But they didn't keep control over the sexual lives of lay Catholics. The lay Catholics simply ignored them. I don't think I ever heard a sermon on contraception and I'm an old man. 
Most Catholics never wanted to be involved in development of doctrine or anything else. They just want to go to Mass on Sunday and get on with their busy lives. True, there are those who do want involvement and make themselves known in publications like this one but they are a tiny minority.
I remember in my parish immediately after Vatican II, the ones who got involved were mostly liberal professionals, teachers, social workers and the like. The old men who took the collection still took it but played no further part in the running of the parish, read no lessons or distributed Communion, that was the privilege of the better educated elite.