Priest’s Sex Survey Finds That Catholics Have More Fun

You’ve read the books, seen the movies and heard the stand-up comics describe Catholic sexuality as a procession between the bedroom and the confessional.

Now hear the facts: Catholic sex is not an oxymoron, concludes sociologist and Catholic priest Andrew Greeley in his new book, “Sex: The Catholic Experience.”

Catholics have sex more often, approach sex more playfully and are more likely to enjoy sex than non-Catholics, Greeley contends. His book reviews survey data from 1989 to 1991 on Americans’ sexual behavior.

In fact, the data suggests those people looking to spend more time making love than falling asleep watching TV on the couch should consider Catholic spouses. In one survey of Protestants, more than 60% who were married to Catholic spouses reported having sex once a week or more. In comparison, 54% of Protestants married to Protestants and 40% of Protestants with Jewish spouses reported having sex with the same frequency.

Catholics “may well be repressed,” Greeley said in an interview. “The only point in my book is that they are less repressed than others.”

Greeley, senior director of the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, said the findings will burst a few bubbles. Both those people who desperately want to believe that Catholics suffer from terrible sexual inhibitions and church officials who continue to warn even married couples of the dangers of unbridled lust will be offended by the results, Greeley said.

But based on findings from surveys of more than 5,700 people, Greeley portrays a Catholic flock that is more sexually liberated than other groups. His findings on married Americans include:

* More than two-thirds of Catholics engage in sex at least once a week, compared to 56% of non-Catholics.

* Among older people, half of Catholics age 55 and older report having sex at least once a week, compared to 40% of others.

* Catholics also rate higher on “sexual playfulness” scales. For example, 30% of Catholics say they have purchased erotic undergarments either often or sometimes, compared to 20% of non-Catholics.

Even single Catholics are more sexually active than Protestants, Greeley says. Only one-third of single Catholic adults reported being chaste during the last year, compared to 43% of single Protestants.

Catholic liturgies, he said, appeal to the mind and the senses, an acknowledgment that worship encompasses the total being.

“That play to the whole person includes the sexual, and that is part of the Catholic experience,” he said.