Journalist Writes Open Letter to Papal Visit Planners

Catholic journalist Russell Shaw has penned an interesting essay in preparation for the pope's visit. In "Please Look Behind the Bishops' Potemkin Village: An Open Letter to the Planners of Pope Benedict's Pastoral Visit to the U.S." published by Catholic World Report, Shaw doesn't hold back, but draws attention to some of the problematic issues facing the Catholic Church in America in an effort to avoid what he describes as the "happy talk version of American Catholicism," and present a more realistic view.

In the essay, Shaw cites several startling statistics to suggest that all is not well. They include: the decline in Sunday Mass attendance from 75 to 30 percent; the decline in priests from 59,000 in 1965 to 42,000 today; the decline in religious women from 180,000 to 64,000; the fall in Catholic marriages from 426,000 in 1970 to 200,000 last year; and perhaps most shocking, that as many as half a million Catholic young people skip the sacrament of confirmation.