Recently released survey results from thousands of US Catholics show widespread rejection of church teaching on contraception, sexual morality, gay relationships and divorce. And while these results, coinciding with any number of findings from public opinion polling are not new, what is new and noteworthy is an attitudinal gap of decreasing animosity to LGBTs from the hierarchy down to the grassroots.

For example, as the geography of the institutional entity became more localfrom diocesan to parish to small faith community levelattitudes toward LGBTs were viewed to be less hostile and condemning, according to the survey.

When respondents were asked to gauge attitudes at diocese, parish, or small faith community levels, more than one-third ( 37 percent ) viewed their dioceses as hostile and condemning of marriage equality and same-sex couples ( 35 percent ).

But at the parish level, only 11 percent viewed their parish as hostile or condemning of marriage equality, with 13 percent saying their parish held similar views of same-sex couples. A smaller number of respondents, three and four percent respectively, said their faith communities were condemning or hostile of marriage equality and same-sex couples.

Sure enough, findings on marriage equality for same sex couples are strikingly at odds with hierarchical leaders, who often vociferously oppose legal gay wedlock. At the same time, however, support for marriage equality for same-sex couples is "extremely important" for 47 percent or respondents and "very important" for another 26 percent among the laity. In all, a whopping 73 percent or respondents strongly favor marriage equality.

Nonetheless, for Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA, the nation's oldest LGBT Catholic organization, hostility and condemnation point to sufferingfeelings of rejection and ostracism experienced by many LGBTs.

"One of the saddest things the survey revealed is how many people feel pain due to church teaching about relationships and families," she said, referring to the nearly three-quarters of respondents who said couples are aware when their relationships are not accepted by the church and the nearly 70 percent who said these couples feel marginalized.

"These numbers are tragic and heart-breaking. It indicates a deep pastoral crisis in our Church, and is a good indication of why we see so many people leaving the Church," Duddy-Burke said in press statement.

"The evidence continues to mount about the huge gaping chasm between the attitudes, beliefs, and practices of ordinary Catholics and the stance and actions of our church leaders," she added during a recent telephone interview. "The credibility of the hierarchy has eroded very quickly and has policy implications as well as pastoral implications."

Survey's genesis and purpose

In November, fifteen U.S. Catholic church reform organizations responded to the Pope Francis' call for bishops globally to survey Catholics on family issues, including same-sex couples and families.

The online questionnaire was completed by more that 16,000 Catholics in English and Spanish.

Analyzed independently by Dr. Peter J. Fagan, M.Div., PhD., from the Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, located Baltimore, Maryland, the survey results highlight seven core issues of concern, including pastoral care; pedagogical and evangelism challenges; separated, divorced and remarried Catholics; same-sex marriage; women in the Church, sexual abuse scandals, skepticism and hope, according to a press release.

In all, 53 percent of survey respondents self-identified as weekly Mass-goers, which is higher Mass attendance than the overall U.S. Catholic average of 31 percent in 2011.

The Midwest US Census region had the largest number ( 32 percent ) of respondents even though Midwest accounts for just 22 percent of the nation's Catholic population.

In December 2013, a short summary of the quantitative data and a document containing each and every written comment and response was sent to Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, General Secretary of the Synod on the Bishops and the Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz, President of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The survey analysis was delivered to the U.S. cardinals attending a recent consistory, or assembly of cardinals and pontiff in Rome, in preparation for the Synod on the Family in October 2014, and to Cardinal Baldisseri.

The report is available in full, online: www.mycatholicfamily.org .

Local reaction

In Chicago, Catholic gay-rights activists and church reform leaders voiced a variety of views on the survey results, which some believe ought to influence Pope Francis as he considers a new spiritual leader for the local archdiocese, which is the nation's third largest.

Chris Pett, a former president of Dignity/Chicago, said, "While the results of this survey are disturbing, those of us in the LGBT Catholic community are not surprised at the depth of alienation and lack of pastoral concern for those the institutional Church continues to marginalize and disrespect.

"The responses reflect a pervasive experience of a church hierarchy that holds on to its ecclesial powerunder the guise of its teaching authority and its perceived mission to preserve the truth as they see itwithout any real experience of people's lives, their challenges and their desire to come closer to a God who extends unconditional love to all.

"As Pope Francis considers his appointment of a new archbishop of Chicago, we trust that he will choose a leader who is bound less by the demands of orthodoxy and more by the Gospel imperatives of love, healing and the acceptance of all who seek God and a spiritual home in the church.

"Since Francis was elected pope and as he quickly raised his voice calling the church to accountability to its true mission, our hope has been that the calculus for selecting bishops will change and that Francis will raise up true shepherds. Chicago represents a significant appointment with national implications. Now is the time for Francis to live up to his own expectations and appoint an archbishop who actually understands the pain of those the church has alienated and who will be a source of welcoming and healing for the church of Chicago."

Voicing similar sentiments, gay-rights and Catholic activist Rick Garcia said, "This survey confirms what those of us who are practicing Catholics know. There is a great divide between the bishops of our Church and the people of the Church. American Catholics overwhelmingly support gay and lesbian people's civil rights, same-sex couples, and those who are divorced and remarried. This survey should be a wake-up call to our bishops who are largely out of touch with their flock."

"It is noteworthy," he added, "that the Vatican has asked for Catholic's opinions on this issue and while some countries' bishops have taken that seriously the American hierarchy has largely turned a blind eye to the Vatican's desire to know the mind of the faithful. This is unfortunate. But, I hope that this pontificate will continue to engage Catholics in the pews and challenge the bishops to be responsive to them and their needs."

For his part, Joe Murray of the Rainbow Sash Movement, voiced concern that "the plight of LGBT families with children is not lost in the shuffle."

