Ally McBeal
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Summary
of the Story NEW YORK (AP) - Catholic activists are
furious over this week's ``Ally McBeal'' episode that
included jokes about nuns having sex and a priest
videotaping off-color confessions.
The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights wrote
to the Fox network's chief executive for broadcasting
standards on Wednesday, saying it was concerned about a
``clear and intentional pattern of Catholic bashing'' on
the hit series.
Officials of Fox and David E. Kelley Productions, which
makes the program, wouldn't comment.
Monday's show featured a nun who sued the Catholic Church
after being dismissed for breaking her vow of celibacy.
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.'' Priest Crimes
At another point, a priest videotapes confessions about
sex for a documentary, ``World's Naughtiest
Confessions.''
``I can't imagine anyone getting away with saying this if
it were any other religious group,'' said Gregory Coiro,
a priest with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles who acted as
a script consultant for ABC last year for ``Nothing
Sacred,'' a short-lived series about an inner-city
priest. for ABC
story
Coiro called the humor ``insulting and very demeaning.''
The New York-based Catholic League said it follows a
Sept. 28 episode where a Protestant minister tells a
lawyer about his affair with a parish worker and said,
``I realize that doesn't make me an altar boy.'' The
lawyer responds: ``If you were an altar boy, you'd be
with a priest.''
The Catholic League said Fox had been ``inundated'' with
complaints about the show. Fox spokesman Jonathan Hogan
said he wasn't aware of any phone calls of complaint.
One Fox executive who wouldn't talk publicly about the
show noted that it was broadly satirical and recently
included a story line about a frog on life support. The
segment about the priest videotaping confessions also
poked fun at Fox when ``World's Naughtiest Confessions''
landed a place on the network's schedule.
Fox has taken heat for scheduling reality shows like
``World's Most Dangerous Animals.''
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The
Catholic League for Religion and Civil Rights 
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Catholic League's Side of the Story
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