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Some of these deviates were indeed ordained prior to VII, but virtually none of their activity seems to have occurred until several years after it, in the 1970s.

I think what happened was that an enormous "sexualization" of society occurred at the same time that the Church had been fatally weakened in its liturgy, prayer and practice by VatII. The Church was not only unable to resist it, but in fact even went running after it to hop onto the bandwagon. At the same time, many of the older clergy, including bishops, had no idea of how to respond to this situation, which was something they would never have dreamed of in their wildest imaginings.

A Franciscan priest friend who had been ordained just after WWII and had lived a very happy life in an urban friary told us that suddenly, one day in the 1970s, a team of psychologists came from provincial headquarters to give the friars a "retreat," in which they were told that homosexuality was normal, priests were supposed to "express themselves," and that for those who didn't have any special friends with whom to "express themselves," masturbation was a good solution. He lived in great misery at that friary for a few more years, while the younger brothers padded up and down the hallways at night, visiting their "special friends," and then finally retired to a friary with other shocked and horrified elderly brothers.

Evil has always been around, and there have always been corrupt people in the Church, at all levels. But VII somehow gave these people permission to act, and in fact, almost encouraged them to act.

Perhaps the real problem with pre-Vatican II Catholicism is that we were too confident that all of the problems had been overcome, and all that remained was a bit of work to improve music in the churches, make old Fr. McGillicuddy stop trying to get through the entire Mass in 12 minutes, and encourage Catholics to cease feeling that they were somehow still in the status of immigrants in America. Vatican II knocked the pins out from under us, and we didn't know it until it was too late.

Just a thought, but perhaps the brothers padding around at nite, were not really evil?

Paul Shanley was raping boys in the 1950s.

And he has made the accusation that he was raped by a predecessor (as Cardinal Archbishop) of O'Connor and Medeiros, meaning either Spellman (NY) or Cushing (Boston).

There is still much to learn.