To many Catholics, this meeting came as a surprise.

Traditionally, the themes of detachment, sacrifice, humility and repentance appear far more frequently in religious writing and preaching than the spiritual benefits of a good laugh.

But as a specialist in medieval Christian history, I am aware that, since antiquity, many theologians, preachers, monastics and other Christians have embraced the role of humour as a valuable part of Christian spirituality.

Some have even become popularly known as the patron saints of comedians or laughter.

Comedy is natural

Many Catholic saints have considered laughter to be an integral part of nature itself.

For example, the 12th-century German nun St. Hildegard of Bingen, a mystic poet and musician, wrote in a poem on the power of God:

I am the rain coming from the dew
That causes the grasses to laugh with the joy of life.

In the 13th century, St. Francis of Assisi called himself the "Jongleur de Dieu" - troubadour or jester of God - because of his ministry.

He probably used a French reference because his mother came from France and spoke French at home.

Francis and his followers wandered from town to town, singing God's praises and preaching joyfully in the streets.

People laughed when he preached to birds in trees, and he once had to politely ask a large flock to stop chirping first.

The 16th-century nun and mystic St. Teresa of Avila wrote in a poem, alluding to the voice of Jesus Christ as love:

Love once said to me,
‘I know a song, would you like to hear it?'
And laughter came from every brick in the street
And from every pore in the sky.

Humour and play are an important part of human nature. They provide opportunities for relaxation and relief and offer a way to cope with the challenges of human life.

In the 13th century, Dominican scholastic theologian St. Thomas Aquinas composed a lengthy summary of theology that became one of the most important resources in the Catholic tradition: the Summa Theologica.

In it, he argued that humor and other kinds of joyful recreation offer the mind and soul the same kind of rest that the body needs.

Aquinas cautioned, however, that these kinds of words or activities must not become hurtful or indecent.

Comedy can heal

The shared experience of laughing can break down barriers across cultures and bring people together.

St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits in the 16th century, is said to have danced a jig to raise the spirits of a despondent man on retreat; he also praised a Jesuit novice for his healthy laughter.

In the same century, St. Philip Neri, who has been called the patron saint of humor and joy, was reputed to be a mystic and visionary.

To put others at ease, he engaged in pranks and jokes, once attending a gathering with half of his beard shaved off.

Some famous Catholic saints even faced death with a smile, such as the second-century deacon St. Lawrence, one of the patron saints of comedians.

The legend goes that as he was executed by being roasted alive on a gridiron over a hot fire, he joked with his executioners, saying, "Turn me over … I'm done on this side!"

This legend has carried over into the official story of his life.

The Carmelite nun St. Therese of Lisieux also lived a life marked by humour in the 19th century.

Even as she lay dying from tuberculosis at the age of 24, she is said to have joked with the other nuns and her doctor.

Supposedly, when a priest was called to give her the last rites, he refused because she looked too healthy. She replied that she would try to look sicker the next time he was called.

Popes and humor

Francis is far from the only pope to stress the value of humor in Catholic and Christian life.

Pope St. John XXIII, who in 1961 summoned the Second Vatican Council, calling all Catholic bishops worldwide to a series of formal meetings at the Vatican to update Catholicism, was known for his humour.

Famously, when asked once how many people worked at the Vatican, he replied, "About half of them."

The next pope, St. Paul VI - elected in 1963 - was an accomplished administrator known for his wit.

One of his papal documents was on the importance of "Christian joy."

Now on the path to sainthood as "blessed," John Paul I, who reigned for only a month in 1978, was known as "the smiling pope" because of his cheerfulness.

Pope St. John Paul II, the first non-Italian elected pope in almost 500 years, was only 58 years old when elected in 1978, and he was well-known for his sense of humour.

The German cardinal who succeeded him in 2005, Pope Benedict XVI, also valued the role of humour in a balanced Christian life: "Humour is in fact essential in the mirth of creation."

And before this 2024 audience with comedians, Francis discussed the topic of humor more fully in his 2018 apostolic exhortation.

In this important document, addressed to the whole Catholic Church, the Pope stated that holiness is within the reach of every believer and is achieved through a joyful life.

Humour has a section of its own within the exhortation.

In the audience with comedians on June 14, Francis, who took the name in honour of St. Francis of Assisi, the troubadour of God, has very publicly affirmed that for Catholics, humour is an important part of a faithful life.

The meeting even concluded with one of the pope's favorite prayers, for good humour, attributed to St. Thomas More, the chancellor of England under King Henry VIII - fitting, given More's legendary sense of humour.

