Posted on 12/28/2005 1:12:12 PM PST by 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.
Lighten up. If the Catholic Church condemned child molesting as vehemently as they do "South Park" maybe they wouldn't have to recruit illegals to bolster membership.
Coffee spew on the keyboard winner of the day........
rotflmao!!!
Only and @$$ Hole would call people who watch South Park imbeciles. ;^)
I worked with Colin Quinn...many years ago. He was a good guy.
It's the SOS; same old posters with the same old pious drivel.
The "Death Camp of Tolerance" episode. Although most SP fans refer to it as the "Lemmiwinks in Mr. Slave's Intestines" episode.
"Funny how South Parkers are offended by such words as "imbecile", and at the same time they are defending a show that uses the F word in just about every other sentence along with references to menstruating and the aforementioned bathroom noises."
I'm not offended by the word imbecile. I think it's hilarious that you use name-calling to deride the intelligence of others. You don't like the show because it's vulgar. Fine. But you can't leave it there. You have to insult those who do like it, even though we are people who would probably agree with you on a vast majority of subjects we could discuss. I don't get it.
"Obviously the show has muddled their demented brains."
There you go again.
I suppose that's possible. Not likely, but possible.
Speaking of hypocritical, I DO find it amusing that you would lambaste a show for being vulgar, while being vulgar yourself. "Do as I say, not as a I do"?
(whoosh) Right over your head.
Correct-o-mundo; good point!
Vulgar/bawdy/low-brow humor has been around for eons. It just seems more prevalant today with 24/7 broadcast cable, Internet, etc.
I thinks that due to the availability of it and the high potential of exposure to young kids is the cause of consternation among some of our, er, more 'enlightened' friends.
OMG!! ROFL!!!!
And that's why we continue to have latent anti-Catholicism in this country. People think that shows like this are harmless, but they're not. Because now you have misinformed people who believe that Catholics are Mary-worshippers (and worse, if this episode influences people), that all alter boys are, well, that thing. Now, I'm not saying they don't have a right to make this idiotic show, this is America, so they do, but at the same time, the Council of Bishops, the spirtual guardians of the church in America, have every right to denounce the show, and to urge Catholics to take actions, such as the boycottal of sponsors, etc. I myself would never personally participate in such an action, but if the Bishops do go after that course, I won't oppose it either.
Okay, okay. I exaggerated. They only use the F word in every other sentence.
Where did you get that analysis from? "Lying for God, because He needs our help"? They are not selective in who they offend. I have watched maybe 3 or 4 SP episodes in their entirety. They are rude, vulgar, offensive, juvenile, and tasteless. They are blasphemous and against good tase. Most good satire is, at certain points. If you read HL Menken, or Mark Twain, or Jonathan Swift, you will see that those guys were RUTHLESS and vicious. Is there a place where a Christian has to get up and say "ok, guys, you crossed the line?" Sure. The problem is that the really really prudish moralists provide the best targets for satire, and don't even know it.
Have you ever read (I mean REALLY read) Matt 5-7? That is some of the most searing and vicious satirical descriptions of the pharisees one could imagine. And remember, they were looked on by the people as THE religious icons. One can easily make the same false jump from ridiculing the excesses and hypocrisy to ridiculing the expressions of piety that started all these practices. Jesus was not vulgar, but He was biting in ridiculing the idiocy. So SP is vulgar. I turn it off. When it is blasphemous, I don't watch it.
I despise blasphemy, but I also despise the prudish judgmental moralism of today that scrubs viciously at cultural pimples while ignoring the bloody lesions of the church which has confused the gospel with moral rectitude.
Too funny!
This thread is really a knee slapper.
I think he's funny, but that's just me. :-)
YES!
Oh, man. You had it right there in your net and you let it get away.
I prefer the kind of classy humor that was mainstream before the Sixties revolution debased our culture. Benny, Burns and Hope. No obscenity. Little if any vulgarity. And a more liveable culture. Sorry you don't agree.
No, they really don't. Please do not bear false witness.
There was a single episode where the word "sh*t" was repeated many times. Swear words are used, but they certainly aren't every other sentence, and I can't remember the last time they used the F word, so it's certainly not even once per episode.
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