It makes sense to me that older people would have more problems with changes in the organization than younger people. I am only slightly younger than this group, I find making changes is harder than it used to be, when you like something you dont want to give it up, you want things to stay the same.
They have had more time with the organization as it used to be, now they are expected to junk all that and accept this shiny new organization, It must be very distressing. The religion they believed in doesn't really exist anymore. It's kind of sad though because the fact that the religion has morphed into this slick new marketing engine proves it was never the truth in the first place. But that is probably not something they could get their head around.
I feel bad for them.