Packing the Pews

Deal W. Hudson in Crisis reviews Exodus: Why Americans Are Fleeing Liberal Churches for Conservative Christianity by Dave Shiflett, concluding

Father [C. J.] McCloskey is quoted in the final chapter saying that only 10 percent of Catholics are "with the program"--attending Mass regularly and embracing Church teachings--a pessimism that concurs with the views of Finke and Stark. Shiflett documents what happens when a religious denomination gives up its core beliefs: loss of membership and dispiritedness. If the Catholic Church is not going to go the way of the other mainline denominations, then we have got to do better than 10 percent.