Comedy Central is a regular forum for attacks on the Catholic Church, and its most recent culprit is standup comedian Carlos Mencia. His weekly program, “Mind of Mencia,” features frequent segments that ridicule Catholics and Church officials.
The first of three most recent incidents occurred March 12 during his standup special “No Strings Attached.” The stage featured, in its backdrop, a 20-foot-tall marionette of a lollipop-holding pedophile priest. Mencia’s act also included a five minute segment on the death of Pope John Paul II and how he is now having sex in heaven.
During his special, a commercial for the upcoming season of “Mind of Mencia” centered on a priest ogling Boy Scouts. Before Mencia can make a comment on the priest, a voice over gives the following statement: “Warning: The contents of Carlos Mencia’s mind may contain jokes about religious figures and their hobbies. Not recommended for people who write hate mail. You think it, Carlos says it.”
Mencia kicked off the second season of his program on March 22 with a mock confession asking for forgiveness for all of the hurtful things that he said during the first season. An unseen priest tells him that God wants him to go further in his attacks on Catholics and other groups. After Mencia leaves the confessional reassured that what he had said during the first season was not wrong, the confessional door opens up to reveal that the priest was actually the Devil.
On May 3, Mencia took aim at Jesus in a “Da Vinci Code” inspired segment called “That’s F#*king Historical.” It was a takeoff of a History Channel-type program and portrayed Jesus’ life as if he was actually married to Mary Magdalene. The segment contained four individual skits where Mencia played the part of Jesus. The first skit featured Jesus performing a miracle to obtain a vase, that Mary wanted, for free. In the second skit Mary gives Jesus a makeover that includes a pink robe; this leads to apostles Matthew and Luke making fun of him. Skit number three has Jesus and Mary at home in a fight and Jesus calls on his father, God, for help in a whinny child’s voice. God offers some advice, but abandons Jesus after being called away by a female’s voice. The final skit featured Jesus returning home to Mary after his resurrection and Mary asking where he had been. Mary also accuses Jesus of cheating on her and when she leaves the room, Jesus begs his father, again in a whinny child’s voice, to take him home.
Mencia and Comedy Central feel that it is open season on Catholicism. The constant attacks from Mencia and other Comedy Central programs demonstrate the station’s continual hostility towards Catholics.
