| 3/25/2008 |
| From the Knights of Columbus Webpage |
| Marist Poll Commissioned by Knights Released at National Press Club | |
 Supreme Knight Carl Anderson discusses the Marist poll with the national press corps. View the Webcast |
 Americans have an overwhelmingly positive view of Pope Benedict XVI on the eve of his visit to the United States, according to a new poll released March 25 at a Newsmaker event at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The poll was commissioned by the Knights of Columbus and conducted by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion between Feb. 25 and March 5, 2008. The results were announced by Supreme Knight Carl Anderson. By a ratio of four and a half to one (58 pecent to 13 percent), respondents said that they had a favorable or very favorable view of Pope Benedict. The poll also found that an even higher percentage - 65 percent - have a favorable view of the Catholic Church, although a higher portion, 28 percent, have a negative view. Forty-two percent of Americans said that they would like to attend one of the Pope's public appearances while he is in the United States, and 66 percent of Catholics said they'd like to attend one of the events. Pope Benedict will be celebrating large open-air Masses in Washington, D.C., (at Nationals Stadium) and New York City (Yankee Stadium), and will host several smaller gatherings with Catholic educators, seminarians and leaders of other religious faiths. Anderson also unveiled a special new Web site (http://www.papaltrip.org/) that offers detailed information about the Pope's trip, as well as historical material about previous popes and their dealings with the Catholic Church in the United States. Seventy percent or more want to hear Pope Benedict talk about: allowing God to be a part of their daily lives (73 percent), finding spiritual fulfillment by sharing their time and talent (71 percent) and how they can make a positive difference in the world, their state, and communities (70 percent). Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) expressed an interest in hearing Pope Benedict talk about how they can have a society where spiritual values play an important role. "The bottom line," Anderson said, "is that, despite years of very negative stories about the Catholic Church scandals, and dissenting view of the Pope as some sort of "panzercardinal" determined to pursue the unorthodox to the ends of the earth, the American people have a very sensible and balanced view of Benedict and the Church. And they are very open to hearing his views on matters of how they might live their faith and put it into action in their daily lives." |
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Comments: 6
The church has had a long tradition of not allowing ordained men to marry. The opposite, allowing married men to be ordained also has a long tradition in the east and is still common among the Orthodox. In the west we allow married men to be ordained to the level of the deaconate. In either case I don't think that married men are the cure from scandal; because married Jewish Rabbis and Orthodox Priests get into trouble as well.
As for nuns being allowed to marry, I think that removes everything from the profession and you turn both brothers and nuns into a secular order. You already have secular orders where married men and women can join or that those who have joined can marry. I'm a Secular Franciscan.
People are tired of the ways of society and all its empty promisces.
Since the fifties the people have become tired of that so called freedom that the world so eagerly propagates.
They are beginning to realize that true freedom is not the ability to do whatever you want to do , but that it is indeed the freedom to chose what is right and live it according to the gospel. This may not reflect the whole country but it reflects the lives of those who seek the truth and they know that holy mother church can as it always has in spite of the mistakes and sins of its various leaders and members point the way to that truth.
His Holiness Benedict the sixteenth is a very inteligent and holy man and I believe without a doubt that in spite of the difficulties that he has and will encounter he has been blessed by the master with all the means nescesary to bring thye church back to its very roots and help it to rise above the present scandal to where it will once again be a beacon of light and hope to a world hungry for God.
Amen Chris!