NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      NEW YORK (CWNews.com) - A Catholic anti-defamation group and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles on Wednesday both protested the Monday night broadcast of an episode of Fox's "Ally McBeal" TV show which portrayed nuns having sex and a priest videotaping confessions.

      The Catholic League for Civil and Religious Rights said the November 2 and September 28 episodes made crude jokes about celibacy, the sanctity of the sacraments, and the pedophile priests. Monday's show featured a nun who sued the Catholic Church after being dismissed for breaking her vows. At one point, Ally McBeal jokes that "nuns are not supposed to have sex except with other nuns." The nun said at one point: "A priest has sex with a boy, he gets transferred. .. At least my lover was of legal age."

      Father Gregory Coiro, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, called the jokes "insulting and demeaning" to the Church and all Catholics. "You read these lines from 'Ally McBeal' and you'd really have to stretch the imagination to say there's no anti-Catholicism here," he said. "A person who would think this is not anti-Catholic would probably go to a minstrel show."

      Father Coiro had previously acted as a script consultant for another controversial show, ABC's short-lived "Nothing Sacred" which had been the subject of complaint by groups including the Catholic League.