CathInfo.com

The most comprehensive was the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium) because, as the U.S. Constitution did for the United States, it provided Catholics a basic understanding of how the Church defined itself. Among its stunning conclusions: Roman Catholicism no longer insisted that it was the “one true church,” and clergy and hierarchy ceased ranking above the laity. Baptism was the ticket that admitted all Catholics equally to the Church as the “people of God”; it was similar to the rights conferred by citizenship in democracies. Other distinctions in the Church, such as ordination, important as they might be, were to be considered secondary to that godly peoplehood. Of most significance to nuns was the startling claim about what it meant to be holy. The bishops scuttled the idea that some (primarily nuns, priests, and bishops) should aim to be holy while most laity need not bother. In its place, they insisted that holiness is the responsibility of every Catholic. Precisely this pursuit of holiness had elevated nuns and priests to a level above that of the laity. Now the mystique was threatened. A single phrase had ended a virtual monopoly.

I was introduced to a book recently that equated pre-VII popes to modern feminists for their mutual role in belittling the vocation of motherhood.

 after Vatican II (teaching sisters down 94%, much worse than priestly vocations!