Tonight Show's Jay Leno Jokes of Priests as Pedophiles Six Times in Five Weeks

LifeSiteNews.com ^ | July 26, 2007 | John-Henry Westen

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Thursday July 26, 2007	Printer friendly version	Email to a friend

Tonight Show's Jay Leno Jokes of Priests as Pedophiles Six Times in Five Weeks

By John-Henry Westen

NEW YORK, July 26, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Catholic League has revealed a sustained attack against the Catholic Church from Jay Leno, host of the Tonight Show.   Describing it as "Jay Leno's obsession," the League points out that in the past five weeks, the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno" has ridiculed priests six times and the pope once; all of the priest jokes were sexual in nature and painted priests as molesters.

·   June 18: Robin Williams gets into an extended diatribe about priests as pedophiles

·   June 20: Leno cracks a joke about priests as pedophiles

·   June 21: Leno makes a joke about a drunken pedophile priest

·   July 12: Leno ridicules the pope for restating Catholic doctrine on salvation

·   July 18: Leno portrays all priests as pedophiles

·   July 23: Leno jokes about priests using the Harry Potter books as "bait" to lure kids

·   July 23: Leno tells a story about a priest who pays to see a male stripper at a gay nightclub and jokes that the priest was cheating on his altar boy

"Hypocritical priests make for good script, but in the world Jay Leno apparently lives in, priests have a monopoly on hypocrisy," Catholic League president Bill Donohue commented.  "This would seem to suggest that either he is clueless about other expressions of hypocrisy, or there is a strong animus against Catholicism at work. If it's the former, the Catholic League can be of assistance-we track lots of hypocrites, many of whom live in Leno's Hollywood backyard. If it's the latter, we suggest he knock it off."

To express concerns, contact NBC President:

Mr. Jeff Zucker, President
NBC Entertainment
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112
Phone: (818) 840-4444
Email: nbcshows@nbc.com 

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
NBC Studios
3000 W. Alameda Avenue
Burbank, CA 91523
Phone: (818) 840-3538
Email: TonightShow@nbc.com

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[Zon]

Jay Leno is basically making fun of a cancer patient here, IMHO.

Poor victimized pedophile priests. It's not their fault. /s

[new cruelty]

As Albert Lunkin Jr. once said, "warranted schmarranted." Big fat hairy deal. By your rationale, the lady assuming I was not the owner of my home was unwarranted. Like you, I could be offended that she even dare to think that way. But I'm not offended. It was down right funny!!! Even you got a laugh out of the story. Imagine how much funnier the story could have been if I were a Catholic priest.

[netmilsmom]

>>If the Catholic Church has become an object of ridicule, then that seems to fall on the shoulders of church governance which has failed to adequately serve the intests of the countless faithful in the church.<<

And no matter what is done to right this situation, it is never good enough.

[DangerDanger]

Uhh,...maybe if the Catholic priests who are pedophiles stopped molesting altar boys and the Catholic church would ceases with its damned cover-ups, Leno wouldn’t have such ammunition to use.

Leno is a comedian, and comedians often go for the easy target - and right now there are few, if any, easier targets than the Catholic Priest Pedophiles and the church that covers for them.

Stop blaming the messenger, even if the messages are relayed in the name of “humor.”

[Rb ver. 2.0]

How is it bashing to point out the pitfalls of a celibate priesthood?

[netmilsmom]

>>Even you got a laugh out of the story.<<

Yup, sure did.
The same way I laughed my head off when one day a shop owner lavished my black sister with free samples of relaxer and hair jewelry. I, however was watched like a hawk, with looks of disdain, until I pulled out my Visa and bought everything my sis was holding.

However, if you did the same to my sister in a white area, I wouldn’t find it so funny. I can forgive what you do to me. Touch my family and watch my wrath.

[freedomdefender]

the bishops should not have been shuffling molestors around from parish to parish. Leno can joke about it, but it’s not funny - it’s an outrage.

[from occupied ga]

Shouldn’t it be the responsibility of the Church to fire, expunge, excommunicate, reform (if that’s even possible), and cooperate with and encourage the prosecution of pedophile priests and to some degree their enablers?

That is my position.

[freedomdefender]

Pedophile Priests aren't about Christianity. They are about infiltration by evil into a Christian institution,

The real scandal isn't about pedophile priests, it's about bishops and church bureaucrats who covered up the pedophilia, and even, essentially, enabled it by shuttling the priests from one job to another.

[ClearBlueSky]

I am going to say this as a Roman Catholic.
If Muslims don’t like being stereotyped as ‘terrorists’ they only have to get the ‘terrorists’ out of their ‘religion’.
( Of course they can’t, their ‘religion’ IS terrorist)

If the Catholic church/priesthood does not want pedophilia associated with it- IT HAS TO GET HOMOSEXUAL/PEDOPHILE PRIESTS OUT OF THE CHURCH.
What’s there is there-and once people know you will be continually called on it until you clean up your garbage.There is TRUTH in these ‘jokes’, that’s what hurts.

I want ALL homosexual/pedophile priests out of the church. If that leaves 3 priests on the planet, so be it.
Get the dirt out, or the dirt is on you.

