Here's the thing: If the Church had not had to deal with bishops and priests who have worked to weaken the Church from within for decades, you would not see the numbers leaving the Church from then till now.
The lack of nuts-and-bolts catechetical instruction (including scriptural), the loss of reverence in the liturgy, and those who, like Reese, wanted, and got, "flexibility" have left generations of Catholics unsure of what they believe. You may think it's a blessing. I think it's a tragedy.
And regarding your seeming lack of interest in whether he's a liberal: Liberals are only detested in news/activism. On the religion forum they're useful tools to some.
My point is that people are smearing him-not refuting the statistics. It's like a liberal saying the jobless rate is over 8% and the solution is to spend more money. No one would quibble with the stats. However the solution is all wrong.
Catholics here have admitted the Church has "been weaken". Is anyone going to refute the stats? Yet I don't hear they trying to do anything about it.