Why is the Church in such sad shape today? I think the major blame has to be on the changes of the past 40 years. Although there were some positive changes, the overall effect of so much radical change was negative. When a people's language, customs, heritage, history and traditions are taken from them, and the people told these things that were a part of their heritage for many centuries were outdated or never any good, the result is devastating. Don’t take my word for it – go visit an Indian reservation. These people had all this taken from them over the course of centuries, for Catholics it has only been 40 years.