[patent]

He himself recognized the Novus Ordo as a huge mistake--Mass attendance declined in a single year after it was instituted, from 74% of all Catholics, to 60%. (Gallup.) The number is now down to 17% and still dropping like a stone annually.

Got a link to these numbers? They look fishy.

Not only that, but they ignore the fact that Mass attendance started dropping before the Novus Ordo in 1970, not when it was introduced.

Further, any sociologist would tell you that you can’t attribute a sociological shift to one variable changing when the fact is that in society hundreds of variables were all changing at the same time. It just isn’t logical or rational, but its done.

patent  +AMDG

[sinkspur]

Your eminences (patent, sitetest, Polycarp, and even ole Catholicguy) are doing yeoman's work here. I've spent the last three hours on this thread (between some business calls). Oh, and bookmarked it.

Carry on.

[ultima ratio]

True, they dropped when the word first got out that the old Mass would be superceded. They dropped from around 80% to 74%. Then when the Novus Ordo hit the parishes, the bottom fell out. It's been downhill ever since. It's now around 17%.