Did the Spirit of Vatican II make the Church more 'Adult'

In the late 70's and 80's the voice of the 'mature' Catholic was heard in the Diocese.  The Pre-Vatican Church became the subject of derision - what with the priest turning his back on the people and mumbling in Latin, people at Mass doing their private devotions because they did not understand the Mass, good people being judged and condemned for their sins, and of course children being terrorised by teachers constantly telling them they were going to Hell.  Gee, we should be down on our knees thanking all those good people who got us out of that mess.   I suppose I do not remember that Church of my Youth because I have some mental condition that bars the memory.  And I also have this false idea of religious education where the teachers told us stories of the Saints, taught us the catechism and we learned this off by heart and I can tell you that in later life I am really thankful for that.   There were many times when the ability to quote that catechism was really useful.   Take Limbo which is no longer taught by the Church.  Was this the Church changing its teaching?   WHAT IS LIMBO.  "Limbo is a place of rest where the souls of the just who died before Christ were detained".    Did  you notice there was no mention of unbaptised babies.  But I would add that babies should be baptised as soon as possible because of the graces that they receive.  We were read stories from the Old Testament  and knew the history of Adam and Eve, Moses and many moreYes, the catechism did mention Hell but it was a very small part of whole catechism.   We were taken round to forty hours Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and on Sunday there was a Childrens' Mass where a teacher led us through and explained the different parts of the Mass as they happened and we sang beautiful devotional hymns.   The Scriptures were read to us in English after the priest had read them in Latin and we were then given a sermon on them by the priest.  The Church was a place of silence not just in respect to the Blessed Sacrament but the Church was a place of prayer and this was respected.  This culture taught children not to speak in Church.   That is the Church I remember.

Let us compare this to what happened during the imposition of the Spirit of Vatican II.

Devotions were attacked mercilessly.   Hymns for Holy Communion wee changed to communal ones,  Jesus Thou Art Coming was replaced by Bind Us Together.   Teaching the Real Presence was dismissed - the children were too young - they could only be taught what they could understand.  Maybe it is a small mercy they only kept this mentality to religion.    One year the ruling junta tried to stop girls wearing white dresses but Thank God the parents rebelled.   We were introduced to the idea that Jesus told us to chew the bread so a particular kind of communion bread was ordered that could help us.    In one parish it was unilaterally decided  that the correct age for receiving Communion was eight so seven year olds were denied in that parish.  So we have the anomaly of two 7 year olds going to the altar and one receiving because he came from a neighbouring parish.   Attempts were made to drop the Hail Mary at the bidding prayers.  After attempts at General Absolution a new kind of Confession was thought up that allowed a queue to form in front of the altar, each penitent to come forward and say they were sorry for their sins and they were forgiven.   What a mockery   And remember the Church was being run by experts.    A local lady vicar was invited onto the altar during Mass to sit there and then read the Gospel.   Following a document published in Rome about the presence of the Tabernacle being removed to a side altar in Cathedrals and other Churches of pubic interest it was decided that this also applied to local parish Churches and many tabernacles were removed, some to a place of some dignity but others to a place where it was neglected.    There was an attack on kneeling and altar rails were removed and at least one Church was built with no kneelers at all even in the seats.   At the Cathedral if you visited the Blessed Sacrament there was no chairs or kneelers and you had to kneel on a stone cold floor.   I refuse to speak on the state of church music.

Let me tell you that the pre-vatican II church because of its honesty and intention and the lack of intolerance was vastly sperior and served the children better than the Church of today.