Is the Church Likely to Shrink--and Should It?

In his June 21, 2005 e-letter, prominent Catholic apologist Karl Keating has his own shortest way with dissenters.

But what if Pope Benedict issued a decree, couched in the plain and traditional language of infallible teachings, saying that it is now and always will be impossible to ordain women, take it or leave it?

The problem with this perfect squelch approach to apologetics is that nobody's perfect.

In fact the proclamation of a dogma as a single principle by the Pope "ex cathedra" is the latest and lowest way of forming dogma.
--Joseph Ratzinger, Introduction to Christianity (1970) p. 212, n. 52

As to the main questions, is the Church likely to shrink? Where it is shrinking, I'll guess it's likely to continue for the immediate future. Should shrinking be policy? No.