Laughing at My Faith

They say politics and religion do not mix.

But sometimes humor and religion do.

Three of the funniest things I’ve ever read involve my Catholic faith. The first was about thirty years ago; the second about 15 years ago and the third was last week.

The National Lampoon magazine evolved from the Harvard Lampoon and became a national monthly humor magazine in the early 1970s. It lasted for about 25 years and inspired several movies staring Chevy Chase. The magazine was not as well known as the movies, but it was sort of a MAD magazine for adults. Like most monthly publications, there were letters to the editor at the beginning of each issue. Unlike most monthly publications, the letters were fake, but sometimes very funny. The one I specifically remember, asked a simple question: “Did the Corinthians ever write back?” This is hilarious to anyone who has attended Mass regularly and who remembers hearing scripture readings from St. Paul’s Letters to the Corinthians.

I have no idea where I read the second item which mixed humor and religion, but I’ve repeated it many times. You might recall there was a move awhile back to have the United States convert to the metric system. Someone commented that if God wanted us to use the metric system there would have been only ten apostles. Brilliant. And funny.

Finally, last week I was killing some time in a bookstore and came upon David Letterman’s book of Late Show Fun Facts. I picked it up and began flipping through the pages. As if by fate, I stopped at a page and read the following little known fun fact:

“At the Last Supper, five apostles ordered dessert.”

It doesn’t get much funnier than that.