A survey of Catholic opinion is to be undertaken to inform the Synod of Bishops which will meet in 2014 to discuss “the pastoral challenges of the family.” As it happens, I recently carried out extensive surveys of Catholic opinion in Britain, so can supply some of the information the Church is seeking.

I carried out three separate surveys in January and June 2013. Two are representative of adults aged 18+ in Great Britain excluding Northern Ireland. Each was completed by over 4,000 people including 350 Catholics in the first and 260 in the second. They were supplemented by a third survey completed by a nationally-representative sample of 1,062 Catholics. The research was generously funded by two of the UK’s research councils, designed by myself, and administered by YouGov. The first two surveys are available on the Westminster Faith Debates website.

When it comes to sex, British Catholics take a very positive view. Almost three-quarters say it’s important for a fulfilled life, compared to 68% of the general population.  The fact that only 7% of Catholics disagree suggests that traditional teachings about the value of celibacy may have been largely abandoned. Catholics also depart from church teaching when it comes to contraception: only 9% say they’d feel guilty using it, and 12% of regular churchgoers.

Nevertheless, few Catholics approve of “sex without limits.” Three-quarters think that sex has too high a profile in today’s society, and two-thirds say they’d feel guilty if they used pornography. Although pre-marital sex has ceased to be something about which most Catholics would feel guilty (only one in five would), two-thirds say they’d feel guilt about extra-marital sex (compared with 88% of Baptists, who are more guilt-prone than other Christians on most of these issues).

Catholics are positive about the institution of the family, yet Catholic views of what constitutes a family are now very broad. Marriage has ceased to be an essential element of the family in most Catholic minds, with only a quarter disapproving of unmarried couples raising children. Almost 90% agree that an unmarried couple with children is a family and that a single parent household constitutes a family, and over half think the same about childless unmarried couples. When it comes to gay and lesbian couples, two-thirds of Catholics believe that a same-sex couple with children is a family, and almost half say the same of a same-sex couple without children. Over a third of Catholics disapprove of same-sex couples raising children, which is slightly higher than the general population.

Turning to the topic of women, most Catholics are in favour of equality between the sexes and critical of their Church’s stance. Only 10% of Catholics, whether practising or not, say that religions would be worse off if they had women leaders including bishops, and 61% think women are as well suited to the role as men. Eighty per cent are opposed to any kind of gender segregation in religious and other contexts, which is lower than the population and other Christians, but higher than Muslims at 15% and Jews at 50%. Only about one in five Catholics approve of their Church’s policies on women, and less than a third of churchgoers. The greatest supporters of the Catholic Church’s official stance on women are practising Muslims; one third approve.

Catholics are also out of sympathy with the Church’s opposition to abortion, as Table 1 reveals. Age is a major factor here, with double the number of over-60s supporting a ban compared with under-40s (31% to 17%). Regular attenders are also more likely to support a ban, with 28% of those under 40 supporting a ban and 40% wanting to keep or relax the current law. Interestingly, 60% of Catholics and 44% of the general population agree that human life begins at conception, but that does not translate directly into anti-abortion attitudes.

Table 1: attitudes to abortion

On same-sex marriage attitudes are more mixed. Table 2 shows that Catholics as a whole are in favour of allowing it by a slim margin.  Amongst churchgoers, however, there is a small margin against. Attitudes vary enormously by age, with each generation becoming more favourable. However, the fact that Catholics think same-sex marriage should be allowed does not necessarily mean they think it is right. Yet again age makes the crucial difference, with Catholic under-40s thinking same-sex marriage is right by a margin of 29%, and over-40s that it is wrong by a margin of 63%. Under-40s who are regular churchgoers think it is wrong by a margin of 26%, and 22% “don’t know.”

Table 2: attitudes to same-sex marriage

What these findings show is that most Catholics under 40 now have a very different sexual ethic from their leaders. The Church’s official teachings still have a good level of support amongst over-60s, plus that of a minority of churchgoers including some younger people. Taking into account the age trend, support for Catholic teaching is declining rapidly.

This rift runs right through the Catholic Church itself, isolating a minority who hold fast to the current official teaching from a minority who do not. This is one reason that only 42% of Catholics say they view the Church as a positive force in society. When those who take a negative view of the Church are asked their reasons, the most cited amongst both Catholics and non-Catholics is that it “discriminates against women and gay people.”

This is not a dispute between faithful Christians and unfaithful ones, but between two groups who read the same scriptures, honour the same tradition, and pray to the same God but come to different conclusions about sexual morality.

A version of this post first appeared in The Tablet on 8^th November 2013