Executed for treason in 1535, More is said to have asked the constable of the Tower of London to help him up the steps of the scaffold, with one of his last jokes: "For my coming down, I can shift for myself."

The prayer asks God for, among other things, "a good sense of humour … to share with others."

• First published in The Conversation
• Joanne M. Pierce is a Professor Emerita of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts.

So, here is a collection of Lent memes for 2024 to add some laughter to your dedication.

Whether you are a seasoned Lent observer or a first-timer, these memes capture the season's essence with humour and relatability. Read more

To prove this point, Atkins invites us to look at certain animals with fresh eyes, such as the elephant, rhinoceros, duckbilled platypus, penguin, octopus and proboscis monkey. They are all unique and amusing in their own way. Read more

He explained why he created it. "Humour is the ability to see through things, even the darkest or most sombre of things, to realise that there's a God of love and joy behind it all." Read more

He gives instances in the Bible of Jesus highlighting hypocrisy by using imagery that wouldn't look out of place in a Warner Bros cartoon. Read more

I always found the premise of that particular show to be highly improbable.

My late parents enjoyed watching those shows with us. (There was no choice. We only had one television, and there were only three stations to watch, anyway).

There was another show that we loved and that we laughed at — though I remember that when my mother laughed, there was a trace of a wince.

That was "Hogan's Heroes," a comedy about prisoners of war in a German concentration camp during World War Two. That international group of Allied prisoners was constantly putting one over on their befuddled, though lovable, German captors.

"Hogan's Heroes" ran from 1965-1971, which was a pretty good run.

I mention that show because its last surviving cast member, Robert Clary, who played the French prisoner Corporal Louis LeBeau, has died at the age of 96.

This brings me back to my childhood television viewing experience.

Why did my mother wince?

She winced because the story was about Nazis and their prisoners.

For that generation, a sitcom about wacky Nazis was, as we say, "too soon."

The show debuted only twenty years after the liberation of Auschwitz, and the Holocaust was barely part of the American Jewish conversation — much less in popular culture.

The Stalag 13 of "Hogan's Heroes" was a prisoner of war camp.

My favourite movie at the time was "The Great Escape," which was also about a band of prisoners who escape from a German POW camp.

The American public could handle stories about POW camps.

There were no gas chambers.

But, no — for many, "Hogan's Heroes" was barely amusing. There was no humour in incompetent Nazis. We had not yet even begun to adequately mourn the victims of all-too-competent Nazis and their collaborators.

But, all along — and long after the series had gone into syndication and years of reruns — there was a hidden joke in "Hogan's Heroes."

It was simply this. Many of its characters were played by Jewish refugees from the Nazis.

Consider

• Colonel Wilhelm Klink, the commandant of the stalag. His chief characteristics: vanity, insecurity, paranoia, and basically inept, in constant fear of being sent to the Russian front. He was played by Werner Klemperer, a veteran German entertainer. He was born into a family that was part of German-Jewish cultural aristocracy. His father was the renowned conductor Otto Klemperer, who had converted to Catholicism, but later returned to Judaism. Werner's first cousin was the famous diarist Victor Klemperer, who chronicled the final, tragic days of Germany Jewry.
• Sergeant Hanz Schultz, the camp's first sergeant. He was clumsy, cowardly, and easily bribed. His catchphrase: "I know notting." He was played by John Banner, a Jewish refugee from Austro-Hungary. He lost many family members in the Holocaust. Nevertheless, he was often typecast as a Nazi. He played Nazi official Rudolph Hoss in the 1961 film "Operation Eichmann," in which Werner Klemperer played Eichmann.
• General Albert Hans Burkhalter, Klink's superior officer. He was played by Leon Askin, nee Aschkenazy — a Viennese Jew whose parents perished in Treblinka.
• Colonel LeBeau, played by Robert Clary. Clary was born in France, the youngest of fourteen children — ten of whom perished in the Holocaust. At the age of sixteen, he was deported to the concentration camp at Ottmuth, and then to Buchenwald, from where he was liberated in 1945. His other family members died in Auschwitz. He told his life story in his autobiography, "From the Holocaust to Hogan's Heroes: The Autobiography of Robert Clary."

As a child, I did not know the background of the actors who played these beloved characters — though LeBeau was always my favourite.

Even as an adult, when I learned more about them, I did not think about it very much.

Nor did I wonder what it must have been like for Klemperer and Banner to have played as many Nazi soldiers as they had in their careers.

Neither did I think much about what it must have been like for Askin to play someone who in real life would have killed his parents, or for Clary to have played a prisoner of the Nazis, knowing how many of his relatives had died at the hands of real Nazis.

