"Similarly, if the Catholic Church were to introduce more lay involvement in decision-making tomorrow, the immediate consequence would be a rightward lurch in the consequent decisions."

Oh, the horrors!  So it is not so much that the laity would be involved in decision-making, but rather that some decisions may have a rightward bent.  What a crock of BS.  

I noticed in the litany of education and training of priests mentioned by the author, not one iota of training in the business side of  operating a parish (which is in some  effects the equivalent of running  a small business), nor training in dealing with employees and teachers, nor in the intricacies of running a budget.  Fine, let the clergy  make the spiritual decisions, but don't give them dictatorial powers with respect to corporeal ones.