Sisters Should Speak Out: Poll

I don't think they're more thoughtful but that's just my opinion.

Pope John Paul II rightly barred Catholic clerics from political offices. The church should not be used as a platform for political active clerics. Their activist agenda often works out very badly as when the politician priest becomes tyrranical distator..

Catholic clerics political judgement is highly questionable. It's bad enough to hear at Sunday Mass the utterly studid personal politcal commentary along with the scripted political messages from the diocese. Why should support of the church involve support of clerics' personal political interpretations and agenda that most people do not at agree with?

The church is becoming a colonial government too concerned with insider churchmen's views than the views of wider citizen-members of the church. The views of the clergy are nowadays not at all representative of the community.

I think a lot of Catholics struggle with their faith for lots of reasons, such as a liberal education, secular and other non-Catholic opinions of friends and the media, and a perhaps a general skeptical nature. I wouldn't expect those people to have an opinion on whether it is appropriate or not to speak out about catholic/social issues.

That is funny. How can so many not have an opinion? Well of course they have an opinion. They just do not want to express it publically to anyone who comes along. This is the "politically correct" response. It is not acceptable to say to the interviewer "I hate the damn nuns." So this is actually concealed strong disapproval. You probably would not want ot hear what they actually think.

A fovorite example is a Massachusetts Democratic primary race where Losi Pine was running against Tom Reilly for Attorney General around 2001. Early on the night of the primary the TV stations announced Lois Pine the winner based on exit-iterviews and early polling results. Exit-interviews are considered very reliable since they adk who did you just vote vote for? This time overwhelmingly people lied. They did not vote for the women candidate but said they did. Democratic politics put a premium on electing women. So the political correct easy way out was to lie. The actual results overwhelmingly favored Losi Pine opponent Tom Reilly.
This shows that even exit intviews can be grossly misleading due to political correct factors.

False responses are definately happening in this poll.

This poll supports the opinion that we have a very poorly catechized generation. The Jesuits and others in education are failing. America Magazine, the Jesuits and all involved in the teaching the Catholic Faith need to ensure that people understand the basics such as how does one rightly form their conscience.

Actually, Joe, the Jesuits are among the few in education that have encouraged the right formation of conscience as opposed to blind obedience and loyalty.  My guess is that the 53% polled who supported the voice of conscience were Jesuit-educated.

Yes,Susan,
The Jesuits are stimulating.  I remember a fellow graduate of our Jesuit College now University saying he thought he'd be a lot happier if the Jesuits hadn't taught him about what was most important in life.  If we'd received our education from the local secular technology powerhouse, our worlds might have been quite simpler.  Dang them Jesuits.  Teaching us to think AND care at the same time.