Moreover, there was one more Jew in the cast.

Major Wolfgang Hochstetter of the Gestapo was played by Howard Caine, nee Cohen.

I now realize that something else was going on.

Like many of you, I am still stuck on Dave Chappelle's monologue on last week's "Saturday Night Live," on his time-weary observation about the Jewish influence on the entertainment business.

I am still trying to figure out what it is that is particularly "Jewish" about the entertainment business.

Or, for that matter, the comedy business.

I have a short, tentative answer.

Right about now in the North, we are gearing up for Hanukkah.

Hanukkah greets winter; Purim says farewell to winter. I am already there, in a Purim mood, thinking about how Jews fought back against our enemies in ancient Persia.

How did Jews usually fight back against their enemies, especially when they were powerless?

They ridiculed them.

That is what we do on Purim. We ridicule the hapless King Ahasuerus, who was an ancient version of Klink, and we lampoon the evil, genocidal Haman.

Now I know why Klemperer, Banner, Askin, Clary, and Cohen were so eager to appear in "Hogan's Heroes."

They were fighting back in a traditional Jewish style — making Nazis absurd.

It was to have been their dead relatives' only partial victory — a raised middle finger, from the grave, to the Nazis.

May Robert Clary now join Klemperer, Banner, Askin, and Cohen in the World to Come.

May they be laughing, into eternity, at the ones whose names and memories should be blotted out.

Here are 45 Christian jokes and puns about the Bible, religion and dad jokes about faith. Read more

What about Catholic jokes? Will that do?

I usually enjoy religious humour. It seems to come from solid faith that is without doubt or fear.

And sometimes the laughter it evokes, unwraps a little parable that stays with me.

I still carry an old Marist Messenger confessional joke about a man who worked in a timber yard. For twenty years he had been stealing timber to build himself a house and outbuildings.

The priest was concerned at the enormity of this theft. He said. "My son, that is a serious sin and it requires serious penance. I want you to make a retreat."

The man brightened. "Sure thing, Father! You show me the plans and I'll get the timber."

So where is the parable?

Foe me it is a warning about repetition, the laundry list, the attempts to dismiss wrongdoing before learning from it.

At a superficial level, reconciliation can be partly about self-protection and partly our desire for goodness; but we know there is much more to it than that.

Spiritual awareness grows through the tension between darkness and light.

Our shadow is light unborn.

We should not be afraid to be human, although sometimes we need help to work with the way God has made us.

I believe I can't not dismiss my failure with a few Hail Marys.

What I call sin, will keep on repeating itself if I don't see the shadow as a teacher.

There's no getting away from this because every strength has its own shadow. We can't separate the two: although we try to focus on the strength.

The tension between light and shadow seems to work like this:

• The high energy person who has a gift of leadership, is also likely to have a quick temper.
• Discernment is a gift, but it can tip over to judgemental attitudes and be ready to condemn others.
• Those who seem to have infinite patience can fall into inertia.
• Good communicators can be poor listeners.

My own strong maternal instincts have their place but when the shadow emerges, I become the caricature of the controlling Yiddish mother.

How do we identify our shadow? That's not too difficult. Other people with the same shadow, will be a mirror for us.

When someone who tries to mother me, I want to run for the hills.

Every shadow has one thing in common. It is attached to that "ne first" survival instinct we call the ego.

The good news is that the more we work with the shadow, the more it will come over to the light.

However, we can never entirely lose that "me first" instinct.

Beating one's chest and proclaiming "I am a sinner!" Still comes from "me, me, me."

So what can we do about the egoic nature of the shadow?

Clearly there is no point in being like the old Jewish rabbis who loudly lamented because they could not escape selfishness.

So perhaps the answer lies in that good old tool of Catholic humour.

We can laugh at ourselves.

• Joy Cowley is a wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and retreat facilitator.

Prayer

O God, creator of all.
I see you at the birth of time
excited and joyful, thrilled by the splendour and beauty
of what was about to be.
Even before that moment you could not contain your delight,
knowing the gifts you had in store
for the world you already greatly loved.
I think you laughed us into being,
your excitement bubbling over in your eagerness
to give and to give, to love and be loved.
As parents rejoice in their children, you think the world of us.
We are in your continuing care; keep our hearts filled with joy.

Wisdom speaks as creator

I was by his side, a master craftsman,
delighting him day after day,
ever at play in his presence,
at play everywhere in his world,
delighting to be with the children of men. [Proverbs 8:30-31]

The delight of God is evident in the Genesis story of creation and there is humour in the way the story (two accounts of creation; chapters 1 & 2) unfolds.

