Vatican II and the spirit of the age did empower people to leave who had a crisis is certainty, which is too bad because being overly certain is not good for the Church. I am sure many had very pious reasons for joining the religious life and realized they made a mistake and the loosening of things let them correct that. The old Catholic Church which asserted religious power more than religious freedom waned a bit and that was not a bad thing. This was never intended to be a Catholic nation, although it can be with renewal, but you won't like it.