On March 5, the New York Times pulled a cartoon by Ted Rall that mocks widows of the 9-11 terror attack for being greedy.  The cartoon was fed to the website of the New York Times by Universal Press Syndicate and was taken down when widows complained.  Christine Mohan, the newspaper’s spokeswoman, said the “subject matter was inappropriate.”

Yet today, on March 6, the Times features a cartoon by Glenn McCoy on its website that mocks Catholic priests for being sinners.  The Universal Press Syndicate cartoon shows a woman in the confessional saying to the priest, “You Go First”; this is an obvious reference to news reports on priest pedophilia.  Moreover, on March 5, the same day the Rall cartoon was pulled, the Times posted a cartoon by DeOre of Universal Press Syndicate that also mocked sinful priests in the confessional.  And on January 20, the Times published in its newspaper a particularly vicious cartoon by Don Wright of Tribune Media Service that depicted the Catholic Church as being against abortion but accepting of pedophilia.

Catholic League president William Donohue commented on this today:

“This provides a good window into the mind of the New York Times and what we see isn’t pretty.  It’s okay to malign the nearly 50,000 priests in the United States because some are pedophiles but it is not okay to malign widows of the 9-11 horror because some are alleged to be greedy.  In our estimation, both subject matters are in appropriate.

“The reason for the disparate treatment is not hard to discern.  The New York Times doesn’t want to offend women but doesn’t mind offending priests.  Why?  It’s a matter of political instincts.  For the Times, women’s rights are inextricably tied to abortion rights.  Indeed, it has never found an abortion it hasn’t approved of but has yet to find a Church teaching on sexual ethics it has approved of.  It’s really not that hard to figure out.  Just read the New York Times on a daily basis.”

Catholic bashing is nothing new to “South Park” or to “Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher,” but the most recent attacks suggest that both shows are on a collision course with Catholic viewers.

The new season for Comedy Central’s “South Park” begins March 6.  The promo it’s been airing shows a young woman in the confessional.  With trepidation in her voice, she says to the priest:  “Forgive me, Father.  It’s been two months since our last meeting, and the visions have not yet stopped.  Eternal damnation, the Anti-Christ, and people with asses where their faces should be.  Oh, Father, are these signs of the Apocalypse?”  It continues in this vein.

On last evening’s “Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher,” comedian Jimmy Kimmel mocked the Immaculate Conception by saying, “God has a penis.”  When the audience reacted with nervous laughter, he said, “Oh, like He doesn’t?  How do you think we got Jesus?”  To the continuous laughter of the audience, Kirk Franklin remarked, “See, that’s why we’ve gotta move people away from religion.  I think religion is one of the worst things that ever happened to America.”  Franklin, a black musician, then attacked the Eucharist by complaining “gotta take the cracker.”  To which Maher replied, “Gotta take the cracker from a cracker.”

Here is what Catholic League president William Donohue said today:

“Whoppi Goldberg made Catholics laugh at her light-hearted antics in ‘Sister Act.’  Unlike Goldberg, ‘South Park’ creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker habitually cross the line.  They are not so much interested in poking fun as they are in lashing out.  Maher is worse.  Pathologically at war with Catholicism, he relentlessly vents his anger under the cover of humor.  ABC would be well-advised to worry less about Ted Koppel’s ‘relevance’ and more about Bill Maher’s bigotry.  Maybe then it would see both its ratings and integrity advance.”