ters believing he should continue his role. The poll, for ITV’s Tonight programme, inter- viewed those Catholics who went to Mass at least weekly, at least annually and those who never went. For those who were weekly Massgoers, only 13 per cent believed contraception to be wrong. When questioned on abortion, 11 per cent agreed with the Church’s position that a ter- mination is allowable only as an indirect result of life-saving treatment; 44 per cent said it should be allowed on the grounds of rape,
incest and when a child is severely disabled. The ITV poll comes at the same time as a BBC poll which showed that two-thirds of Catholics wanted women to have more status and authority in the Church and almost half wanted a change to the celibacy rule. This poll, conducted by ComRes, showed over 70 per cent of Catholics supported the Pope’s visit, with almost six in 10 feeling their faith is not valued by British society. On clerical celibacy, the Tonight poll found 65 per cent were in favour of allowing married priests; this number decreased to 53 per cent of weekly Massgoers. Only 11 per cent believed homosexual acts were morally wrong, and just 21 per cent of practising Catholics agreed with church teaching on this matter. Support for the Pope was highest among weekly Massgoers, at 87 per cent, and gen- erally speaking those who went to Mass regularly were more in tune with church teaching. Catholic Voices for Reform has described the survey’s results as “astonishing”. “Our experience in a range of Catholic reform organisations confirms our belief that around 50 per cent of Catholics in the UK broadly support the reform agenda. On some issues, however, this survey suggests that the per- centage is much higher: for example, the number supporting a married priesthood is well over 60 per cent,” said Bernard Wynne, one of the group’s spokespersons. “The response regarding gay relationships indicates that a high percentage of respondents support more tolerance in respect of celebrating such relationships.”
Blair hails Newman’s courage
JOHN HENRY NEWMANshowed huge intel- lectual courage when he decided to become a Catholic, the former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, wrote in an article for the Vatican paper L’Osservatore Romanoon Wednesday, writes Elena Curti. Mr Blair, a fellow convert to Catholicism, said that Newman did what he knew was right and placed spiritual truth above all other values. He wrote that even today, Newman’s intellectual assent to the Catholic faith was striking. “Others continue to walk this same path, though in a less spec- tacular manner. I ought to know,” wrote Mr Blair in his article published on the eve of Cardinal Newman’s beatification by Pope Benedict XVI in Birmingham tomorrow. Mr Blair explained that Newman became a Catholic because of his dedication to spiritual truth and that friends had taken second place. “While he was preparing to join formally the Catholic Church he wrote: ‘No one can have a more unfavourable impression of the current situation facing Catholics.’ Certainly this is not the most diplomatic affirmation. But this
did not matter to him because he would have done whatever he considered right no matter how uncomfortable or unpopular.” The former Prime Minister also credited Cardinal Newman with being the first the- ologian to introduce the concept of the development of doctrine which he said had been hugely influential both within and out- side the Church. “It is probable that today we would not use expressions such as ‘millennium development goals’ or ‘international devel- opment’ if Newman had not first used that word [development] in his theology.” But Mr Blair questioned whether the
Church took sufficient account of Newman’s view that the consent of the “body of the faith- ful” on doctrinal matters was “the voice of the infallible Church”. “The tendency of certain religious leaders to place a great number of different ideas into a single envelope labelled ‘secularism’ and then to consider it something sinister creates divisions in a pluralist society. It bars the Church from considering new ideas,” he wrote.
Opponents of compulsory celibacy win debate
SUPPORTERS of ending compulsory celibacy for priests have claimed a small victory after winning an impassioned debate on the issue, writes Sam Adams. Comedian Frank Skinner and the Bishop
of Nottingham, Malcolm McMahon, were on a team of four speakers at the Odeon in Leicester Square, London, last Tuesday, who opposed the motion “Celibacy should no longer be a compulsory requirement for the Roman Catholic priesthood”. Film director John Deery argued for an end to compulsory celibacy, alongside human-rights lawyer Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, Carmelite priest Fr John McGowan and Catholic theologian Professor Tina Beattie. Baroness Kennedy argued that compulsory celibacy was about “male exclusivity”. Bishop McMahon said that ending compulsory celibacy would “fly in the face of tradition ... the priesthood has gone wrong because we haven’t grasped the role of being a victim as well as a priest”. Mr Skinner said celibacy maintained priests as “holy men, a step closer to heaven than I am”.
IN BRIEF
Pregnant nun advert banned An advertisement featuring a pregnant nun has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The ASA received numerous complaints about the advertisement for Antonio Federici ice cream which showed a heavily pregnant nun standing in a church holding a tub of ice cream with the text “Immaculately Conceived ... Ice cream is our religion”.
Monk takes on vocation job The former Abbot of Worth has been appointed as director of the National Office for Vocation. Abbot Christopher Jamison, well known for his part in The Monastery TV series, will be head of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales’ vocation office. He will take up the part-time post on 1 October and will continue to carry out media work.
Catholic universities bottom of list Universities, including St Mary’s Strawberry Hill, Roehampton, Leeds Trinity and Newman University College, have all featured at the bottom of The Sunday Timesuniversity league table, between 92 and 112 out of 120 universities.
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