Council or Encyclical?

Abstract

There has been substantial decline in most indicators of Roman Catholic attitude and orthodoxy and religious devotion during the last ten years. Most commentators have attributed this change to a negative impact of the liberalization of the Second Vatican Council; but an analysis of time series data collected in 1963 and 1974 indicates that, far from having a negative effect on Catholic devotion and values, the Council had a positive effect. The decline in Catholic orthodoxy and devotion seems rather to be associated with the changing Catholic sexual ethic and changing attitudes on the teaching authority of the pope. Thus, it would seem that of the two major events of the 1960's the birth control encyclical, Humane Vitae, is associated with a negative dynamic in the Church, and the Vatican Council with a positive dynamic. Decline in Catholic devotion and orthodoxy is a result of the fact that the negative dynamic is stronger than the