[netmilsmom]

So would you please give a reference to the amount of priests involved in this?

[hunter112]

Hop on over to the Catholic Answers forums. You’ll see all of us flipping out over there.

As long as Catholics are only talking to other Catholics about their outrage, the rest of us are going to remain clueless.

I can slam my sister, my brother can slam by sister but if you slam my sister, I will stay silent so as not to feed into your hatred.

Silence looks like playing the "my church, right or wrong" game. Would it hurt to say every once in awhile, "I've expressed my disapproval to my bishop, etc. repeatedly over this," before launching into a defense? Unless, of course, you haven't. I remember the old "priests can do no wrong" thing from my youth, that's what got the church into so much trouble from young people who let the abuse go on.

Ask a Catholic what they think about the whole thing.

I've had discussions with my folks about it. Especially when a priest from their own local parish (where I went to church as a teenager) started appearing in the news as someone the Seattle archdiocese was 'watching'. They're disgusted by it, but they've not questioned church authority about it, to my knowledge. Being irate about something is not the same as doing something about it.

[new cruelty]

Breaking news: Not everyone in this world is going to like you or your family. That also applies to me and my family and everyone else, so don't feel like I'm picking on just you. We may never know why people hate us, they just do, and so be it. IF they can't get past that, then nothing you or I do is going to change that. We can't control the way people think. Yet.

We've covered that. Now focus on what can be done. I cherish my family and I can certainly tell you do too. That said, I'm not about to put my family member before someone they have molested. I hope you wouldn't either. Focusing on the jokes about pedophile priests, you are ingoring the real problem. 'But what about those that are innocent yet get accused or made fun of'- please refer to the breaking news.

[Zon]

My point is the from the highest levels the Church has acknowledged past problems, taken every possible step to rectify past wrongs (including spending hundreds of millions of dollars) and this doesn’t get reported or if it does it’s downplayed.

I must have missed the news reports where the highest levels in the Church called for jury trials and imprisonment of pedophile priests and those that knowingly transferred them to different churches rather than report them to the police. Do you have a web-link to such news report?

[netmilsmom]

Many of us have written letters.
Many of us have done more, especially with $$$

In my parish, many people are giving an entire amount at Christmas. Our Christmas envelopes cannot be taxed by the Diocese, so we don’t feed into the problems. And have sent letters to the Diocese when different money-raising calls have come out saying, “You’ll get money when you clean this all up”. And like I said, many things have already been done.

In 2002, JPII took all the American Cardinals to the Vatican to “talk” to them about what was going on here.
Have you seen any cover-up from that point?

But I don’t want what I do to be used to slam Catholics. Especially, like I said, my own Uncle or Great-Uncle.

[Zon]

Did you happen to read that Clear_Case guy is not Catholic?

It's irrelevant his religious leanings, it's the truth that he is offended by. Your comment is irrational insinuation, IMO.

[netmilsmom]

Well, I don’t have to like it and as with all forums, I’m allowed to state my opinion, as you are.

Geez, My girls have math to do!!!!!!!!!!!

[O6ret]

The Church deserves the criticism.

Not only for the priests but especially for the hierarchy which did all it could to look the other way for years. Where are these enablers? Those who protected the Church while not protecting the children? Why are they not being taken to task for condoning, then hiding then covering up the misdeeds?

[netmilsmom]

The truth of what?
Someone’s opinion of celebate priests?

This is the post he was talking about.
“I was raised a Catholic but have had nothing to do with the church since I was old enough to make up my own mind. A celibate priesthood is lunacy and does not work. One of the more ridiculous things I can think of is receiving pre-marriage counseling from the church if the one giving the advice is a celibate.And the church leaders decided long ago that in the case of pedophile priests, the survival of the church was more important than the well being of flock. That is why they downplayed the incidents in the past and will still do so when they can. I cheer everytime I hear that they have to pay millions.”

Opinion, not truth.

[ClearBlueSky]

I don’t have the numbers-but I’m willing to bet that every Bishop knows how many homosexual priests he has in his diocese.
Where are the priests condemning these ‘fellow priests’ from the pulpit? Where is the shunning and rejection of homosexual priests by good priests on a local level? Where is the open outrage from priests that perverts are in their midst?
There is too much of a ‘close ranks/brotherhood’ thing going on. Here and there there are vague references about ‘praying for those in the Church struggling with sin’, but that’s it.
I want to hear local priests OUTRAGED and RAILING against homosexual priests. Where is the anger at those who are damaging the Church from within??? I attend mass at two different parishes, and I hear nothing from priests even approaching anger and outrage.
It is no longer good enough for the good to do nothing. The priesthood must self-purge. What frightens me is the possible reason why it doesn’t.
How can a local Bishop excoriate parish priests who are homosexual if he is too? How can Cardinals condemn homosexual Bishops and other Cardinals if they are too?
I fear this evil goes to the highest levels of the Church, it has had enough time to do so. Elderly homosexual/pedophiles are not going to risk their own heads by ‘cleaning house’, and the good might,rightfully, think that doing so might mean a total upheaval of the priesthood that the Church might not survive.
The more protective and secretive the Church is about this cancer in their ranks the more I fear homosexuals are the majority, not minority, in the priesthood.