Reverend Lovejoy

Reverend Timothy Lovejoy is the local minister in the long-running animated TV show The Simpsons, He is voiced by Harry Shearer. Matt Groening has indicated that Reverend Lovejoy is named after NW Lovejoy Street in Portland, Oregon.

Rev. Lovejoy is the Reverend of the Church (of uncertain Protestant denomination, mentioned as "The Western Branch of American Reform Presbylutheranism" in one particular episode) that seemingly every non-African-American, non-Roman Catholic Christian in Springfield attends.

The character has changed as the series has progressed. In earlier seasons, Lovejoy was well-meaning, tolerant and faintly cynical, in contrast to his religion-obsessed parishoner Ned Flanders.

On In Marge We Trust he pointed to how he first came to Springfield eager and full of idealism in the seventies, but has since become cynical and disillusioned about his flock and his ministry, mostly due to Flanders, who constantly pesters the Reverend with such non-emergencies as coveting his own wife. Lovejoy would dispatch these, and the concerns of other parishioners, with as much brevity as he could manage so that he could go back to his true passion - his model trains. "I just stopped caring", he explained to Marge. "[But] fortunately, by then it was the eighties, and no one noticed." The producers of The Simpsons at one point said that Lovejoy was one of the least corrupt and most decent characters in Springfield.

However, Lovejoy has increasingly been portrayed as a hyperconservative fundamentalist. In She of Little Faith, he calls Lisa, who had converted to Buddhism, "Marge Simpson's devil-daughter". In another case, he refused to perform same-sex marriages when Springfield legalized it, claiming the Bible forbids it, but when asked which book, he did not answer. He also read to Lisa an excerpt from the Bible justifying the Whacking Day, but wouldn't show this text to Lisa, when she asked to see it. He has also been seen driving a "Book-burning mobile."

His sermons now vary between dreary recitations of the more opaque parts of the Old Testament, to the occasional "fire and brimstone" scaremongering about Hell - and very little of the love and joy that the Reverend's surname makes comment on.

Bart and Homer, particularly, find it extremely difficult to pay attention during church. If his congregation begins to drowse off, Lovejoy can awaken them by pressing a button on his lectern which plays pre-recorded sounds, including an eagle, an ambulance, and a Disco whistle. The church itself is a clone of the one seen in The Graduate.

Lovejoy, although a clergyman, is by no means perfect as a human being. He has been seen actively encouraging his dog to foul Ned Flanders' lawn, engage in a violent altercation with a Catholic priest, happily exploit his congregation for large amounts of money, and even attempt to burn his own church down. Despite these lapses, he is essentially a good man who has lost much of his enthusiasm thanks to the constant difficulties of guiding Springfieldians along a "righteous" path.

Quotes

 * There's more to being a minister than not caring about people.
 * (Holding Bible) Marge, have you ever actually read this thing? Technically, we're not allowed to go to the bathroom.
 * (Realising that In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida is being played on the organ) Wait a minute! This sounds like rock and/or roll!
 * (In response to one of Ned Flanders' frequent panics) Uh, Ned? Have you ever considered one of the other major religions? They're really all pretty much the same.
 * (Frequent response to one of Ned Flanders' frequent panics) Damn Flanders.