About 12 years ago, I wrote a book titled "The Decline and Fall of the Catholic Church in America." In it I analyzed, from a sociological point of view, the shrinkage of the Catholic Church in America that had taken place since the end of the Second Vatican Council (1965). I argued that the council itself had played a relatively small, though not negligible, role in this shrinkage.
I predicted that the shrinkage -- which I regarded then and still regard today as a great tragedy, both for the Church and for American society generally -- would probably continue for the indefinite future; and as a result, Catholicism in the United States, which for a long time had been a great factor in our national life, would end up being a small “hole-in-the-corner” religion, a thing of no more than minor social importance.
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