To Conscience first, and to the Pope (long) afterwards? British Catholics and their attitudes towards morality and structural issues concerning the Catholic Church

Background The attitudes of Catholics in Britain have undergone significant liberalisation on social moral issues across recent decades, whilst the reputation of the Catholic Church has suffered due to public opposition to its traditional teachings on such issues. But there has been comparatively little recent scholarly investigation into British Catholics’ views on these debates using surveys specifically aimed at this religious community. Purpose This article examines the sources of attitudinal heterogeneity amongst Catholics in Britain on core debates affecting the Catholic Church. The aims are to examine, firstly, which groups within the British Catholic Community are more likely to conform to or to dissent from the Church’s teachings and, secondly, whether the socio-demographic and religious correlates of attitudes vary across different types of issue. Methods This article uses a new, nationally representative survey of Catholic adults (in terms of age, sex, and region) in Britain (n=1,823). The survey is used to examine the sources of variation in Catholics’ attitudes towards a range of issues relating to the Roman Catholic Church. These issues relate to the priesthood, personal morality, and sinful behaviours. OLS models are used to assesses the relative impact of socio-demographic, religious socialisation, and religious commitment variables. Results The findings demonstrate that gender and generational group form important dividing lines within the British Catholic community. Women and post-Vatican II Catholics are much more liberal in their views. Different manifestations of religious commitment are associated with Catholics’ attitudes in consistent ways across issues. Greater commitment is always associated with support for the traditional teachings of the Church. Conclusions and implications By exploring of the sources of attitudinal heterogeneity among Catholics, much light is shed on both the internal dynamics of ‘Britain’s largest minority’, and thus on contemporary British religion in general. We conclude by discussing the potential effects of increasing ‘nonversion’ for interpreting religious statistics – a topic, like much else in this paper, of relevance beyond the denominational and geographical confines of its explicit focus.