I don't think they worry about that since they'll always have a huge following. And I think this has more to do with the Catholic Church's stand on contraception and abortions.

I don't believe it's that simple.

You have Catholic numbers dropping like a rock in America in the wake of the scandals and etc. This whole new "Catholics Come Home!" ad campaign isn't cheap and isn't typical of them.

You have the European birth rate going negative. You have growth markets like Asia starting to level off. Where are you going to get growth from? The Church's stance on contraception and abortions is directly tied to make sure there are enough money-donating catholics around to keep the machine going.

Don't forget that the "religiosity" in the countries that are the historic home of the church is also very poor. You go into a Cathedral or Basilica during mass in most places in Europe and all you find are old ladies. Basically, the home base of the Church has abandoned the Church.

Coincidentally those places are also technologically and philosophically sophisticated, places that do care about the future by definition. Yet they also tend to have low birthrates. The Church is simply taking advantage of these two situations in a campaign to explain a short term (though sizable) economic blip which is already reasonably explainable in ways that don't conform to the obvious ideological footprint the Church is trying to fit all this into and for all appearances looks to already be on the upswing anyways.

Some extra data from my hometown:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/graphic/2010-02/52176728...

Attendance has been falling since 2001. No visible correlation to economic conditions.