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asked Alex Murphy to check into it

Good. I meant to ask him to check into me, too :)

The country may be at a point, or close to a point, when subsidiarity is plain impossible unless we wangle ourselves some kind of relic status like the Amish. Observe:

Catholic schools are losing their Catholic identity on one end, exemptions as religious institutions on the other. Obamacare is just the start, expect the government taking control over the curriculum as well.
Catholic communities like Ave Maria in Florida appear unable to institute an effective local government, free from abortion, porn and contraception.
The destruction of the manufacturing base has made it impossible to maintain a working class single provider family, while the tax laws make parents with students in private schools pay double for their children's education. A child in public school gets no useful education past Junior High, but plenty of indoctrination by the Left.
Any scandal, legitimate or not, concerning exploitation of children in a closed religious community shall lead to a raid by the federal forces, destruction of the community, and a powerful disincentive to join a similar one.
As secularization of culture morphs into hostility to religion, youth with talent will face a choice between their faith and their career. Some will put their faith into closet, others simply lose it, some will foreclose on their achievements, and everyone will get hurt.

An inward closure may not be an option for the American Catholics.

An inward closure may not be an option for the American Catholics."

What the government would do doesn't really matter. The majority of Catholics and all other Christians in this country had already made it clear they'd rather hang separately than yield enough personal sovereignty to hang together with anyone for any reason.