"It is my hope that every attempt be made to include individual LGBT families in the upcoming synod's discussion about them," he added.

Murray went further in his survey-assessment thoughts. In his view, Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory of Atlanta ought to be the pope's choice to replace Cardinal Francis George.

"We are witnessing a paradigm shift in the Church," Murray said, referring to Pope Francis' emphasis on "love over the Church's authority as the law giver."

For that reason, Murray said, Gregory would be a suitable successor.

"Gregory is a progressive and tends to prefer dialogue over authoritarianism," explained Murray. "My experience with Gregory, when he was in Chicago, was on the whole positive.

"Whoever is George's replacement, he will have a different mindset with the focus on love and outreach which will be reflective of Pope Francis'."

George, 77, is now two years past the church's mandatory retirement age for prelates.

A former Chicago seminarian, Gregory, who is African-American, served as president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops from 2001-2004, was Bishop of Belleville, Ill., from 1993 to 2004, and auxiliary bishop of Chicago from 1983 to 1993.

The executive director of the Chicago-based Call to Action said survey results point to church reform.

"Once again, Catholics made clear their needs and hopes for a just and inclusive Church," said, Jim Fitzgerald, adding, "These significant survey findings must lead to substantial changes for the good of the church we love."

Asked about what the survey suggests about the next local spiritual leader, he said, "Like all Catholics, Chicago Catholics want a pastoral leader who can show compassion, inclusion, sensitivity, and love to the entire community."

"The [Holy] Spirit is moving amongst the people and a leader who will listen to their hopes will be critically important moving forward," said Fitzgerald, referring to the 73 percent favorability response for marriage equality in survey results.

"Chicago Catholics want leaders who will work with them in creating a church where dialogue, consultation, and consensus are valued," he explained. "Catholics want a leader who will move church teachings and pastoral care into the 21st century and be relevant to the ordinary lives of Catholics. The next leader in the Chicago Archdiocese will need to be able to respond to a serious yearning for a better, more inclusive church."

Nearly 40 years old, Call To Action is a national organization of Catholics working to transform the Catholic Church, with an aim of "to educate, inspire, and activate Catholics to act for justice and build inclusive communities through a lens of anti-racism and anti-oppression principles," according to its mission statement.

National reaction

Just as Chicago LGBTs weighed in on survey results, theologians and LGBTs active in ministry offered their perspectives.

Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, sounded a positive chord in his assessment.

"This news is hopeful in a number of ways," he said referring to the survey. "First, the sheer volume of the laity's response means that bishops cannot ignore such obvious empirical evidence. Second, the fact that these responses are coming from people who are concerned enough about the future of Catholicism to respond to the questions means that bishops will have to pay attention to these results. Third, a number of European bishops have already noted that these results are opening their eyes to realities they did not know existed."

Nevertheless, DeBernardo voiced "caution about becoming too optimistic that sweeping change is right around the corner." As he explained, "Change in the church is evolutionary, not revolutionary."

Altogether, "The best part of this survey is that it has set up an example of dialogue," said DeBernardo. "I think that example will be emulated by bishops and pastors who may have previously been fearful of opening such a discussion."

New Ways Ministry's co-founder Sister Jeannine Gramick also welcomed the survey's findings.

"The survey results confirm the mission of New Ways Ministry as one of justice and reconciliation of LGBT Catholics with the wider Church," she said, "giv[ing] us hope to continue our work."

"The major challenge for us is the U.S. hierarchy, mostly appointees of Popes Benedict XVI and John Paul II, who are resisting Pope Francis' call for a pastoral approach," Gramick explained. "In the future, we can reasonably expect even greater acceptance from Catholics in the pew, but welcome by pastors and bishops will be slower to come by.

"New Ways Ministry continues to urge LGBT Catholics, their families, and allies to tell their stories to Church leaders because personal contact is the basis for conversion of heart."

For her part, Lesbian feminist theologian Mary E. Hunt, Ph.D., co-founder and director of the Silver Springs, Maryland-based Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual ( WATER ), offered a more sobering assessment.

The survey data make clear that same-sex loving people and their families find scant welcome and plenty of rejection in most parishes," said, pointing to "One [Maryland] parish I know" that" "had sign up times after Masses to oppose a same-sex marriage referendum with no opportunity for the other side to speak much less gather support."

For Hunt, real hope lies outside the institutional church. "It is only because of DignityUSA, women-church groups, and other progressive Eucharistic communities that LBGTIQ Catholics have any reliable links to their tradition," she said.

"My view is that those groups, rather than the hierarchical church, are the carriers of the Gospel in our time. Perhaps the hierarchy will one day learn from them," Hunt added. "In the meantime, I urge people to engage in sacrament and solidarity where their lives are respected and their loves are taken seriously."

European, Asian bishops' survey reports

Unlike their counterparts in Germany, Switzerland and Japan, U.S. bishops have not reported survey results.

Japanese and German bishops, moreover, were blunt in their publicized comments.

As the German bishops' 18-page report put it: "The church's statements on premarital sexual relations, on homosexuality, on those divorced and remarried and on birth control ... are virtually never accepted, or are expressly rejected in the vast majority of cases."

German Catholics are about 30 percent of the overall population, which is 82 million.

Equally pointed, Japan's bishops, in a 15-page report, said, "Contemporary [Japanese] Catholics are either indifferent to or are unaware of the teachings of the Church.

The number of Japanese Catholics is smallonly .35 percent of the population, which is 127.6 million.

DignityUSA, Call to Action, and WATER were among the 15 sponsoring groups for the survey.

©Copyright. Chuck Colbert. All rights reserved.