An illustration of the way in which the Church has been emasculated over the last half century is the fact that there is still no resounding mandate from the leaders of the Church here in the United States to make sure that Catholics know their obligation in regard to the support of the culture of life.  We are a mealy-mouthed bunch of girly boys.

There was a time when the bishops even had the Hollywood hooligans quaking in their boots.  By wielding its “threat of condemnation” the American bishops’ Legion of Decency “effectively censored films.”  Film producers would send the reviewers of the Legion copies of films before release and then make adjustments afterward in order to avoid a bad rating.

Not only did Hollywood quake, but Catholics were eager to follow their shepherds.  Here is the Legion’s oath which many Catholics devotedly took:

I wish to join the Legion of Decency, which condemns vile and unwholesome moving pictures. I unite with all who protest against them as a grave menace to youth, to home life, to country and to religion. I condemn absolutely those salacious motion pictures which, with other degrading agencies, are corrupting public morals and promoting a sex mania in our land. … Considering these evils, I hereby promise to remain away from all motion pictures except those which do not offend decency and Christian morality.

Can you imagine?  Now what is the state of Hollywood?  Remember the Golden Compass and Catholic reviewers behaved as thought their faith really had nothing to do with their role as “Catholic” reviewers?

Anyway, Archbishop Chaput has taken Douglass Kmiec and the other devotees of the anti-Messiah to task for their delusional support of the Candidate of Abortion.  Think about it.  Once upon a time, bishops were not afraid of telling catholic they shouldn’t watch girly movies.  Now we tip-toe ever so softly when we suggest that Catholics should not support baby killing.

“To suggest—as some Catholics do—that Senator Obama is this year’s ‘real’ pro-life candidate requires a peculiar kind of self-hypnosis, or moral confusion, or worse,” Chaput said according to his prepared remarks, titled “Little Murders.”

The Obama campaign has been promoting an unusual-suspect sort of endorsement from Douglas Kmiec, a Catholic law professor and former legal counsel in the Reagan administration.

Kmiec wrote a book making a Catholic case for Obama. He argues the Obama campaign is premised on Catholic social teaching like care for working families and the poor and foreign policy premised on peace over war. Democratic efforts to tackle social and economic factors that contribute to abortion hold more promise, Kmiec said, than Republican efforts to criminalize it.

While applauding Kmiec’s past record, Chaput said: “I think his activism for Senator Barack Obama, and the work of Democratic-friendly groups like Catholics United and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, have done a disservice to the church, confused the natural priorities of Catholic social teaching, undermined the progress pro-lifers have made, and provided an excuse for some Catholics to abandon the abortion issue instead of fighting within their parties and at the ballot box to protect the unborn.”

Pro-Obama Catholics “seek to contextualize, demote and then counterbalance the evil of abortion with other important but less foundational social issues,” said Chaput, who wrote a book this year, “Render Unto Caesar,” about Catholics and politics.

Why has it not been made more plain.  Voting for Obama is a mortal sin. Plain and simple.