The variety of life, the abundance of gifts - and, of course, God's realisation that "the man" would need a partner.

It's hard to have a joke on your own or to achieve anything well!

This time of self-isolation is showing us how important, indeed vital, is companionship and community.

The expression, "Laughter is the best medicine" is of biblical origin - see Proverbs 17:22 - so it should be expected that laughter, enjoyment, fun, accompanied Jesus and the disciples on their journeys.

Think of the Cana wedding and the laughter and joy that would have filled the occasion, especially with all that extra wine!

Read John 2:1-10

Place yourself as one of the guests. Enjoy the moment.

There are countless expressions that serve wisdom with humour. Many of our own will likely be ingrained as habits, the wisdom and perhaps even the humour in them quite forgotten. This is a time to recall them, and to ponder them anew.

The Book of Proverbs is rich with expressions that, at first glance, may seem without humour, but try these reasons given by a person too lazy to get out of bed and go out to work: There's a lion outside! and I shall be killed in the street! [Proverbs 22:13] - and there's dry humour a few verses on: Oppress the poor and you enrich him; give to the rich and you make him poor! [vs 16].

Look for others…

There's a wealth of humour in our everyday speech:

You're as much use as an ashtray on a motorcycle!

I'm as happy as a tin of worms returning from a fishing trip! …you won't have to search far to find others.

Children can come up with some beauties, like the answer a child gave when asked by its parent, trying to instil reverence in church, Do you know why it's important to be quiet in church and not to fidget? - ‘Cause everyone's asleep!

Wisdom combined with humour can be sensed in this challenging comment: The earth comes rent free, complete with running water, central heating and air-conditioning. All the landlord asks in return is that we keep it clean!

Back to the scriptures, and who could not see the humour in Balaam's conversation with his donkey in Numbers 22:21-30?

Humour reminds us not to take ourselves too seriously. This is not exactly scripture, but G K Chesterton wrote: Angels can fly because they can take themselves lightly.

"Laughter is indeed God's therapy. Let us then be thankful that, when the gates of heaven swing open, mixed with the celestial music there is the unmistakable sound of celestial laughter." [Malcolm Muggeridge]

Jesus is the smile of God

He came to reveal to us the loving goodness of heavenly Father.
We need God's smile to strip us of our own certainties
and to bring us back to enjoying simplicity and gratuitousness. [Pope Francis' Christmas message, 2019]

Prayer of thanks for laughter

Thank you, loving God, for the gift of laughter that

• lifts spirits, lightens heavy hearts
• makes friends, softens sadness
• boosts morale, sharpens minds
• relieves tension, gives enjoyment
• energises, encourages, entertains.

Thank you, creator God, for the laughter within us that

• contributes to health
• cheers the weary
• helps build community
• challenges minds
• is uniquely ours.

Thanks for the laughter, God of wonder and joy.
You have made us in your image, so we know that
laughter is part of your being. Help us to stay
light-hearted In this strange and worrying time
and to honour your gift,
bright and cheerful,
loving, respectful.

Amen.

Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Serve the Lord with gladness.
Come before him, singing for joy. [Psalm 100:1]

So I commend enjoyment, for there is nothing better for people
under the sun than to eat, and drink, and enjoy themselves,
for this will go with them in their toil through the days of life
that God gives them under the sun. [Ecclesiastes 8:15]

Read 13 humorous Papal quotes.

The notice was reported by "Vatican Insider" and confirmed to ZENIT newspaper by the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Greg Burke, on July 14, 2017. Read more

and click here to see photo of the sign

The poll of 1400 regular churchgoing Christians found that they ranked explanations of the Bible as 27 times as important in a sermon as humour and "practical application" 42 times more highly than personal anecdote.

Continue reading

A joke that can be greeted only with a groan or, better still, complete silence, can hardly be a real joke now, can it?

Santa walks into a bar and the barman says: Sorry, we're claused.

But punning has a rich history.

It dates back to prehistoric times, graces the pages of the greatest of writers (think Chaucer, Shakespeare, Joyce), delights the hearts of newspaper headline writers throughout the world and is more or less essential to cryptic crossword setters.

'Are you pudding in an appearance at the Christmas break-up?'
'Will my presents be welcome?'
'Yes, and Yule enjoy it.'
'I Noel I will, holly.'
'Anyway, Merry Chrysanthemum.'
'And a Happy Nude Ear to you.'

And on and on it can go, a game of sheer, infuriating wits played by two or more geniuses. Repartee at its very best ... or worst, depending on your point of view. Continue reading.

