The author pretty much admits the real problem, albeit unwittingly, when he writes, (in-between breathless admiration of the lax Catholic):
“That’s because ‘Catholics’ includes not just worshipers who attend Mass weekly and perhaps tilt in a more conservative direction but those who go less frequently and those for whom Catholicism is as much an ethnic as a religious identity.”
It’s clear: in his warped view of what the Church really is, basically anyone who calls themselves “Catholic” and “votes according to [his] conscience” is a “Catholic” and probably a better one than who goes to Mass weekly and (gasp) “tilt in a more conservative direction” than their cafeteria counterparts.
Any fool can see this is what happened in Ireland and what drives the “progressive Catholic” in any country. It’s a “Catholic” not grounded in his faith but one who lets his “conscience” (i.e., his subjective whims) rule his morality.
Any fool can see that but it’s truly a worse fool who claims such “Catholics” are honest and true representatives of the Faith.
That was silly.
Baptized members of the Catholic church, who know themselves as, and call themselves Catholic, are Catholics.