Catholicism in Gotham Is Shrinking

New York began receiving popes half a century ago, when Paul VI spent 14 hours here on October 4, 1965, inaugurating what is now the tradition of the Holy Father as apostolic world traveler and media rock star; for those too young to remember the fanfare that greeted Paul at Yankee Stadium, it has been darkly memorialized as background chatter in the movie Rosemaryâ??s Baby. John Paul II came to New York twice (1979, 1995), Benedict XVI once (2008). Expect Francis to generate the usual crowds and cheer during his day and a half in the city. He lands at JFK this afternoon. Papal celebrity makes great copy, but donâ??t mistake it for an indicator of support for the Catholic Church. After Francis departs for Philadelphia on Saturday morning, New Yorkers will go back to their business, to the Mets and the Jets, to the Giants and Bombers. True, love for the Church as the mystical body of Christ cannot be quantified, but support for the institutional Church, the society that gives concrete expression to the Catholic faith, can. Look around and count. By most measures, Catholicism in Gotham is shrinking.