Source: Eureka Street

Image: Raymond Briggs

This longest-running cartoon series on American prime-time network television since 1989 recounts the animated adventures of Homer Simpson and his lower-middle class family who live in the city of Springfield. The father, Homer, is a lazy, unintelligent, beer-drinking safety inspector for the local nuclear power plant at the fictional city of Springfield. Marge, his wife, is a somewhat spacey woman with a huge beehive hairstyle and Bart, their ten-year old son, is a borderline juvenile delinquent. Lisa, the middle child, is a gifted, sensitive and perceptive saxophone player. Maggie is the voiceless toddler, observing all while sucking her pacifier. In addition there are other equally dysfunctional members of the community.

Though the program first appeals to children because the cartoons are immensely funny, like Dean Swift's Gulliver's Travels it is a biting satire on reality. One of the program's writers comments: "We're really writing a show that has some of the most esoteric references in television…We're writing it for adults and intelligent adults at that."

Thus, it is richly laced with satire, sarcasm, irony, and caricature as the authors seek to expose reality as it is, namely chaotic and violent. Hypocrisy, the incompetence of pop psychology, modern child-rearing, commercialism, consumerism, fundamentalism in religion, environmental abuse, corporate greed and deceits of American education are all uncovered in stark and often parodied ways. Homer tells his daughter Lisa that it is quite alright to steal things "from people you don't like." Reverend Lovejoy lies to Lisa about the contents of the Bible to succeed in an argument. There are plenty of disreputable characters in Springfield, but the most loathsome is Mr Burns, the owner of a nuclear power-plant and a cruel example of the worst form of contemporary neo-capitalism. Speaking to a group of school children he said: "Family, religion, friendship: these are the three demons you must slay if you wish to succeed in business."

The spectacular emphasis on violence is especially evident in the television show that Lisa and Bart regularly enjoy, namely "The Itchy and Scratchy Show". The interaction between a cat and mouse is not confined to slapstick mixed with a little violence, but the violence goes to extremes of stark gruesomeness.

The creators of The Simpsons get away with it because it is in the form of a cartoon and, more particularly, because viewers condone violence in many areas of contemporary life. The writers know this and are focused on mirroring back to their audiences what society has come to accept as normal, namely that violence is condoned even for children provided it does not affect the interests of individual viewers. Bart says to Lisa at one point, when she is becoming squeamish about the violence they see on television: "If you don't watch the violence, you'll never get desensitised to it." The show appears to condone in comedic form pervasive and blatant violence, such as bullying in all its ghastly forms, but in fact it is morally critiquing the social, capitalistic and physical brutality that American (and others) people accept as normal. Yet, unlike much contemporary literature and films, this series, while accepting the evil in the world, recognizes that people are capable of goodness at times.

While uncovering hypocrisy in religion, it recognizes the indisputable role it has in American life. Homer does go to Church and he speaks to God from time to time, but his image of God is rather confused. God for Homer is like a parachute that he hopes he will never have to open, but he needs God just in case. Homer's God is a more forgiving and compassionate than the God of Homer's local minister. Lisa and her mother Marge at times do become the social conscience of the family and others (including viewers), reminding them that in the midst of a neo-capitalist world of greed the fundamental virtues of compassion and justice can and should be lived.

________________________________________

Gerald A. Arbuckle, sm, is the author of Laughing with God: Humor, Culture, and Transformation. Foreword by Jean Vanier (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2008).

The brain-child of Australian priest, Fr Bob McGuire, he said he was wanting to get with the times.

"We'd do it (confession) like the fast food joints, because there'd be a menu, the 7 deadly sins. They'd be numbered."

"They've only got a minute".

From 6.30am, sinners will repent at a mobile unit dubbed the Hopemobile in the St Peter and Paul's church driveway, confessing, for instance, to three No.7s and a No.4.

McGuire said the coded response was meant to maintain confidentiality.

The idea was people would drive up to the mobile confessional, tell their sins from the numbered list and then McGuire "would give them a spray."

McGuire promised the spray would be water, not verbal.

"They'd drive away feeling refreshed and restored, smelling of roses, because it's rose water," Maguire said.

McGuire promised a flashing green light to signal when the driver's sins were forgiven.

Looking for a more permanent set-up McGuire said it should be in place by Easter. He is however hoping for a sponsor to cover set-up costs.

McGuire ran a trial of drive-by prayer three weeks ago, on Ash Wednesday, but gave it up for Lent.

Source:

• Herald Sun
• VIDEO: Pitstop penance