Jesus instructs the people not to follow the example of the scribes and the Pharisees, “for they preach but they do not practice.” Disappointment with the way members of the church hierarchy have handled the sex abuse scandal is one of the factors that has led to a weakening of Catholic deference to church authority in matters of sexual morality, according to a new study released Monday.

The sweeping survey shows that over the last quarter-century U.S. Catholics have become increasingly likely to say that individuals, not church leaders, should have the final say on such issues as abortion, homosexuality, and divorce and remarriage.

The trend holds true across generational and ideological divides, according to the survey. “It’s the core creedal sacramental issues that really matter to American Catholics, more than the external trappings of church authority,” said Michele Dillon, a sociologist at the University of New Hampshire and a coauthor of the report.

While 83 percent of Catholics say the clergy sexual abuse scandal has hurt the bishops’ moral and political credibility and impaired the ability of priests "to meet the spiritual and pastoral needs of their parishioners," Catholic loyalty and identity remain remarkably strong. “By and large, Catholics like being Catholic,” said coauthor Mary Gautier of Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate.

Across the board, Catholics tend to agree on four key markers--the resurrection of Jesus (73 percent), helping the poor (67 percent), devotion to the Virgin Mar (64 percent), and the centrality of the sacraments (63 percent)—as core to their Catholicism.

While Catholic loyalty persists, however, weekly Mass attendance continued to decline, from 44 percent to 31 percent over the survey’s quarter century. Those who go less than once a month has grown from 26 percent to 47 percent.

“Monthly Mass has become the new weekly,” Dillon said. “Catholics are still remaining in touch with the sacraments and the Mass even though they’re not saying they need to go because it’s an externally imposed mandate from the hierarchy.”

The survey also confirms that American Catholicism is also increasingly Latino, with about a third of Catholics in the United States identifying as Hispanic--a figure that has tripled in size in the past 25 years.

Sources: Articles by David Gibson and Kevin Eckstrom for Religion News Service
and Tom Roberts for the National Catholic Reporter