AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS’ MARITAL STATUS ON THEIR CREDIBILITY AS PUBLIC SPEAKERS AS PERCEIVED BY THE STUDENTS OF A ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOOL

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Jose Carlo G de Pano

Abstract

Considering the fact that the Roman Catholic faith does not allow its priests to get married or engage in any form of sexual relationship, this study aimed to determine if the credibility of married Roman Catholic priests as public speakers was lower compared with that of the unmarried ones. Aristotle’s Modes of Persuasion served as the theoretical framework of the study. The Source Credibility Measure(s) devised by McCroskey and Teven (1999) was utilized to quantify the priests’ credibility. Forty-two (42) students in a Roman Catholic school were asked to participate in the experiment. They were divided into two groups. The first group was instructed to rate the credibility of the “unmarried priest” while the second group assessed the credibility of the “married priest.” The first phase of the experiment, which aimed to determine the initial credibility of the priests, was administered three days before conducting the second, which intended to measure the terminal credibility. This was done because the questionnaires that were used to measure both levels of credibility were exactly the same. Results showed that the credibility of both priests was perceived positively. However, statistical tests proved that the difference between the credibility of the unmarried and married priests as public speakers was significant. Meaning, despite the fact that they were both perceived to be credible public speakers, the unmarried priest was considered to be more credible.


Keywords: Credibility, Initial Ethos,Terminal Ethos, Roman Catholic priests, Competence, Trustworthiness, Goodwill

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