A dearth of pointers to growth and renewal

I HAVE been most intrested recently to read the final document issued at the Rome Synod. This sets out certain deficiencies and difficulties since the Second Vatican Council. For example secularisation and an over-emphasis on the material rather than the spiritual aspects of life. The document also speaks at several points of the fruits of the Council: "Unanimously we have celebrated the Second Vatican Council as a grace of God and a gift of the Holy Spirit, from which have come forth many spiritual fruits for the universal Church_ and the particular Churches', as well as for the men of our time" (I, 2).
. great fruits have been obtained from the Council" (I, 3).
". . . in this area of the world the fruits of the Council abound" (I, 3).
I cannot for the life of me think what these good fruits might be. On the contrary, since the end of the Second Vatican Council well nigh 70,000 priests have abandoned their vocations and 50,000 nuns have left their convents. In addition, millions of Catholics throughout the world no longer practise their faith. None of this is mentioned in the final documents.
We read of joyful liturgical renewal, yet attendances at Mass are down catastrophically since the Second Vatican Council. There has been a 70 per cent decline in France and Holland, 50 per cent in Italy and 30 per cent in the United States.
As for England and Wales, over half a million Catholics have ceased to attend Mass in a period in which the Catholic population has increased by some 400,000.
The Bishops keep telling us we are in the midst of growth and renewal. Is it too much to ask one of them to set out some solid evidence of this.
John Beaumont
Leeds