THE TIMES POLL: ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS AND NUNS SPEAK OUT : Voices and Reactions

“Sometimes my church does not respect the sincerity of Catholics who disagree with church teachings after genuine soul-searching and prayer. Such people are made to feel disloyal. That is a cause of great pain in people’s lives. . . . “

--A 42-year-old priest from the North

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“There exists in the Roman Catholic Church too much pick-and-choose Catholicism. To be considered Catholic, one must accept all that the church teaches.”

--A 29-year-old priest from the Midwest.

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“Our culture and our society make it very difficult for people to remain married today. Someone might object that the churches aren’t giving them the support they need. Not true! Our anti-religious culture does not give them the support they need.”

--A 63-year-old priest from the Midwest.

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“I am not afraid of the church’s future in the United States, and the main reason is this: Our Catholic laity are beginning to assume the ownership of the church that is rightfully theirs. To be an active priest for more than four decades is to know the Holy Spirit operates everywhere--even in California.”

--A 69-year-old priest from the North.

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“Our church leadership keeps secrets, fears dissent . . . . The only thing that prompts me to remain a priest is that the people in the pews are also fed up with Rome and bishops appointed by Rome. They’re not children and they refuse to be treated as such. They give me hope.”

--A 48-year-old priest from the South

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“I think because the number of priests has declined, many of us are becoming nothing but sacramental machines. I hate to see priesthood come to this. We are ordained to be ministers of word and sacrament, to be with the people, not just show up, do a sacrament for them and then leave them until next week.”

--A 34-year-old priest from the Midwest

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“We have a serious shortage of priests. Maybe the solution to the problem is let those priests who left and married return to priestly ministry (and) allow married men to be ordained. . . . I feel women are going to extremes in agitating for ordination to the priesthood.”

--A 76-year-old nun from the Midwest

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“What the church and the clergy need most is not married clergy or lax moral codes. The church needs the affirmation of the people. Clergy need the support of the faithful. Society is often the cause of demoralizing the clergy.”

--A 58-year-old priest from the North

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“If a Divine Lord founded a church, it cannot be a democratic institution because you just don’t get democratic with the Divinity. He did not found a debating society. We obey or we take the consequences.”

-- A 74-year-old priest from the Midwest

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“The big problem with the church is that it is not customer-oriented. So many priests, nuns and lay apostles act like postal clerks instead of car salesmen. . . . I do not mean we should tailor the Gospel to modern tastes, but we have to have a welcoming stance toward sinners, which includes everyone.”

--A 70-year-old priest from the South

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“Priests should work 10 years, be married 10 years and study three years. We might know what we are talking about.”

--A 67-year-old priest from the North

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“Regarding sin, I must say that I don’t know what is a sin and what isn’t a sin anymore. I’ll just let God be the judge.”

--A 75-year-old nun from the West