Has it ever to occurred to you that the R.C.C would still be hale and hearty in the U.S of A (and most of the Western World) if they modified their views on Gender and Sexuality while cracking down hard on sexually abusive clergy and Religious?
Vatican II was great and all but it didn’t go far enough.
Also; The latest wave of Immigrants includes a TON of Latinx from Latin American countries, where Roman Catholicism is still a pretty big thing. A good chunk of them are still Catholics.
Finally; Those Irish, Italians & Germans got the same scrutiny as today’s Latinx, Asians, Mid-Easterners, Somalis, etc. back in the day (especially the Irish & Italians….whereas the Germans was more related to who we were at war with at the time).
Sometimes those historic old ethnicity-related churches close down due to demographic changes. I could tell you a story about one church in particular in Buffalo, N.Y…..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Transfiguration,_Buffalo
….Say “Hello” to the Church of the Transfiguration. Once a thriving Roman Catholic Church in the city’s East Side. The East Side was once the Polish & German section of the city and most living there were practicing Roman Catholics.
Then all those Roman Catholic Poles and Germans moved out to the Suburbs and the new, African-American demographic moved in and Blacks in the U.S.A tend to be mostly Protestants, Evangelicals, Muslims, etc. NOT Catholics.
Since nobody was going to the Catholic Church for Catholic worship in all it’s Catholicy-ness….the place eventually ran out of money and had to close. This once-magnificent architectural treasure has been an empty, crumbling shell ever since.
You want to know why people are turning away from organized religion?
YOU FRUMMIES ARE KILLING IT! YOU DINKS CARE MORE ABOUT POLICING OTHER’S ENTERTAINMENT AND SEX LIVES AND BEING JUDGEMENTAL AND BIGOTED CONTROL FREAKS RATHER THAN PREACH LOVE, FORGIVENESS, CHARITY, KINDNESS, PEACE!
When Churches focused on kindness and charity and accepted science and human rights, they thrived! When they focused on decrying WHAT COUNTED….genuine ills like hatred, violence, poverty, hunger, discord (rather than harmless things like dancing, LGBTQs, women in pants, pop-culture, different human ethnicities)….they mostly did well.
The Roman Catholic church INSISTED on having Celibacy be mandatory (despite the Bible being chill with married clergy).
The Roman Catholic Church INSISTED on keeping contraception off-limits (which could curb all those needs for abortion) while also doing the same for masturbation (which would provide an outlet for sexual frustration for those trying to be chaste)!
The Roman Catholic Church INSISTED on keeping The Priesthood a sausage-fest!
The Roman Catholic Church saw SEXUAL ABUSE as a minor vice and….rather than instantly defrock the offending Clergy/Religious and send them to the Can, they got a slap on the wrist and sent to another parish to offend, again!
Had the Roman Catholic Church allowed a celibacy-optional priesthood that anyone could join and had a healthier view of sexuality, there wouldn’t be both a priest shortage AND the church wouldn’t be a magnet for Kiddo-Grabbers. What a better place for an Anilophile to hide than in plain sight….and surrounded by young Altar-Servers!
Conservative & Frummy religion shoots itself in the foot. The only houses of worship worth going to are the Moderate/Progressive ones….at least they tend to CARE about being Christ-like!