Hollywood has had a field day mocking the Catholic Church during this Holy Week, according to an op-ed published Friday.
Writing for
CNSNews.com, L. Brent Bozell III and Tim Graham make the case that several episodes of TV shows that aired this week are essentially a slap in the face to the Catholic faith.
They highlight ABC sitcom "The Real O'Neal's," whose episode was about a Catholic family dealing with their gay son — who used his mother's computer to look at gay pornography websites.
Another example is the Fox show "Lucifer," which
drew criticism when it was introduced last year. This week, the main character — the devil who helps the Los Angeles Police Department — gives a married woman anti-Catholic advice after listening to her confession in a church.
Also in the episode, Lucifer brought a priest to a club with exotic dancers dressed as nuns.
This week's episode of NBC's "You, Me, and the Apocalypse" featured a priest wanting to marry a nun. He was found dead in his office at the end of the episode.
The final nail on the coffin, write Bozell and Graham, occurred during Wednesday's "Law and Order: SVU." The episode centered on a sex scandal involving the auxiliary bishop of New York and Catholic schoolgirls.
The bishop was shipped off by the Vatican to a Chilean island, mocking the accusation that the Vatican tried to hide priests involved in the sex scandal that enveloped the church in recent history.
Bozell and Graham call the show's producers and networks "anti-Catholic bigots" and "cowards" for airing these shows during the most holy week on the church's calendar.
Earlier this week, American Cardinal Timothy Dolan asked why the NCAA men's basketball tournament — which this year features two Catholic schools — can't take a day off on
Good Friday.