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Thursday 27 August 2009

Cherry picking some points from the CARA survey and report

Me, I'm doing the cherry picking, I am not accusing the "liberal mainstream media" or the "right-wing blogosphere."

I am noting some points and commenting on them, teasing out for my own understanding the facts as presented by the CARA survey.

Although the Mass in Latin is now more widely available, results of a survey conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) indicates that interest is not widespread among adult Catholics in the United States.

Well, sad truth be told, interest in any Mass "is not widespread among adult Catholics in the United States."

Asked if they favored bringing back the Tridentine Mass for those who would prefer it, the results were:
Favor - 25%
Oppose - 12%
No opinion -63%

In other words, 88% have no objection to the EF being available. Unfortunately, a large part of that anti-choice 12% own their own miters and crosiers...

In the CARA poll, 63 percent of respondents said they had “no opinion” about
bringing back the Latin Mass and ...in the 1985 Gallup poll, only 25 percent of adult Catholics had “no opinion” about bringing back the Latin Mass.

So the numbers of the ambivalent pretty well reflect the numbers of those who can't be bothered to practice the Faith on a regular basis.

In the 1985 Gallup poll, only 25 percent of adult Catholics had “no opinion”
about bringing back the Latin Mass. ... The percentage of Catholics who “oppose” the return of the Latin Mass dropped from 35 percent in 1985 to only 12 percent in 2008.

So, in 1985, those who wanted the old Mass available out numbered those who opposed it by a ratio of 8:7.
Now, this ratio has increased to more than 14:7.

So among those with an interest one way or the other, those favoring the availability of the EF has grown enormously.

The statistics by "generation" are interesting -- those with the irrational fear of the EF are obviously aging:
Pre-Vatican II (born before 1943) Favor:30% No Opinion:46 % Oppose:24%
Vatican II (born 1943-60) Favor:32 % No Opinion:55% Oppose:13%
Post-Vatican II (born 1961-81) Favor:21% No Opinion:72% Oppose:7%
Millennial (born 1982 or later) Favor:16% No Opinion:78% Oppose:6%

And approval of the celebrating the EF is greater among the better educated, those who think for themselves, and women than in the general population; its celebration favored by

19% of those with a high school degree or less, but
43% [!!!] of those with graduate degrees;

27% of Republicans,
24% of Democrats
, but
37% of Independents, 3rd Party Members, or the apolitical;

and perhaps strangest of all, (for we know that the old Mass and the spirituality it represents, oppresses women, :oP))

23% of men, but
28% of women.

Three in ten Catholics who do not “oppose” bringing back the Latin Mass say
they would attend such a Latin Mass if it was readily available at convenient times and locations. This is equivalent to about one in ten adult Catholics (11 percent overall) or approximately 5.7 million individuals.

But, only about one in every 250 parishes regularly offer a Mass in Latin.

Got that?
You do that math -- one out of every 10 would like to do what only one in every 250 has the regular opportunity to do.

I have said it before, my first choice would not be the EF -- but how can any honest person claim that the legitimate aspirations of the faithful are being accommodated in regard to the Latin Mass?
And until they are, and until the Mass of Blessed John XXII, with whatever its evangelical and catechetical powers be, is allowed the opportunity to exert its influences on that vast sea of opinionless, in far too many cases unpracticing, putative Catholics -- how can anyone opposing its availability and in some case actively working against it, claim to have the best interest of the People of God at heart?

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