Poll says abuse scandal now impacts US Catholics less than 2002 crisis

Bishops and Catholic Church leaders should be lookinig at their antagonists and seeing that they've played all their trumps.

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The current clergy abuse scandal in Europe has not had the same impact on the U.S. Catholic Church as the 2002 reports of clergy abuse that focused on U.S. priests and bishops, according to a new poll.

The New York Times/CBS News poll -- released May 4 -- shows that U.S. Catholics view the current wave of scandals as a "far-off storm" that has had "no effect" on Mass attendance, financial contributions or parish participation.

Many of the Catholic respondents in the telephone poll conducted April 30-May 2 said they have seen a change in how the church is handling the abuse crisis. The poll questioned 1,079 randomly selected adults and included 412 Catholics.

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