text: Exactly.  It took me a few years to accept the evidence that was right before me -- that John Paul was systematically deconstructing the post-Vatican II structures for collegiality; that he was applying a strict "orthodoxy" test (narrowly understood) for bishops; that pastoral experience was not valued in candidates for bishop.  The result was not only a conservative make-over of the episcopacy, but also a preponderance of bishops who did not and constitutionally could not think creatively or pastorally: "go along to get along was the rule."  John Paul was elected in 1978; by 1988 I had come to believe that I would not live long enough to see the damage he was inflicting undone.  And I probably won't -- except that I also didn't expect to live long enough to see a pope like Francis.  
  The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops morphed into something very much like the Conference of Republican bishops. It will take a long time to undo that damage.