I think some of them will be very accomodating, and I actually think this will be the beginning of a schism in the Church, which is what Obama has been angling for all along.
Many Catholics and some bishops would be very happy to go along with a “Patriotic Catholic Church” ala China, and I think one of Obama’s constant objectives in appearing in Catholic settings (Notre Dame, for example), particularly after he had made them adapt to his wishes (removing the crucifix), was to show his control over the Church and to make himself the focus even of religion in this country. Don’t forget, the guy is crazy, and he’ll be even crazier in the next four years.
But I think, aside from his nuttiness, there are many Catholics who either don’t know and don’t understand Catholic moral teachings - because the bishops have been silent on these things for more than 40 years now - and those who simply don’t care. However, some of these people like to go and sing Marty Haugen songs and feel they’re part of some warm fuzzy entity, and they will be the members of the Patriotic Catholic Church once Obama has peeled off a bishop or two to make it “legit.” That might not be that hard: don’t forget that, of all the English bishops at the time of Henry VIII, only ONE remained faithful to the Church, and of course, he got beheaded for it.
My bishop is very good and very firm, but many of the priests under him are very lax, not very smart, not very well educated about the Faith, and not very faithful to the Church. These are mostly the older priests, but unfortunately, they have shaped two generations of Catholics in their image.
And then there are the other bishops. My bishop had an excellent letter read from the pulpit (which, of course, some of his priests refused to do). But then the bishops as a group came out with a bland, neutral statement that said Catholics were supposed to weigh the positives of each candidate (such as, did they support programs that “helped the poor”) and that the teaching of the Church was to be only one factor in forming their conscience about this. In other words, it was ok to vote for somebody who was a rabid supporter of abortion and opponent of the Church as long as he supported government freebies for some amorphous group that the bishops always refer to as “the poor.”
Somebody needs to give these bishops a wake-up call.