Exclusive: Development and Peace approval rating at just 10%

Due to the high interest in our previous research regarding the approval rating of Fr. Rosica, Catholic Dialogue conducted an exhaustive enumeration of online articles related to the Development and Peace scandal.

The results show that only 10.1% of articles expressing an opinion on the issue were supportive of Development and Peace (D&P).  The remaining 89.9% were critical of D&P.  That's a staggering result.  In a democracy, you can rarely get 89.9% of the people to agree on anything.

For the purposes of this enumeration, the articles published by the two main opposing parties of the debate were excluded.  That meant leaving out close to 100 articles published by LifeSiteNews.com.  It also meant excluding articles by D&P, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) or individual dioceses (note: the number of articles from LifeSiteNews far exceeds the number of articles published by D&P, the CCCB or individual dioceses).  The enumeration was also limited to articles published between March 12, 2009 (when the first story about the scandal broke) and October 11, 2009.  Finally, only Christian sources were considered, almost all of which were Catholic.  This left more than 230 articles being published by parties that were not directly involved in the dispute.  

The overwhelming disapproval rate for D&P is a serious challenge that the bishops must address at their Plenary next week in Cornwall.  The vast majority of these articles were written by educated Catholics, some of them being clergy members, who applied fundamental moral teachings of the Church to the mounds of evidence compiled about D&P's partners. These are not renegades, schismatics or "ultraconservatives" (whatever that means).  They are mainstream Catholics who care deeply about the health of their Church.

Let's pray that the CCCB rolls up their sleeves next week and makes some major reforms to D&P.


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