Contact: Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, 212-371-3191, pr@catholicleague.org

NEW YORK, Dec. 9, 2014 /Standard Newswire/ -- Bill Donohue comments on a National Public Radio (NPR) game show, "Wait! Wait! Don't Tell Me" that aired Saturday night:

The astute atheists at NPR decided that the Brooklyn Diocese's outreach program to millennial "hipsters" was worth a few jokes. After all, it's Christmastime, so why not choose Catholicism for ridicule?

Most of the exchange between the characters was so inane that it is not worth repeating. There was a cheap shot taken about transubstantiation, and the Hail Mary was the source of laughter. By far the most offensive statement was made about Jesus.  Here is what somebody who goes by the name of Segal said:

"You can take a selfie with Jesus. The Catholic Church preaches that Jesus is always with us, in fact he's right behind you. So this new app—Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn shows a woman sitting by herself. She's holding out her phone to take a selfie like the kids do, but in the picture you see this woman and this bearded beatific man smiling behind her. It's not some radio creepo who got into the church, it's the Son of God. This raises all sorts of questions for the woman. For starters, why didn't Jesus offer just to take the picture himself? His hands were occupied."

Our friend Tim Graham of Newsbusters offered the following response to the closing part of this statement: "Is that a reference to his hands being nailed to the cross? Or is it a more sexual reference to the Savior's hands being on himself (as could be joked about considering the image)."

Tim is too kind. Those who work at this taxpayer-funded entity have a record of bashing Catholics. Last year NPR reviewed a movie about a "devout" Catholic woman who masturbates with a crucifix. It scored the flick "recommended." So we know which message it sought to convey: being low class is NPR's natural step.

Contact NPR's media relations director, Isabel Lara: ilara@npr.org