The Church hierarchy was mired in doctrinal and moral confusion all through the JP2 papacy. Weigel's attempt to whitewash his hero John Paul "the Great" is pathetic.
Also, the idea of blaming Church problems on society is backward. Christians are supposed to the leaven of society.
That's exactly the point of the article. Some Church leaders allowed society at-large to dictate morality instead of Church doctrine. The author points out that it was the influence of the Left that caused these problems. Now the Left blames the Church for being too conservative.
I can't argue with some of the knee-jerk Catholic haters here though on the point that Bishops were derelict in their duty to remove abusive priests. But even before that point, the Church relaxed its views on allowing homosexual priests. They made the problem by shunning doctrine, then failed to correct their mistakes through the 70's and 80's. It's tough to tell, but I believe the conservative resurgence in the Church is setting things right.