Priests say Church out of touch on family planning

In spite of the Vatican’s stance, two thirds of priests here believe the availability of contraception is very important to their parishioners and three quarters admit the Catholic Church’s stance on family planning is not accepted.

The figure emerged in a survey by the Association of Catholic Priests on the Church’s teachings around family life. Overall, that survey found that the church hierarchy is extremely out of touch with the lives of even traditional, church-going Catholics, according to ACP founder Tony Flannery.

“Those who participated consider the Church’s teaching on family life, sexual practice, and sexual unions to be little understood, not relevant, of low influence and not agreed with, whether understood or not,” the ACP said.