Is making fun of Catholicism still funny?

      (Michael Hollinger, the playwrite, found in Google Image Search)

Incorruptible is just as the cover says: A Dark Comedy about the Dark Ages. It is defiantly not pro-catholic. A lot of its humor is marked by poking fun at the Catholic Religion’s past obsession with paying for your forgiveness and miracles. I was raised Luthern which started with 95 statements bashing the Catholic Church, so a lot of the stuff presented in this play I was aware of. Also with the sex scandals that became prevalent in the 80s and 90s…...

I guess my major question is: is this really any humor or reason to keep bashing the Catholic Church? Will it ever get old and worn out?

While I do admit to laughing several very hard several times while reading this play. I did think the humor of bashing the Church got kind of old after awhile. Personally, this play was not just about religion. This play was more about greed and power corruption. It makes sense to have it set in a Church because many people place a great deal of trust and authority into religions and religious figures.

I think Michael Hollinger was trying to point out, that the Church is run by human beings who are corruptible, but because they are working with an supposedly incorruptible intangible system, religion itself gets a bad rap. This is just speculation. This is my first experiences with Hollinger, so he could be an atheist for all I know.

Religion is suppose to be incorruptible, and I think because the Catholic Church in Europe has been the main leader in religion throughout history, and some of the unfortunate things that happened in past, they get to be the brunt of the religious jokes into the 21^st century. Is it still funny or not? Yes and No. It does have its lines and limits. If it stays funny, only time will tell.

Even taking out the fact that this is supposed to be the Catholic religion, the whole premise of the play is quite humorous. The idea of digging up people to sell them as parts of Saints is funny. Especially when you are selling four heads of John the Baptist.

I’m not sure what to make of the miracle at the end of the play. I think that is what makes the idea that it’s the people who get corrupted not the religion itself that gets corrupted. The people whose intentions are genuinely pure like Jack’s were, are the ones who faith and religion benefit. They haven’t been corrupted by power or greed. I think the danger Hollinger likes to point out is believing that even with faith you are incorruptible, because that is when you can justify doing bad things like selling bodies as saints for profit.