ABC News "Nightline" Catholic Church Poll, February 2002

This special topic poll was undertaken to gauge respondents' reactions and feelings regarding the recent allegations of sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests and cover-ups by the Catholic Church. The poll also attempted to assess how these allegations had influenced respondents' feelings about the Catholic Church in general. Respondents were asked if they had heard of the scandal surrounding Catholic priest John Geoghan, a Boston clergyman accused of molesting over 80 children, if the case had concerned them, how serious a problem they viewed sexual abuse of children by priests to be, and how often they thought that sexual abuse by priests occurred. Those queried were then asked if they thought the Catholic Church was doing enough to address the problem of sexual abuse by priests, if they thought the recent allegations had harmed the overall reputation of the Catholic Church, if they thought Catholic priests were more likely then other men to sexually abuse children, and if they believed that the policy of the Catholic Church prohibiting priests from marrying contributed to the problem. Finally, respondents were asked a series of questions designed to assess their opinions of the Catholic Church's past responses to allegations of sexual misconduct and their ideas on how the Church should respond in the future. They were asked whether they agreed with the church's response of transferring a priest who had been accused of sexual abuse to another parish, whether they believed that the church should inform parishioners and/or police if a parish priest was accused of sexually abusing a child, and whether the church should be required by law to inform police or parishioners. The results of the poll were announced on the ABC television program "Nightline." Background information on respondents includes age, gender, political party, education, religion, typical attendance of religious services, and ethnicity. Catholic respondents were also asked how much they trusted their own parish priest around children.