Did the Catholic sex scandals change the political projectory of Massachusetts?

[Vice President Christian Man]

Massachusetts is one of the most Dem states and also much more secularized than it was even 20 years ago. Had the sex scandals never happened and Catholicism never decreased, do you believe that Massachusetts would be as Dem-leaning or would social issues lead to a type of realignment that led to a Rep increase in neighboring states such as RI and eastern CT?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I don't think they made it more or less Democratic, but they changed the internal culture of the state Democratic Party from an old-school machine with a significant socially conservative element to a party where the views of someone like Ted Kennedy or for that matter Elizabeth Warren were more the norm than the exception. Absent the scandals the state's political behavior probably looks more like that of, say, Hawaii, at least as far as highly ideologized issues are concerned. I voted for the first option because it's the closest to what actually happened, but none are exact fits.

[King of Kensington]

I think it's made Mass less religious and a decrease in Catholic identification.