Picking up my periodic thread on The Simpsons (click back here to read my series intro and first post), today I'm sharing about a lesser-known episode that comes after the "Golden Age" of the series. While some hardcore fans seldom dignify much after the first dozen seasons, I am not so strict of a purist and continue watching the show religiously to this day. Here's a fine chestnut I've plucked from Season 16 that is worth a few minutes of your time:
“The Father, Son, and Holy Guest Star” (full synopsis | full episode)
Bart gets wrongfully blamed for an incident at school and gets expelled. Low on options for a new school, Homer and Marge send him to Catholic school, where an Irish priest connects Bart to the gory lives of the saints and Homer to pancake breakfasts, a pair of smooth moves that kickstart an unlikely switching story (using the word conversion to describe switching between Christian denominations is a misnomer!).
Bart’s time at Catholic school satirizes some great Catholic school stereotypes: Bart is taught by an Irish nun, and when she sends him to the hall for discipline, he encounters the Irish priest; Bart and his classmates are in full dress uniform, complete with ties; the nun disciplines her students with a ruler and yardstick. Many of these details invoke a bygone era, as Catholic schools are now largely staffed and led by laypeople, but the reputation for greater discipline, higher standards, and a more rigid environment mostly endure as attractive characteristics of Catholic education. The great outlier in their satire is the nun’s instruction on math: “Now class, open your math books to the word problems of our Lord: Billy and Joseph start their penance at the same time. If each swear brings a 1000 years in hell…” While teachers are encouraged to suffuse the faith into all subjects and disciplines and areas of student life, I’ve never seen this kind of over-the-top crossover.
The episode also takes a moment to poke fun at conversion and call. Fr. Sean (an Irish priest voiced by the great Liam Neeson) shares that, after a drunken fight with his father, a light post turned into St. Peter, scolded him, and spat on him, prompting Sean to straighten out his life and join the priesthood. It’s a great moment that acknowledges the unusual nature of vocation stories, centering on odd combos of family, the communion of saints, and God knows what else, while pointing people toward greater service of others.
Most delightfully, across the episode, the writers balance gentle mockery of both Catholicism and Protestant traditions. Fr. Sean quotes Eminem in his sermon; Marge describes the sitting, standing, and kneeling of Catholic Mass as worse than “Simon says”; Marge additionally calls Catholics a peculiar bunch with no birth control, no meat on Fridays, and use of incense that “ruined her pantsuit”; Homer agrees, saying the Church “has more crazy rules than Blockbuster Video” (shoot a knowing glance at the young people in your midst); Just as Homer begins to scold Fr. Sean -- “I’m sick of you teaching my son your time-tested values!” -- he stumbles upon a pancake breakfast at the parish/school gym; Homer proceeds to confess a litany of sins, implying the faith allows for unlimited sins due to the easy access to absolution; Homer comes home amenable to Catholicism, but Marge warns him she's not having another twelve kids (Homer says nine or ten, tops). The kernel of truth in this cascade of on-the-nose references is there -- the Church is predicated upon a thorough and deep set of practices and teachings, which can invite blind faith, questioning, and thoughtful fidelity alike. At the end of the day, the fellowship and traditions thoughtfully forged in the Church help Catholics sustain strong community in faith.
Marge then comes to church alone, their congregation which belongs to the one true faith: “The Western Branch of American Reformed Presbylutheranism.” Fellow church-goers and the pastor criticize her for her son and husband falling “under the spell of a man in a pointy white hat.” As they figure out what to do, Flanders complains that Catholics have been separate since “the Schism of Lourdes in 1573,” which was about “our holy right to come to church with wet hair... which we’ve since abolished.” Here, Ned's brief harrumph describes a fictitious incident that neatly satires the points of division that can sometimes seem so trivial. Here, Flanders asserts his territorialism, remarking that, once Catholics initiate their members, "it’s just like the Jews with their snippity-snip.”
Ultimately, Marge lures Bart back toward Protestantism by bringing him to a youth festival, complete with gimmicky signs, a live praise band, and a biblically-themed paintball course. As Fr. Sean and Homer confront Rev. Lovejoy, Marge, and Bart -- “once you go Vatican, you can’t go back again” -- Bart delivers a strong message of ecumenism, suggesting people of faith focus more on unity than conflicts: “The little stupid differences are nothing next to the big stupid similarities!” Juxtaposed to the hilarious image of heaven, with clouds that separately host preppy looking Protestants and the raucous throng of Catholic Mexicans, Irish, and Italians, the unity message is a strong finish, even as Flanders remarks they should focus together on their common enemies (stem cells and monogamous gays -- facepalm). This episode does a fine job poking fun at the more quirky and unseemly aspects of the faiths; it doesn't endorse one or the other as perfect or best yet celebrates the strengths of both traditions. As usual, the humor comes in acknowledging the idiosyncratic realities of each and can actually help an insightful viewer find the best.
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| Apparently, I'll be fighting my family members, drinking beer, and Irish dancing in heaven with my Irish brethren. See you there. |
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