More than a third of people say cases of priests sexually abusing children have affected their religious practices, reducing their Mass attendance and praying, the survey shows.
However, it also finds that faith in God remains high and most people see the church and priests as better or the same as in the past.
While two-thirds said they looked to priests for moral leadership, only a third said they looked to the church to provide guidance on issues of human sexuality; 74 per cent were opposed to the requirement of clerical celibacy, with only 17 per cent favouring it and 9 per cent with no opinion.
Of the 36 per cent who said their religious practices had been negatively affected by clerical sex abuse cases, more than half said Mass attendance was affected, while 4 per cent said they prayed less. Other effects included a growth in distrust of the church, change in beliefs and a decline in respect for priests. Fifty-nine per cent said sex abuse cases had not negatively affected their religious practices.
However, the overall rate of weekly Mass attendance by practising Catholics recorded in the survey, at 63 per cent, only shows a 2 per cent drop on an Irish Marketing Surveys Religious Confidence Survey in 1997.
The majority of people (76 per cent) did not agree that Catholics should do what a priest told them, while 71 per cent felt that priests were not closer to God than other people. People were divided about whether they trusted new priests in their neighbourhoods, with 41 per cent saying they would wonder whether he was someone they could trust and 40 per cent saying they would not.
As for involvement of their children in the Church, 65 per cent said they would be pleased if their child became an altar server, while 56 per cent said they would be pleased if their son wanted to become a priest and 47 per cent said they would send their child to a Catholic summer camp.
Ninety-three per cent said they believed in a God, with the vast majority also showing that they were assured of God's love and his response to their prayers.
Most people (73 per cent) felt the quality of priests today was higher or about the same as the past, while 12 per cent said it was lower. More than half (54 per cent) felt satisfied with priests in the church today, with a third dissatisfied. In all, 71 per cent felt the quality of the church was the same or better than in the past. Of these, 33 per cent thought it was better and 38 per cent thought it about the same. Fourteen per cent thought it was worse. Of those who thought the church had improved, 15 per cent referred to an increase in openness and accountability and 18 per cent cited improved relations with the wider Church community.
METHODOLOGY
The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland survey was based on telephone interviews with randomly selected members of the public, aged between 18 and 80 plus.
The gender balance of the survey sample was very similar to that of the adult general population and broadly similar in terms of age profile. There was, however, a smaller proportion of younger people, single men and women in the study than in the general population.
The residential location of respondents was broadly similar to that of the general population. The national demographic profile which the survey sample was compared to was the 2001 Quarterly National Household Survey.
The survey methodology was developed in consultation with the survey unit at the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI). Out of 1,415 eligible people contacted by researchers, 321 refused to do the interview while 13 completed only partial interviews. This left 1,081 participants, a 76 per cent response rate. The survey was conducted during January to May 2002.