One can be as urgent as one wants, but that doesn’t mean one can make powerful men do what they don’t want to do. The USCCB is a power bloc, and its leaders, like many of the leaders in the Vatican itself , were liberals. The apostolic delegate had been busily packing the episcopate with soulmates, so Bernardin had the votes. John Paul faced similar situations everywhere. Pius X only pushed modernism underground and V2 gave it its opportunity to emerge in force. Myself, it has only been in the last 20 years that I have come to see what ruin has been done in the name of its “spirit.”
John Paul II appointed most of the current bishops (at least by the time he had died); the buck stops there.
The USCCB is a paper tiger in terms of power, which is why Obama doesn’t fear them; I’d like to see how many voters they can pull from the “D” column with this current battle. The majority of Americans listened to their bishops as long as the path to salvation was wide; I’m curious to see how this shakes out.