Eating meat on Friday, prior to 1966, was a mortal sin.
So is attending Mass on Holy Days of Obligation, and the bishops are moving those around now at will.
I see a big difference between those and a pastoral practice like bowing or genuflecting.
? I haven't been to a standing room only Mass since I was a kid. Empty seats all around, now.
You've got Churches on every street corner in the Northeast. We've got parishes here in Texas, where I live, that are bursting at the seams, at every Mass.
One priest serving a parish of 7000 families is not unheard of.
We have a married priest leading a parish about 25 miles from me. His parish can't support him so he "tag teams" with another parish and gets financial help from the archdiocese.
The financial excuse is the last refuge for opposition to married priests.
People, especially Americans, tend to pay for what they get. Protestants support their clergy well if they are well served by them.
Catholics are cheapskates; we're used to people who live in poverty serving us.