Catholics in America

Authority

One key to understanding the way that Catholics approach moral issues and questions of right and wrong is to consider the sources to which they look for moral authority. Are decisions about right and wrong ultimately the province of church leaders like the pope and bishops? Or does moral authority reside with individuals deciding these things for themselves -- perhaps after taking church teachings into account? Or do both church leaders and individuals, working together, constitute the proper locus of moral authority?

Politics

Reports in the media based on national surveys in recent years indicate that voters see Republicans as more religious, or friendlier to religion than Democrats, in particular because of their support for core moral values centering on human sexuality and family life. Our survey provides an opportunity to see whether and how Catholics who are Democrats or Republicans vary in their religious practices and in moral and political attitudes.

Catholics in America is the fifth survey of Catholic attitudes conducted every six years by a research team headed by William V. D’Antonio. Taken together, the surveys comprise one of the deepest and most consistent portraits ever compiled of the membership of the country’s largest religious denomination. In the past, the studies have been described as the most definitive that exist of U.S. Catholics.

This year’s survey has several sponsors: A grant provided by an anonymous donor was matched by the following: the Rotondaro Family Foundation, the Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies, the National Catholic Reporter, the Rudolf Family Foundation, the Donegal Foundation and the Luger Family Foundation. NCR primarily sponsored the 1987 and 1993 surveys, with additional funds for the first survey provided by Fr. Andrew Greeley. The Louisville Institute funded the 1999 survey, and the institute and an anonymous donor cosponsored the 2005 survey, again with financial support from NCR. The teams of researchers, consultants and coauthors are grateful to the donors who have made these surveys possible.