Did SNL share the Gospel on national television?
On a Feb. 24, 2024, airing of NBC's "Saturday Night Live," a Catholic family from Ohio attends Mass while on vacation in Jamaica.
The skit begins with two children complaining about attending 6:30 am Sunday morning Mass while on vacation.
"Did you have to drag us to church while we're on vacation?" the son (Andrew Dismukes) complains.
The daughter (Molly Kearney) then adds, "Yeah, can't we skip one Sunday?"
The father (Shane Gillis) responds, "Hey, we're Catholics, okay? I don't care where we are on Sundays; we go to church."
The Mass then opens with "a message from Father Lawrence," along with music, dancing, and satire of Jamaican worship customs.
The American family sits in the congregation, clearly feeling uncomfortable and out of place. The priest then asks "if we have anyone new today," while everyone stares at the family.
The priest then offers the congregation an opportunity to "hear about Jesus, the Blood, the Savior."
The faithful then say they "want to hear about Jesus."
"Let me tell you about Jesus and where you can find Him," the priest says to the congregation.
He and his assistant (Kenan Thompson) then go on to proclaim the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
"'Pon de manger, 'pon de cross, three days later, oh my God," the priest sings.
The song continues with the priest and his assistant responding to one another:
"Him not there!" the assistant says.
"Where Him go?" the priest asks.
"Up in Heaven," the assistant responds.
"That I know," the priest answers.
The father of the family then proclaims that "church is church" and "father is right."
He adds in his Jamaican accent, "Jesus was 'pon the cross, died for our sins, and three days later he gone, raise up into Heaven."
The priest finishes the skit calling on the mother (Heidi Gardner) to tell the congregation her favorite Bible verse. She then cites 1 Corinthians 13.
The priest's assistant then reads the verse.
However, one would argue that portions of the skit contain irreverent and blasphemous content.
For example, in Father Lawrence's message, he says, "Rub blood of Jesus on me face like makeup unda da blood."
Dismukes's character and a woman in the congregation also dance explicitly at the end of the skit.
Nevertheless, the overall Gospel-focused skit pleased social media users.
Here's what some people said about it:
One user said, "As a Jamaican, this was fairly accurate! The patois was not perfect but that '6:30 am Mass' ... [spot on.]"
Another user said, "As a Jamaican living in Jamaica, I fully enjoyed this video."
One user added, "I once went to Mass on a Caribbean island and it was almost exactly like this. Also, it was 100 degrees with no A/C, just ceiling fans and it went on for two hours."
Former cast member Victoria Jackson praised the skit for proclaiming the Gospel.
“Well, that's a first," Jackson told Entertainment Weekly. "I just heard the Gospel — the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus — in an SNL sketch! Awesome.”