At Enlightened Catholicism, Colleen has a post on the Prop 8 ruling and Catholic reaction which used an entirely appropriate picture to illustrate the response of the Catholic bishops:
Catholic orthodoxy teaches that the bishops are their to lead the church. The language we use is filled with the imagery of the shepherd, directly and indirectly, as in "pastor", "pastoral" work, and "flock" and the bishops crook is derived from the shepherd's. In practice however, on the big issues in secular life, far too often it is the bishops who follow the people, and not the other way around. John Boswell showed this clearly for same - sex relationships, showing how the changing degree of official hostility following changing levels of public intolerance,for homosexuals, Jews and gypsies alike. The same is true of other areas where the church has changed it's teaching.
From my own experience, I know that was certainly true in South Africa. The Catholic Church came to play an important and honourable part in campaigning for an end to apartheid, and in easing the path to transition. Some bishops were prominent voices speaking up for justice (notably Archbishop Denis Hurley of Durban), but the Bishops' Conference collectively did not lead the Church in the campaign - they responded, quite late, to intense pressure from ordinary (Black) Catholics. Opening up Catholic schools to all races was an important early move in the destruction of social segregation, but that was not initiated by the bishops. That came from the religious sisters who ran the schools, acting in defiance of secular law and the bishops' timidity.
Going back further in history, slavery is another area where the leadership of the Catholic Church for many years was complicit in slavery and the slave trade, and did not condemn it unambiguously until secular opinion had turned firmly against it. A passing reference to the Church and slavery in the comments thread at a National Catholic Reporter post on the Prop 8 decision, brought this response, from Joseph Jaglowicz:
