[AlbionGirl]

, it is all too apparent that the decline in key aspects of the Catholic Church in the U.S. were due, directly and indirectly, to the zeitgeist: specifically, the Cultural/Sexual Revolution of the 1960s, which had its roots in the Enlightenment. Essentially, the corrupt clergy and laity in the Church have been infected, to varying degrees, by the very worst elements of society. Of course, this is no way absolves their misbehavior and, in some cases, outright criminal activity. If anything, they should know better. Everything considered, however, it makes more sense to blame the crisis in the Church on the widespread cultural and moral decay instead of on Vatican II itself.

You know, you would think these people were the first to fall prey to the very worst elements of society, the way it's being protrayed here.

The 60s crowd was no less inately moral than any generation that preceeded it. It was afforded a greater opportunity to chase the immoral because everyone had a lot of time on their hands, that previously had to be used for mere existence or subsitence. That was part and parcel of this great economic expansion.

Had the Church remained firm in her committment to tell it like it is, always with open arms for her prodigal children, perhaps when the hippies came back to her after they'd taken their share of the fortune, wandered far, wide and dissatisfied, and found the Open Arms of the same Father, the current seemingly irreparable ditch could have been avoided. But you can't tell bureaucratic eggheads anything.

[sassbox]

***The 60s crowd was no less inately moral than any generation that preceeded it. It was afforded a greater opportunity to chase the immoral because everyone had a lot of time on their hands, that previously had to be used for mere existence or subsitence. That was part and parcel of this great economic expansion.***

This is an excellent point. So often in discussions about the sorry state of the Church or society at large, people tend to idealize previous generations as more moral than we are. But people are people and have always sinned (or wanted to). It has simply become more easier to commit certain sins these days.