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CINCINNATI, February 16, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Catholic archbishop is among those who have spoken out about the sadistic movie “Fifty Shades of Grey which debuted over the weekend, breaking box office records. The Cincinnati prelate posted a message on Facebook, warning the faithful against falling for the controversial film’s duplicitous marketing.

“The story line is presented as a romance; however, the underlying theme is that bondage, dominance, and sadomasochism are normal and pleasurable,” Archbishop Dennis Schnurr said. “The movie is a direct assault on Christian marriage and on the moral and spiritual strength of God’s people.”

The archbishop wrote to his pastors February 4 and also took to the archdiocese’s Facebook page with a February 10 post on the film’s harmful message.

“In the story line, a young Miss Steele is urged to sign a contract becoming a sex slave and agreeing to an abusive and degrading relationship,” he said. “This movie is in direct contrast to the Christian message of God’s design for self-giving and self-sacrificing love, marriage and sexual intimacy.”

“We need to inform our people about the destructive message of this movie,” said Archbishop Schnurr. “And to highlight the beauty of God’s design for loving relationships between a husband and wife in the bond of marriage.”

“Fifty Shades of Grey” has met with opposition from diverse corners, with social conservatives and feminists alike calling the film’s producers out for its theme of domestic abuse of women passed off as romance. Many have called for a boycott of the film.

The U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops was also critical of the movie’s promotion of a degrading sexual relationship.

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“This is an opportunity for us to remind the faithful of the beauty of the Church’s teaching on the gift of sexual intimacy in marriage, the great dignity of women, and the moral reprehensibility of all domestic violence and sexual exploitation,” Buffalo Bishop Richard Malone wrote to the nation’s Catholic bishops as chair of their Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth.

The USCCB is offering a constructive alternative to the demeaning message of “Fifty Shades of Grey” with its “50 Hues of Holiness” initiative, which contains 50 passages from either Scripture or USCCB resources on light, marriage and love.

Archbishop Schnurr is one of several individual bishops all taking additional steps to speak up about “Fifty Shades of Grey”.

He endorsed a statement by the Religious Alliance Against Pornography (RAAP), according to a Catholic Herald report, which had been signed by Kansas City Archbishop Joseph Naumann, Arlington Bishop Paul Loverde and San Francisco Archbishop Emeritus George Niederauer.

“The contrast between the message of 'Fifty Shades of Grey' and God’s design for self-giving and self-sacrificing love, marriage and sexual intimacy could not be greater,” the RAAP statement said. “The books and the movie undermine everything that we believe as members of the faith community.”

San Angelo Bishop Michael Sis endorsed the RAAP effort as well and said in a February 10 opinion piece that pornography is not a victimless vice but undermines marriages, impedes the capability for healthy relationships, harms work productivity, and “preys on human frailty and wounds.”

El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz communicated to the people of his diocese in a column that he wasn’t going to tell them they may not go to see “Fifty Shades of Grey”.

“I’m just going to tell you to do so would be a sin,” said Bishop Seitz.