The study "Well-being, Trust and Policy in a Time of Crisis" by The Catholic Project, was written by Brandon Vaidyanathan, Christopher Jacobi and Chelsea Rae Kelly, of The Catholic University of America.

The study paints a portrait of a majority of priests who feel abandoned by the men they are supposed to trust at the helm of their dioceses.

The report polled 10,000 clergy. It received 3,516 responses from 191 dioceses. The researchers also conducted 100 intensive follow-up interviews.

The survey showed high levels of support for strict anti-sex abuse policies.

However, just under half of the survey respondents indicated they trust their bishop.

The survey also indicated most priests are happy in their work but report being overburdened. Priests said that they loved their work, registering marks high above the general population. Nearly eight out of ten priests could be described as "flourishing".

Despite such high scores for contentment, 45 percent of priests showed at least one sign of burnout. Nearly one in ten showed severe signs. Younger priests were much more likely to indicate they felt burned out than older clergy.

A leading negative factor in assessing priests' well-being was a lack of trust in their bishops. This led to an 11.5 per cent reduction in priestly well-being among those who expressed a lack of trust in their own bishop.

The survey also found widespread distrust of the bishops as a whole, with just under one quarter of priests expressing confidence in their leadership.

These attitudes were especially sharp when it came to fears that a priest might be falsely accused of sexual abuse and that the bishops would not help them fight the allegation.

Eighty-two percent of priests said they regularly fear being falsely accused. Were that to happen, they feel they would face a "de facto policy" of guilty until proven innocent.

"There's this sense ... that the bishops are against a priest who's been accused, rather than doing what the bishop must do but still supporting the priest," said one of the 100 priests of whom researchers asked in-depth questions.

"Most priests agree with the church's response to the abuse crisis, but also fear that their bishops wouldn't have their backs if they were falsely accused," says Vaidyanathan.

Priests in the study said they predominantly see the prelates as social climbers, careerists and administrators who barely know priests in their diocese by name.

"I don't really trust most of the bishops, to be honest with you. I'll show them all a great amount of respect. And if I was in their diocese, I would really serve them and try," a priest told researchers.

"But just looking across the United States and looking across a lot of bishops ... I would say I have an overall negative opinion of bishops in the United States.

"They're really not leaders or they're just kind of chameleons ... looking to climb up the ladder."

Sources

The Tablet

National Catholic Reporter

America Magazine

The survey found that younger clergy tend to be more conservative than their elders on many issues.

"We find strong empirical confirmation of the nearly ubiquitous perception that younger priests are more orthodox in their beliefs than older priests," the authors state in the abstract.

"Additionally, we find a significant turn toward pessimism regarding the current state and trajectory of the Church."

The 2021 Survey of American Catholic Priests (SACP) was released this week by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and Baylor University.

The survey features responses from 1,036 priests who answered 54 questions. The results were compared to answers of several surveys going back to 1970.

Some questions were drawn from the 2002 LA Times survey of Catholic priests. The authors also looked at Andrew Greeley's 1970 survey, and consulted other studies in related fields such as moral psychology.

For example, among priests ordained in the 1970s, 56% said that abortion is "always a sin", while 69.7% agreed in the 2002 LA Times survey. This figure has risen to 89.5% of priests ordained in 2010.

Respondents were asked the degree to which they agree or disagree with this statement: "The sole path to salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ."

The percentage of priests who strongly agree or strongly disagree with the statement about the exclusivity of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ correlates with their political self-identification as conservative or liberal.

Eighty-two percent of priests who self-identify as "very conservative" politically agreed strongly with the statement. In contrast, only 19% of those who self-identify as "very liberal" do so.

Similarly, 39% of "very liberal" priests disagreed strongly with the statement, while next to zero of "very conservative" priests disagreed with it.

The survey highlighted that priests are divided over the performance of Pope Francis. There was a strong correlation between political beliefs and their perception of the Holy Father.

Overall, 53.4% strongly approve of the job Pope Francis is doing, and another 22.8% approve "somewhat." But the authors state:

"Among priests who describe their politics as "very conservative", 68.9% disapprove of Pope Francis, whether "somewhat" or "strongly".

However, not a single priest in the dataset who describes himself as liberal on politics disapproves of the job Pope Francis is doing".

The report indicated an increased pessimism about the state of the church among the clergy, with 51.3% saying it is "not so good," a sentiment shared by only 33.9% of clergy in the 2002 survey.

Additionally, 47.7% indicate they think the church's situation is getting worse, compared to only 28.3% who thought that in 2002. Only 16.1% of clergy today think the state of the church is getting better. The years of clergy sex abuse scandals may have taken their toll on those responding to the survey.

Other parts of the study are reassuring with 62% of clergy reporting they are very satisfied with life, although it is down 10 points from the 2002 LA Times survey. Additionally, 91.6% say they are "very unlikely" to resign from the priesthood, a number that has risen from the 2002 survey.

Sources

National Catholic Reporter

America Magazine