Washington Post Catholic Church Poll, June 2002

This special topic poll, conducted June 16-17, 2002, was designed to ascertain the feelings and opinions of respondents about the Catholic Church and the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests. Respondents were asked whether they were satisfied with the leadership of the Catholic Church, whether they approved of the way the Catholic Church handled the sexual abuse of children by priests, and whether they approved of the policy, endorsed by the United States Catholic bishops, that does not require priests who have sexually abused children to be automatically removed from the priesthood. Further questions asked respondents whether bishops who did not report allegations of sexual abuse by priests to public authorities should resign from their positions, and if they refused to resign, whether church authorities should remove them from their positions, whether church officials in the past and present were trying to prevent sexual abuse or trying to cover up the problem, and whether the Catholic Church could be trusted to handle this issue properly in the future. In addition, respondents were queried about whether they approved of the way President George W. Bush was handling his job. Background information includes age, education, ethnicity, religious affiliation, specifically whether the respondent was Catholic, and sex.