You are absolutely right that it all changed after Vatican II. My mom was catechised in Vatican I, I was a child in 2nd grade when Vatican II happened. When it changed from latin, it all got a lot less mysterious.
Maybe the catechists were really confused for my 13 years. Or maybe I always had trouble believing that my friend was going to hell because she wasn’t a Catholic.
Father Kennedy said leadership selection in the Catholic Church was "a very incestuous process and it starts from Rome", adding it would never change "until the people regain the right to elect their bishops".
The people never had the right to elect their bishops ... Fr. Kennedy has a very distorted idea of Church history. Does Fr. Kennedy also think that doctrine should be put to the vote?
Father Kennedy described the Catholic church as being "caught in doctrine and dogma still".
Oh, yes, that dreadful doctrine and dogma. Yes, Fr. Kennedy, Catholic believe certain things. It's what makes us Catholic. You're NOT free to make it up as you go along, and still be a Catholic. If you can't handle the doctrine and dogma, go elsewhere. Calling yourself "Catholic" is dishonest.
What changed was the "pastoral counseling" that the leaders in the Church inflicted on the faithful, not the Doctrines. As you probably have seen, many left the Church after wards because it was no longer recognizable as it was previously. "Why" was always the question I had during the entire time I went through the RCIA 10 years ago. I never got a straight answer out of them.
You bring up an excellent point. Vatican II is completely contradictory to what was established infallibly in Vatican I, the Council of Trent, the Council of Florence, and the Council of Constantine. Nothing was pronounced infallibly as doctrine in Vatican II, Paul VI made this clear.
Yet, the result was a rampant overtake by liberalism, communism, and yes, freemasonry (A. Bugnini, the "author" of the novus ordo liturgy, was found to have freemasonry ties by Paul VI, and was dealt with accordingly.) Many Bishops spoke out in protest, but they were the in the minority. The damage, however was done, as Paul VI himself acknowledged, "The Smoke of Satan has entererd the Sanctuary."
All I can say, and wish for you, Jilliane, is do your reading. Pray your Rosary daily. Read everything you can about how the history of the Church evolved. Including past councils, what was pronounced, the heresies (the Aryan heresies lasted for 400 years!), and what has transpired. Truth never changes, not from day 1 after Christ established our Church. When we have priests, bishops, ect...today preach what is directly contradictory to what was always held as Truth as established by Christ's established Church on earth, then what have we?
May God bless you and keep you.
The Church does not teach that people are going to hell if they are not Catholic.
Did you have ANY catechesis?