The Church in the U.S. has gone through a rough patch created by trendy 60s/70s bishops who didn't adhere to the faith and thought they could create a "new church" that would be basically Unitarians with fancy vestments and do all the cool social justice stuff. They used VCII as an excuse to do this. The result was not the howling success they hoped for - it resulted in a huge drop in Mass attendance and vocations. A certain notoriously liberal diocese didn't have a seminarian for 10 years. After all, if the Church is only about fellowship and social justice, that's more easily done without getting involved in the Church.
The good news is that the trend is turning around with a return to the core beliefs of Catholicism (amazing - be what you are with all your might, don't try to be something else, and they will come.)
Now: a word to the wise.
I don't hang around on the Calvinist or Dispensational or Evangelical threads just to give people a hard time.
Being unable to live and let live is the province of the rabid 'progressive' busybodies (see, Memories Pizza, Hugo Awards, etc. etc.)
We understand that you dislike the Catholic faith and apparently believe its adherents to be hell-bound. Good for you. Take it someplace else.
I think the Pharisees said something like that about Jesus. They didn't like Him coming around either.
Great post. I appreciate your thoughts.