You Can Donate A Joke To Help Pope Francis' Charities

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Even if you don't see Pope Francis in person during his visit to New York, you can still be engaged -- by using your sense of humor.

As CBS2's Mark Morgan reported, JokeWithThePope.org is where you can go to test out your humor and submit a funny joke or story.

After clicking, you can choose one of three charities to support -- in Argentina, Ethiopia or Kenya.

The "Joke with the Pope" campaign was the brainchild of Father Andrew Small.

"You can make a donation," Small said. "We're sort of always asking for money. Why don't you donate a joke, donate a piece of humor to the Holy Father's charities? And that way it's a bit more of an offbeat way of getting into what the church is doing around the world."

Cardinal Timothy Dolan has even submitted a story about when he was archbishop in Milwaukee and he met with Pope John Paul II.

"'Well, Holy Father, the archdiocese is growing. It's getting bigger and bigger,'" Dolan said he told the pope. "And he stopped me and he looked at me and he said, 'So is its archbishop.' And I thought, oh great, now I have an infallible statement that I'm fat. Anyway, he laughed. I didn't."

Morgan asked some New Yorkers what joke they might submit.

"Two peanuts are walking down the street," said Lilly Sapozhnikova, of the Upper East Side. "What happened to the other peanut? It got a-salted."

Rebecca Nathan, also of the Upper East Side, said she "would probably make a Jewish joke because I'm Jewish. ... I think he'd laugh."

The contest winner will be given the title of "honorary comedic adviser to the Pope," and $10,000 will be donated to their chosen charity.

"While Pope Francis is himself a bit of a wild card, you've got to say something which you would be comfortable saying in front of the pope maybe with your mother watching," Small said.

The deadline for submitting your joke is Oct. 2. A panel, led by comedian Bill Murray, will help choose the winner.

The winner will be announced Oct. 5.