The US bishops are clearly allowed to speak out on issues; they are simply prohibited from endorsing a candidate (unless they are “black pastors”). These bishops need to get the message out long before early voting starts...
Of course they are, and they all know that.
This was just a Dem attempt to intimidate. “Catholics United” is a front group set up by the Democratic party to attack the Church and make it sound vaguely official.
I would imagine every pastor in the country received one of these letters, or certainly those in “battleground states.”
I live in Florida, so we have been the target of intimidation both of the Church and of GOP voters, many of whom have received fraudulent letters pretending to be from the local election board telling them that there was a problem with their registration and they couldn’t vote.
Sadly, I think it’s worked, and while our bishop (in my diocese) is very good and strong, some of the pastors have been saying they’re not allowed to state the Church’s firm positions because it might reflect negatively on one of the candidates, and we all know which candidate that is. So the Dems have had some success with their intimidation.