Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Women in Religion
Catholics and Abortion: A Distressing Situation

Catholics and Abortion: A Distressing Situation

Last updated on: October 7, 2021 at 4:19 pm by Lois Kerschen

Catholics and Abortion: A Distressing Situation 2021-10-07T16:19:56-07:00 Lois Kerschen

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Polls show a distressing, even shocking situation among Catholics concerning abortion. According to a 2019 Pew Research Center report:

56% of U.S. Catholics (those who identify as Catholic but are not necessarily regular church goers) said abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
while the majority favor at least some restrictions, only 14% said that abortion should be illegal in all cases.
Catholics are polarized on abortion along partisan lines, like most Americans.
68% of Catholics say Roe v. Wade should not be overturned.
44% had heard homilies that expressed opposition to abortion in the month previous to the survey, while 12% had heard homilies that expressed support for legal abortion.
57% admit that abortion is morally wrong.
34% of Catholics overall said they have “a lot” of confidence that their clergy can provide useful guidance on abortion, while 33% had “some” confidence.
67% of Catholics who attend Mass weekly or more often said abortion should be illegal in all or most cases.

Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/10/20/8-key-findings-about-catholics-and-abortion/

Image by Jeff Jacobs from Pixabay

What’s Scary in the Poll Results

With such a huge difference between occasional Catholics and practicing Catholics (14% who think abortion should be illegal versus 67%), obviously, we need to get a lot more Catholics into church every Sunday!

The fact that the majority of those regularly in the pews do not approve of legalized abortion may seem a good showing, but that still means that 1/3 of the people at Mass think legal abortion is acceptable. That is not okay.

Most disturbing is the 57% who think abortion is morally wrong, yet they still want it to be legal. With what other crimes do we say, “Well, it’s seriously wrong, but it should be legal”? That twisted thinking comes from the “I’m personally opposed, but . . . mindset.

The Message

Without doubt, the Church condemns abortion. St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis have all spoken unequivocally against abortion. Twice in the last week, Pope Francis very frankly called abortion “murder.”

Padre Pio said, “The day that people lose their horror for abortion will be the most terrible day for humanity.” Mother Teresa of Calcutta said, “Abortion has become the greatest destroyer of peace, because it destroys two lives, the life of the child and the conscience of the mother.”

Image by Annett_Klingner from Pixabay

The Church’s teaching on abortion has been consistent and clear, yet the Church’s members are either turning a deaf ear for their own reasons or just flat don’t trust the Church. When only 34% have confidence about what their parish priests preach, we have a serious communication problem.

The Rejection

Why is there this lack of confidence? I suspect it is not just about the parish priests but about the Church as a whole. You know how it goes — “How can a bunch of old men, and only men, relate to us? They sit on high at the Vatican and pontificate to us (pardon the pun), but they are old-fashioned, too strict and out of touch with real life.”

Perhaps part of the problem is the infrequency of homilies on abortion. Catholics are not getting the instruction and guidance that they need.

The Pew poll showed that 44% of Catholics reported hearing a homily on abortion in the month before the poll. It should be noted that the poll was taken just before the 2020 elections, and there are often admonitions about pro-abortion candidates at election time.

So that number is skewed too high. Another Pew survey learned that only 5% of online homilies discuss abortion. It is suspected that Sundays outside of the election season rarely see in-person homilies on abortion either.

Of particular horror is that 12% of homilies in election season actually favored legal abortion! This may sound harsh, but in my opinion the priests giving those sermons should be forbidden to raise the subject again until they have had accurate education and have repented in confession.

Repairing the Disconnect

Photo by Dawn McDonald on Unsplash

What part of “grave moral error” do people, especially priests, not understand? Are we stricken with a Church membership that thinks they are smarter than centuries of theological study, smarter than God? Does it not catch their attention when popes and saints condemn abortion?

Yes, the Church hierarchy has had a problem including women and understanding women, but abortion is not just a women’s issue, it is a life issue. On life issues, the Church has a solid basis in science and in respecting the dignity of human life.

Since abortion is in the news almost daily, and since we are still killing 1700 babies every day in America, it is critical that the Church address this paramount issue, not just from the Bishop’s office but also from the parish pulpit; not just around election time, but as essential, continuous education.

Patheos Catholic

abortion

Catholic teaching on abortion

homilies

morality

polls

Previous Post

October 4, 2021

The Benefits of Suffering

Next Post

October 9, 2021 Consecrated Virgins: A Restored Ancient Rite in the Catholic Church

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Patheos Catholic Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 July 2026 May 2026 December 2025 November 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 November 2023 September 2023 July 2023 June 2023 February 2023 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What was Amos' profession?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Shepherd Tentmaker Fisherman Carpenter