Most people feel the Catholic Church has mismanaged the issue of child sexual abuse, while fewer than half trust it to handle problems with its clergy, according to a new survey.
The research also shows a low level of trust in the Church's ability to safeguard children entrusted to its care, and a significant degree of intolerance towards clerical abusers.
The study comes as the Minister for Justice considers the establishment of a statutory national inquiry to investigate all clerical sex abuse allegations. It is understood that the Minister, Mr McDowell, hopes to be in a position to bring proposals for a national inquiry, which would require legislation, before the Cabinet in the next two weeks.
The telephone survey of 1,081 mostly Catholic adults was carried out from January to May.
The findings are part of an ongoing three-part study commissioned by the Bishops' Committee on Child Protection to consider the Church's management of the issue of child sexual abuse. The study is being conducted by Prof Hannah McGee, Prof Ciaran O'Boyle and Ms Helen Goode of the Health Services Research Centre at the department of psychology, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.The research sample was randomly selected and its gender balance and age profile are similar to those of the general adult population.
According to the survey, only a third of people say they look to the Church to provide guidance on issues of sexuality, yet two-thirds still look to priests for moral leadership.
More than a third (36 per cent) said cases of clerical sex abuse have negatively affected their religious practices, including reducing Mass attendance and praying.
However, faith in God remains high overall, with most people seeing the Church and priests as better or the same as in the past.
The survey finds that 74 per cent of people are opposed to the requirement that priests be celibate, with only 17 per cent favouring it.
Some 92 per cent of those surveyed said a priest who abused children should not be allowed to return to the ministry, with only 6 per cent saying he should.
Some 94 per cent of people told researchers they believed the Church has been damaged as a result of clerical sexual abuse of children. Of those who agreed that damage had been done to the Church, over half felt it was permanent, while 38 per cent did not.
The screening of a BBC documentary halfway through the survey last Easter about the late Wexford paedophile priest Sean Fortune had a significant negative impact on attitudes. Some 53 per cent of those questioned before the publicity surrounding the Suing the Pope programme said they trusted the Church to take care of problems with its clergy. However, this dropped to 33 per cent after the programme.
Yesterday, Mr McDowell met the Survivors of Child Abuse Group (SOCA) and the Rape Crisis Centre at part of his deliberagtions on the options open to him on a national inquiry. SOCA's spokesman said the group was very encouraged by the Minister's assurances that the State would not be subservient in its tackling of the clerical sex abuse issue.