BISHOPS' PRESIDENT BLASTS 'SOUTH PARK' EPISODE LAMPOONING MARY (Disgusting!)

Catholic News Service ^ | 12/19/2005 | Staff

[FerdieMurphy]

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The president of the U.S. bishops blasted a recent episode of the cable television comedy "South Park" that he said showed Mary in "a tasteless and ugly fashion."

In a Dec. 14 letter to Tom Freston, co-president and chief operating officer of Viacom International, parent company of Comedy Central, the cable channel that shows "South Park," Bishop William S. Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., said the channel showed "extreme insensitivity" in choosing to show the episode.

The episode, which first was shown Dec. 7 and had repeat showings in the week following, was titled "Bloody Mary." During the episode, a "South Park" character claims to have been sprayed with blood from a bodily orifice of a Virgin Mary statue.

When Pope Benedict XVI investigates in the show, he declares that she was merely menstruating. The episode's premiere date came the day before the feast of the Immaculate Conception, a holy day of obligation for Catholics.

[MeanWestTexan]

"Should Hell be capitalized?"

I would think it is the proper name for a geographic (in this context) location, so yes.

[rwfromkansas]

It is by grace ye are saved, not by works, let anyone could boast.

You are saved by grace, not by whether you watch South Park or not.

[republicofdavis]

"Do you have a South Park Dictionary of Witty Rejoinders or something?"

This from the guy calling people imbeciles?

[Howlin]

LOL!

I hear He's been so busy lately,

He probably just sits around wondering where all these PRIGS came from!

[yellowdoghunter]

uptight." That insult is straight out of the Sixties, launched by Timothy Leary and the rest

THAT IS IT!!! That is what my grandparents used to tell me. That people with traditional values were mocked, etc...and that is when our culture started to go downhill.

[KarlInOhio]

Them fancy words ain't 'ppreciated roun' here. This here street's for fightin' - not talkin'.

Seriously, thanks for that enlightening post in this whirlwind of namecalling.

[Howlin]

He?

[redrock]

"South Park" is NOT a child of the '60's....no matter what anyone wants to believe.

It is more a continuation of the comedy of the Marx Brothers....the Three Stooges....Monty Python.

Sometimes carried to a bit of an extreme...but nothing more. Plus...they poke fun at EVERYBODY.

You and I will NOT agree on the show...but in the end it is just a T.V.Show.

Which means that everyone has the ultimate 'conservative' control over the show...they can either watch it or turn it off.

....and I am still(STILL) just as conservative as ever....which puts me somewhere to the right of most.

Hope you had a Merry Christmas.

redrock

[Stone Mountain]

Does South Park ever make fun of the Holocaust or any other important Jewish subject? I suspect not -- as a rule, Hollywood blasphemes Christianity but not Judaism

You mean like having Cartman dress up like Hitler? Or when he made fun of (Jewish) friend Stan for not being able to concentrate and suggested that he perhaps go to a concentration camp? You mean like changing the words to the Dreidel song?

Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel
I made you out of clay
But I won't play with Dreidel
'Cause Dreidel's f***ing gay...

[churchillbuff]

No, I'm been criticizing people for LYING -- L Y I N G. """

Having been called out, you're now revising your remarks. In fact, you weren't criticizing people for "lying" but for being "uptight." The bishop who complained about the episode wasn't lying - nobody, including you, has suggested so -- but he was, according to the claim you've made against some of the posters who've defended him, committing the cardinal liberal sin of being "uptight."

[HairOfTheDog]

I don't follow this accusation. The show always shows Jesus in a positive light and Jesus always wins in his struggles against the evil in the world. As far as I can tell (and I do watch the show), South Park is very supportive of Christianity as a religion.

What they are intolerant of is holier-than-thou blowhards and religious hypocrites, and rightly so. If you find that offensive, then you might be a "religious hypocrite" or "holier-than-thou blowhard".

Well put.

[Howlin]

My children shudder when I start discussing South Park with their children, now in their twenties.

Talk about blowback!

[rwfromkansas]

You really need to pray for God to tear down your idols, sir.

[singfreedom]

Actually, Jesus is a fairly regular character on South Park. He and the God's of the other major faiths even banded together in one episode. I think they were called the "God Squad"----a sort-of alliance of "superheroes".

[Stopislamnow]

"Only imbeciles watch South Park."
Tell them that...

[Clemenza]

Not true. South Park has blasphemed Judaism, Islam, Mormonism and Scientology.

[Howlin]

People with common sense aren't going to waste one minute of their lives watching the sophomoric South Park, or most anything else on t.v. for that matter.

Oh, I know all you Holier_Than_Thou types don't watch TV; that leaves you more time to spend your time doing worhty things, like posting on FR about things you don't know anything about.

[republicofdavis]

"I agree. I wonder how many of them would watch it with their children or grandchildren in the room?"

I didn't until my children were old enough. It's an adult show. So what?

"It is toilet bowl humor...nothing more."

So wrong

[bamahead]

There is perhaps no phenomenon which contains so much destructive feeling as moral indignation, which permits envy or hate to be acted out under the guise of virtue.
- Erich Fromm

Say what you will - but if you're here to force your definition of "tolerance" on me then we need to step outside...