Humor about Catholicism

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The Catholic Church has been a subject for humor, from the time of the Reformation to the present day. Such humor ranges from mild burlesque to vicious satirical attacks. Catholic clergy and lay organizations such as the Catholic League monitor for particularly offensive and derogatory incidences and voice their objections and protests.

Examples of fairly mild burlesque of the Church in the twentieth century include material by humourists such as the Irish comedian Dave Allen and the comedy show Father Ted.

Dave Allen was the host of several comedy series broadcast on UK TV from the 1960's to the 1990's. The most controversial was called Dave Allen at Large, which broadcast 1971-79 on UK TV. The programmes consisted of an introductory standup routine by Allen leading to handsomely mounted sketches that continued on the themes touched on in the opening monologue. The comedian's trademark debunking of religious, especially Catholic, ritual throughout each episode made for minor controversy which, coupled with some quite frank material, earned the show a somewhat risqué reputation. His later comedy series continued in the same vein and included such material as a sketch showing the Pope (played by Allen) doing a striptease.

The Father Ted show, broadcast on UK TV 1993-98, follows the exploits of three Roman Catholic priests who preside over a parish on Craggy Island off the Irish coast. The reasons for their exile, which are hinted at across several episodes, appear to stem from a mixture of incompetence and embarrassing conduct: Father McGuire due to his incompetence (with particular regard to 'the Blackrock Incident', which is never further elaborated on); Father Hackett because of his alcoholism and implied womanising, which caused severe embarrassment to the Catholic Church; and Father Crilly for alleged financial impropriety. Ted still insists he was innocent, regularly claiming that "the money was just resting in my account", and that it was "a perfectly legitimate monetary transfer". Their superior Bishop Brennan also has skeletons in his closet. In one episode it is revealed that he has a mistress and a son. This satirical shaft seems to refer to the real-life scandal surrounding Eamon Casey, former Bishop of Galway, whose domestic circumstances were similar to Bishop Brennan's.

More astringent anti-clericalism was provided by the Spanish film director Luis Buñuel who was a fierce critic of what he perceived to be the pretension and hypocrisy of the Roman Catholic Church. Many of his most (in)famous films demonstrate this:

Un chien andalou (1929) -- A man drags pianos, upon which are piled several priests, among other things.

L'Age D'Or (1930) -- A bishop is thrown out a window, and in the final scene one of the culprits of the 120 days of Sodom by Marquis de Sade is portrayed by an actor dressed in a way that he would be recognized as Jesus.

Ensayo de un crimen (1955) -- A man dreams of murdering his wife while she's praying in bed dressed all in white.

Simon Of The Desert (1965) -- The devil tempts the saint by taking the form of a naughty, bare-breasted little girl singing and showing off her legs. At the end of the film, the saint abandons his ascetic life to hang out in a jazz club.

Nazarin (1959) -- The pious lead character wreaks ruin through his attempts at charity.

Viridiana (1961) -- A well-meaning young nun tries unsuccessfully to help the poor.

The Milky Way (1969) -- Two men travel the ancient pilgrimage road to Santiago de Compostela and meet embodiments of various heresies along the way. One dreams of anarchists shooting the Pope.

Satire of the Church has sometimes roused opposition by Catholic organisations. The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights condemned the Bloody Mary episode of South Park for its treatment of the Virgin Mary. They demanded an apology to Roman Catholics and that the episode "be permanently retired and not be made available on DVD." In particular, they also demanded that Joseph A. Califano, Jr., a member of Viacom's (the parent of Comedy Central) board of directors and a practicing Catholic, issue his own statement of condemnation.^[1]

Califano did later release a statement calling the episode an "appalling and disgusting portrayal of the Virgin Mary," and pledged to have it reviewed by Viacom's president and CEO, Tom Freston. Bishop William Skylstad, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, sent a letter to Freston saying the network showed "extreme insensitivity" when it aired the episode.^[2] When Comedy Central re-aired all the episodes from South Park's Fall 2005 season on December 28, 2005, "Bloody Mary" was noticeably absent from the broadcast. Comedy Central responded to e-mail inquiries about the fate of the episode with the assurance that "Bloody Mary" has not been retired and would not be pulled from the DVD release.^[3] However, still missing are screen captures from the episode on Comedy Central's press site and the South Park section of comedycentral.com.^[4]

Traditional fears about the Roman Catholic Church in general and the Spanish Inquisition in particular were burlesqued by Monty Python in their Spanish Inquistion sketch.

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