No need for anyone to wonder what it was like back when the Arian heresy dominated until it was finally swept away, we're in the same sort of crisis right now.
If human nature was the same then as it is now, it would appear that a great many of those who weren't swept along with with the heresy just gave up and went away since that seems to be the most common response to the current situation.
JMHo
I don’t think they are in charge. They are there, for sure, hiding like rats, but I think the Church as a whole went past that. I think that the sexual abuse scandal that the Left so diligently tried to exploit, actually inoculated the Church against the gays. That is because, no matter how hard they tried to make it a scandal about abuse of minors, it is really a scandal about homosexuality in the Church. They are on their way out.