The issue seems fairly similar to what is going on in many Protestant churches. They tailor the services toward what they think the people not attending want, and ignore and demonize those attending who desire a more traditional service. The powers to be think if they can just provide better entertainment, a more upbeat message, more people will come.
The existing traditional attendees, many who might disagree, are labeled with a bunch of derogatory terms. Repentance and obedience lessons are applied only to those who question the leaders’ plans. They do want the traditionalists’ money, however, to implement their mighty growth plans. Many of the traditionalists are discouraged, but continue to reluctantly to come. All, the while the churches lose attendance and can’t figure out why.
I have seem church leaders focus on making the distribution of their members match the community as opposed to ministering to their flock. Churches seem to have gotten away from taking care of their sheep. If they take care of their sheep, it seems to me you will end up with more sheep. Does it matter what the makeup of the sheep are?
I am not a Catholic, but have been tempted (perhaps not the best word) the last six months to start attending a TLM service once a month. It seems like it could be a good place to reflect. I would not go to be entertained. It is a fairly long distance, so I have resisted.
Another aspect of it ... the TLM is very un-worldly. It's a lot of ancient music and ancient prayers in a dead language. It's vestments that look like nothing anyone wears on the street. It's incense and sometimes just reverent silence.
Done well, in an appropriate venue, it's like a time machine that has dropped you in 12th century Europe (without needed to worry about lice or smallpox!) for an hour and a half a week. Know what? Many people like the idea of a religious experience that takes them out of the modern world for awhile. They consider it refreshing. It's like a little foretaste of heaven, which is exactly what it's supposed to be.
In walks Vatican II, with the idea that the liturgy needs to be "inculturated" (why? what happened to the idea that Christians are only visitors in this foreign country, this "vale of tears" as the prayer calls it? maybe I want to be made ready for the "culture" of heaven and pulled away from the culture of earth?) and made "relevant" so we can "actively participate" in it. And out goes the idea of the liturgy as some spiritually-refreshing escape from the world for 90 minutes a week.
The story goes that, when the pagan Russians sent out emissaries to see what religion they should adopt, their emissaries came back from Constantinople and said, "We knew not whether we were in Heaven or on Earth… We only know that God dwells there among the people".
Note: They didn't care whether it was "inculturated" or "relevant" ...