I certainly meant no slander and am sorry you interpreted my remarks that way. BUT, I don’t know how anyone can deny that the RCC, at least in the USA, went mighty quiet as the social tsunami of the late 60s forward swept the land, and did not use its power to influence at least its own members. It wasn’t just the RCC, it was all the mainline Protestant churches as well. All of which gave rise to the evangelical movement.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops exerted little to no influence, they were so busy turning altars around, bringing in folk music, yada yada yada. Why they didn’t clamp down on CINO politicians from Day One is beyond me. Kennedy/Biden/Pelosi/Durbin/Kerry .. all of them ... should have been excommunicated the day they announced their support for ‘a woman’s right to choose.’ But, oh, no. They are still well received among the Church hierarchy, with maybe a wrist slap from time to time.
Have you noticed what’s happened in “Catholic” colleges? Those were the former machines that drove Catholic thought in the USA; today they are no different from public colleges, and some are worse.
I would love nothing better than to see the RCC return to its theological roots.
Tribalism was one reason. Cardinal Cushing in Boston was an Irishman first and a Catholic second. That's why he kissed Kennedy behinds for decades.