Groundbreaking Survey of U.S. Catholics Reveals Path to Restoring Eucharistic Belief

 

Today the Real Presence Coalition (RPC) announced the release of the findings of its survey of U.S. Catholics to the general public. The survey results can be found at https://realpresencecoalition.com/results/

In conjunction with the public release, the RPC also issued an open letter to U.S. bishops urging them to consider the survey’s findings as they proceed in their National Eucharistic Revival campaign.

“This is the single largest survey of Catholics ever undertaken in the United States,” said Vicki Yamasaki, spokesperson for the RPC.“Surveys from organizations such as Pew Research and Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) come nowhere close to the number of Catholics participating in this survey.”

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) launched a multi-year National Eucharistic Revival campaign in 2021 in response to a Pew Research study which revealed a majority of Catholics no longer believe in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.

“The Pew survey revealed a very concerning problem, and the RPC designed and initiated this survey to specifically get at the root cause of this problem and probe the question of why lay Catholics believe there has been a loss of faith in the Real Presence,” said Jim Hobart, a partner with Public Opinion Strategies (POS) who assisted in the survey effort.

The RPC survey revealed that the loss of faith in the Real Presence has been precipitated by a combination of factors, including

1) Receiving the Eucharist in the hand;

2) Scandal of offering the Eucharist to public sinners who reject Catholic teaching;

3) Lack of reverence on the part of both the laity and priests;

4) Lack of solid catechesis; and

5) Lost sense of the supernatural.

Survey respondents also offered a number of specific recommendations to U.S. bishops on how to restore belief in the Real Presence, including:

1) Encouraging the practice of receiving the Eucharist on the tongue while kneeling;

2) Catechizing the faithful;

3) Promoting greater reverence for the Eucharist;

3) Eliminating the use of Extraordinary Ministers;

4) Withholding the Eucharist from public sinners; and

5) Increasing Eucharistic events such as Adoration and Benedictions.

“The overall findings of this survey can be best summarized by ancient Latin maxim ‘lex orandi, lex credenda’” said John-Henry Westen, a RPC member.“There’s currently a disconnect between the way we worship and what we believe. There’s no single ‘silver bullet’ answer to solving this problem. An integrated, multifaceted approach will be required.”

“How will we know when there’s been a restoration of belief in the Real Presence?” asked Fr. Chad Ripperger, an RPC member.“When the line for confession is at least as long as the line for receiving the Eucharist.”

Public Opinion Strategies (POS) is a nationally recognized research firm that has conducted 25,000 research projects and 11 million interviews across 50 states.POS was engaged to assist in the survey design as well as the interpretation of its results.

The Real Presence Coalition (RPC) is an informal group of influential Catholics working to restore belief in Jesus Christ’s Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist. Its mission is to provide valuable input to U.S. bishops in their multi-year effort to restore belief in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.

The massive RPC survey resulted in nearly 16,000 responses with an 80% completion rate and generated more than 250,000 words of open-ended feedback.While the survey was open to all U.S. Catholics, those who responded could best be characterized as “highly engaged in their faith,” with over 97% of respondents attending Mass on at least a weekly basis.

The Real Presence Coalition urges the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to consider these findings as they work toward a Eucharistic Revival.The survey’s insights provide a roadmap for restoring faith in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.

NOTE: Public Opinion Strategies is available for interviews and consultations with individual bishops.

Please contact Vicki Yamasaki to make arrangements.

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