47 - Religion: Michael Heath

in “Private Eye”, 6 March 1987

And, here we have women taking over the traditional male roles in the church – i.e. molesting choirboys.
There are actually very, very few jokes about adult homosexual men molesting their juvenile charges. This may be

1- because it’s not actually very funny in itself. (Although it is surprising how many American family sitcoms in the ‘80s feature a “Very Special Episode” about child molestation)
2 – it really is a taboo subject. The sort of thing one might joke about in private, but which would never make it into the pages of any magazine (even “National Lampoon”) for fear of the terrible consequences that assorted Catholic organisations might see fit to wreak.

Tom Disch in his satirical horror novel about child abuse in the Catholic church, “The Priest,” at one point has two old gay Catholics meeting up. In the course of conversation, the former priest does tell this joke: “How do you get a nun pregnant? Dress her up as a choirboy”. Rimshot, please!