I enjoy seeing the bishops stick it to Kerry last year; however, now I'm thinking that the whole thing was unwise. It hurt the Church by injecting it into U.S. politics, and I don't think that it helped Bush. Bush was already going to get the very conservative, Opus Dei people to vote for him just as they did in 2000; his gains among more moderate Catholics, people who might go to Church but sometimes ignore Catholic teachings, and among Hispanic Catholics are what put him over the top.
It hurt the Church by injecting it into U.S. politics
Evidence that the Church is hurt? Any available?
Doesn't conflicting messages from nominal Catholics who are political leaders that they are "good catholics" while opposing clear doctrine of the Church hurt more?
Do you have some reference for this conspiratorial conservative Opus Dei reference? Are they like Neo-cons? Where do we find more about these dangerous conservative Catholics?
Every church has the right to speak out about public policy affecting the common good especially when it involves the taking of innocent human life.