ONLY 21 per cent of Catholics follow the teaching of their church when it comes to making "serious moral decisions", compared to 78 per cent who follow their own consciences, according to the latest Irish Times/MRBI opinion poll.
A similarly low percentage, 27 per cent of those polled, believe that "the great majority of people in Ireland will still practise Catholicism in 20 years time". Sixty nine per cent think that "in 20 years time Ireland will be Catholic in name, but only a minority will be practising their Catholicism".
Sixty six per cent of those polled said they attended Mass at least once a week, compared to 79 per cent who said they attended weekly Mass five years ago, and 85 per cent who said they attended weekly Mass 10 years ago.
Weekly Mass attendance falls to just over 50 per cent in Dublin, 46 per cent among unemployed people and 41 per cent among 18-24 year olds.
The poll was conducted among a national quota sample of 1,000 people at 100 sampling points throughout the State on December 5th and 6th. Ninety two per cent of those polled said they were Catholic, approximately the same proportion as the national 1991 census figure. The questions about Catholicism were put only to Catholics.
These figures appear to confirm the impression of many people inside and outside the Catholic Church that both the authority of the church and attendance at Mass have been adversely affected by the scandals of the past five years.
These have included the affair of Bishop Eamonn Casey and his teenage son in 1992; the Brendan Smyth case and many other clerical child sex abuse cases and controversies; and the treatment of Bishop Brendan Comiskey in a US alcoholism clinic while questions were asked about his handling of clerical sex abuse allegations.
This decline in church authority and Mass attendance is highlighted by comparisons with polls taken between 1988 and 1990. Last month the Catholic sociologist, Father Micheal Mac Greil, published a study of Irish attitudes in 1988-89. This found that 81.6 per cent of Catholics went to Mass at least once a week, continuing a tradition dating from the middle of the 19th century which had made Ireland one of the world's most faithful Catholic countries.
Father Mac Greil also found that 69 per cent of people resident in Dublin city and county went to Mass at least weekly, as did 78 per cent of 18-20 year olds and 71 pear cent of 21-35 year olds.
His findings were borne out by a 1990 Europeans Values survey which showed 85 per cent of respondents attending Mass at least weekly.