Irish Times Poll: 67% Support Gay Marriage - Along With More Signs of Catholic Church European Melt Down

Ireland was once considered a bastion of Roman Catholicism and the Irish people suffered greatly for their allegiance to the Church of Roman. Now, the Catholic Church is fast losing all moral authority in Ireland - and rightfully so given the moral bankruptcy of the Church hierarchy - and the Irish populace seems to care less about the constant anti-gay screeds issuing from the Vatican and Papa Ratzi. This has been confirmed by a new Irish Times poll that reflects that 67% of respondents support same sex marriage - something that is anathema to Rome. Frankly, there are no signs that the Church's free fall is about to halt any time soon. But Ireland is not the only European nation where the Church's toxic anti-equality influence is waning. In Scotland, the Scotsman reports that the expected crowd for Papa Ratzi's scheduled mass in Glasgow is a quarter of what greeted Pope Paul II (who we all now know was less than saintly and protected sexual predator Marcial Maceil Degollado) in 1982. Then there's Belgium where Time reports a similar downward spiral for an institution that turned a blind eye to the sexual abuse of children and youth on a global basis. Do I feel any pity for the Catholic Church? None whatsoever. First highlights from the Irish Times:
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JUST OVER two-thirds of people (67 per cent) believe gay couples should be allowed to marry, according to an Irish Times /Behaviour Attitudes social poll. It is one of a series of findings in a poll on “sex, sin and society” that indicates Irish people have adopted a more liberal attitude towards personal relationships and sexual behaviour.
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In addition showing strong support for gay marriage, a significant majority (60 per cent) also believe civil partnerships for gay couples will not undermine the institution of marriage. A large majority (91 per cent) also say they would not think less of a person if they revealed they were gay or lesbian. These numbers are consistently high across most age groups, as well as in urban and rural areas.
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The findings also indicate there is a growing consensus that living together before marriage is likely to result in a more stable marriage. A majority (57 per cent) believe cohabitation is a positive development. This view is reflected consistently across most age groups.
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Even higher numbers (79 per cent) do not regard sex before marriage as immoral. When broken down by religion, most Catholics – again, 79 per cent – did not see anything wrong with the practice.
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The apparent decline of the Church in Scotland is likewise significant. These highlights from The Scotsman:
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ONLY 65,000 Catholics are now expected to take part in the papal mass in Scotland tomorrow – one third fewer than originally expected and a mere fraction of the total number in the country.
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The Catholic Church denied that the controversy over the Pope's handling of the Church's child abuse scandal has undermined his imminent arrival. But critics of the visit claimed the figures revealed the extent of indifference towards the first visit by a Pope to Scotland for 28 years. The Catholic Church says more than 250,000 attended the mass in Bellahouston Park when Pope John Paul II visited in 1982.
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And lastly from Time these highlights on the continued fall out from the Church's reprehensible enabling and cover up of sexual abuse by priests over the decades:
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In the past few months, harrowing tales have emerged from almost every congregation in the country about priests raping and assaulting young parishioners. . . . Acknowledging the scale of the scandal, the head of the church in Belgium, Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard, vowed to do more to help the victims, collaborate further with law enforcement and punish the abusers.
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But abuse victims immediately slammed his pledges as vague and evasive. They pointed out that the church has yet to show how it will find and punish abusive priests. They also said there is no indication the church is ready to give the police and courts full rein in investigating and prosecuting abuse allegations within the clergy.
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"The reforms are smoke and mirrors," says Barbara Blaine, president of the Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), who flew to Brussels to hear Léonard's announcement. "These are bare-minimum, begrudging steps. Hundreds or thousands were raped and sodomized by priests, and the church has been covering it up for decades. But nothing that the bishops have offered gives us any hope that they will change."
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Ringlet suggests the church's inability to relate to real-life concerns partly explains its fading influence. While three-quarters of Belgians describe themselves as Catholic, churchgoing has slipped drastically in recent decades: 42.9% of Catholics said they attended Sunday Mass in 1967, but that figure plummeted to 7% by 2006. And the recent rash of awful headlines is only likely to speed the decline.