On the other hand, what do you mean by "dying"?
Do not mistake your expectations/subjective views of the world for reality. They tend to differ. For everybody. Me too.
With the churches/religion dying I mean that atheists are the fastest growing 'camp' concerning religion. The catholic church might not die within the next 5 years, but I'm pretty sure will fade into non-existence. Every statement about the future is speculation of course.
Muslims are often serious about their religion (encouraging converts) and they actually procreate.
A small percentage of educated Catholics (through birth) care about the medieval doctrines of old men in the Vatican, and very few live by them.
The media frenzy about the forthcoming elections of a new CEO give the wrong impression that all this is a truly important occasion.
...it doesn't have to be this way! Educated, healthy and secure individuals also need a form of "socialized spirituality", but there is no good product on the market for them. If traditional religions like Catholicism would start marketing themselves to the "educated, healthy and secure", I believe they could even have some success. Granted, their "product" is not for this market, but it might be more flexible than they think. Historically speaking, Christianity has been quite a flexible "religious product", they even had "soldier monks that killed for God" in the time of the crusades, and although this backfired a bit (ok, more than a bit...), it showed that the Christian faith is at its core very flexible and adaptable. (disclaimer: I'm not promoting any personal view here, I'm personally more in the market for "far eastern spiritual goods" than flavors of Christianity...)
From my early childhood on, it's one of these things that made me doubt if I'm even part of the same species as most people. I remember a vivid discussion with the local priest about why I stopped coming to bible class (I had only been there once or twice because my parents thought I was missing out on something). The guy said the problem was not that I was rejecting his faith in particular, what made him think I was really sick and disturbed was the fact that I didn't see why anyone would have a religion at all.
On the other hand, if you read a little history, Crhistianity was prime for extincion much more than today in the first and second centuries (ever heard of Gnosticism? That ruled in those days, that was the 'real knowledge')...
In any case, do not let other people's prejudices conform your thoughts. It is bad for your health.
Your premises are faulty. But that's a lengthy and tedious discussion, probably not suitable for this post.
Instead, I invite you to visit your local parish with an open mind, celebrate Mass. I suggest you'll find not ignorance or fear but knowledge and joy.
Also: coffee and donuts afterwards.
The decision not to meet with the singing priest was not entirely "bad business" because by condoning clergy who perform pop-star renditions of the Mass you isolate the many more conventional Catholics who prefer some solemnity in their liturgy, and find such shows disrespectful to a sacred institution. There have been many such abuses since the Novus Ordo Mass began and Benedict had been trying to tighten up on them.
Although the author seems to be suggesting that the Vatican start a bank for the sake of humor, there actually is a Vatican Bank, the Institute for Works of Religion. (Edit: I misread)
The lifespan of your average publicly traded company is what .. a decade?
Advising the Vatican to change everything based on the listed problems is like telling Bezos he needs to overhaul Amazon based on shenanigans that happened yesterday.
This might be the right thing to do. Or it might not be. Mr. Bezos would be advised to study the matter for a few days before taking action.
"It is no exaggeration to say that for decades (if not centuries) the Vatican has met the formal definition of a criminal organization, devoted not to gambling, prostitution, drugs, or any other venial sin, but to the sexual enslavement of children."
The essay from which this is extracted is worth reading: http://www.samharris.org/site/full_text/brin
