Archbishop Dolan: "Yes, a lot of Catholics are leaving the Church."

The archbishop of New York wonders, in his blog, if the Catholic Church should bring back the no-meat-on-Friday rule in order to stop the exodus of Catholics from his church.

While I agree with him that the church has been dishing out Catholic-lite rather than Catholic light for several decades, the exodus of believers is rooted in more than a nostalgia for the "Ancien Régime" of Catholicism. If he really wants to stop the stampede at the exits of St. Patrick's cathedral, he should consider ordaining women, married and openly gay priests. He should also admit that the priest pedophile scandal killed the confidence Catholics once had in the integrity of their pastors. That fact makes pondering meat on Friday a little bit like holding a bake sale to bolster the national economy.