The play, written by a Notre Dame grad, recently took to stage at the University of Delaware. The dialogue includes a gal asking Christ: “Did you ever say, ‘I’m Jesus, and I say that stupid girls who let guys talk them into going to the back seat of their cars have to have babies?’ Did you say that ever?”

“No,” Jesus replies.

“All you talk about is, be nice to each other!” the teenager continues. “You never said nobody’s allowed to have an abortion.”

The fictional Jesus confirms her assertion.

“So can I? Can I? Can I?” she asks.

“Honestly, I — I don’t really have an issue with it,” Jesus tells her.

Honestly?

Honestly. Rather than uplift and challenge, the hallmark of great art, this just seems to bring Jesus down to our broken level. Where’s the hope in that

Read the full piece at NRO.

–

Jenner was recognized by someone at the baggage claim. Conversation ensued. It was just a few months into the Obama presidency and Jenner started talking about how he wanted to give the president the benefit of the doubt but seemed especially struck by the stimulus at the time as a bad idea. There was criticism of Bush, too, on the bailout, but Obama was clearly trying his patience as he tried to wait and see.

So that Jenner’s come out and point-blank said “He’s done nothing” for the Nobel Peace prize doesn’t surprise me. But since it’s such a brief comment, as a CHiPs fan from back in the day, I know it’s not just bomb-throwing. Sounds like just another concerned citizen.

BTW: Can’t a guy pump his gas without a camera? If only the Washington press corps put half as much effort into their jobs as the Hollywood paparazzi does theirs…

This story warms my heart: Andy Williams is not a fan of the president:  

I think he wants to create a socialist country. The people he associates with are very Left-wing. One is registered as a Communist.

Yes, that Andy Williams.

Of “Love Story” fame — you don’t have to love the movie to sing the song.

Or, for the men in the room, there’s The Godfather.

And this is the kind of story I usually only get listening to Bill Bennett’s interviews with random musicians on his morning show: 

The 81-year-old was a friend of the Kennedy family during the 1960s and was present at the Los Angeles rally where Robert F Kennedy was assassinated in 1968. 

“I was very close to Bobby and he asked me to be a delegate for him when he ran for president,” he said.

“He knew about me being a Republican, but just laughed and said, ‘Sign yourself in as a Democrat and then change back afterwards’. Sadly, I never got to do that.

“I was very close to Teddy Kennedy, too, and his death recently brought it all back. What a tragedy. Had he lived, I think Bobby would have been a great president.”

There is something so American about it all.

“Angels & Demons” upset me.

But not for the reason you may think.

The new movie, based on the Dan Brown book of the same title, is, of course, full of nonsense. But most of it I expected.

The boots, I didn’t.

I know that the Vatican didn’t grant Ron Howard and his team all of the access they wanted. But after seeing the movie, I wonder if anyone having to do with the film even went to Rome. Or, more specifically, if any women associated with the movie went to Rome.

I was in Rome last year with a group of women. Our group was lead by a priest you’d love to walk you through life. But there was one issue he couldn’t fully appreciate: Shoes.

When we got latched onto a real expert on this front, we asked the important question: How do you do it? These streets are not made for walking in heels.

“You don’t wear heels,” she replied.

This is unheard of for the 5′4” among us.

And so the most ridiculous aspect of the new movie “Angels & Demons” for any woman who has tried looking taller on the streets of is watching actress Ayelet Zurer walking and running through the streets of the Eternal City wearing stiletto boots. In reality, the heels on those boots would be destroyed before she could hit her second church, and that’s saying something in a city full of them.

I’m no expert, but I have tried and failed. Heck, I wrecked shoes in Georgetown this weekend and running the “Exorcist” stairs to the cobblestone on M Street is no comparison to the damage Rome will do to Jimmy Choos – well, or Nine West.

24 isn’t the first thing most people would think of when looking for a pop-culture representation of papal guidance, but if you’ve been watching 24 this season, you’ve seen a taste of what Pope John Paul II meant by “the genius of the feminine.” You’ve seen the complementarity of men and women at work.

During Monday night’s show, that Port Authority officer was not that innocent, having agreed to help a supposed electronics-smuggling ring (tempted by the extra money it would bring his family, with twins on the way). Seeing his regret once he knew the stakes–that he was aiding another terrorist attack on the United States–Jack Bauer couldn’t let him die if it was within his power to keep him alive.

At a remarkable moment in Monday night’s episode, Jack had the choice of keeping his word to have the guy’s back or (defensibly and understandably) sacrificing him. He chose what was probably the reckless option. But by doing so, Jack not only saved this man’s life but also affirmed his commitment to human dignity on another day when he was driven to do things he really didn’t want to, for the good of the country, in defense of freedom.

We saw this same compassionate side of Bauer at the White House a few hours ago, when he was locked in a safe room with the president: The president pleaded with him as a parent, playing on his love for his daughter, to let her save her daughter from torture (this is 24, so I mean that literally).

During these latter hours of the day, Jack has been under the influence of Renee Walker. Renee is an FBI agent who appreciates that desperate times call for desperate measures. As a necessarily rogue agent, Jack has broken rules of civility. I won’t defend all he’s done and he has made clear that he will take responsibility for every bit of it. But it’s hard not to notice that being around Renee, and the female president, has had an effect on him.

Renee, too, has done things she didn’t want to do. She was shaken not just by the near death of the president’s husband on their watch, but by the fear of the young mother and child she had to terrify in order to help locate the woman’s treasonous husband.

In a message to an international congress on “Life, Family, Development: The Role of Women in the Promotion of Human Rights,” at the Vatican this past weekend, Pope Benedict XVI said: “Given the distinctive influence of women in society, they must be encouraged to embrace the opportunity to uphold the dignity of life through their involvement in education and their participation in political and civic life.”

He said of women: “Because they have been gifted by the Creator with a unique ‘capacity for the other,’ women have a crucial part to play in the promotion of human rights, for without their voice the social fabric of society would be weakened.”

You have seen that concern for the other in Agent Walker throughout the season. You’ve have seen that concern for the other in the president all season.

That is not to say that David Palmer was self-interested. (President Charles Logan was another story entirely.) But a woman brings something out in a man (the reverse is true too, because we complement one another) and you’re seeing that on 24. In its way, it’s a little pop-culture clarity in a land of confusion.

As you’ve heard, over at National Review Online, we’re going through a list of the best 25 conservative movies of the last 25 years. If you’re a reader of our print edition, you might have seen the full list by now, which includes a list of movies that almost but quite didn’t make it. And here’s my problem.

Well – first – here’s the “Also Rans” list:

Air Force One, Amazing Grace, An American Carol, Barcelona, Bella, Cinderella Man, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Hamburger Hill, The Hanoi Hilton, The Hunt for Red October, The Island, Knocked Up, The Last Days of Disco, The Lost City, Miracle, The Patriot, Rocky Balboa, Serenity, Stand and Deliver, Tears of the Sun, Thank You for Smoking, Three Kings, Tin Men, The Truman Show, Witness.

There are a lot of complaints one can issue but ROCKY BALBOA?  Here I know everyone who hasn’t seen the full list has been watching and waiting for the Sly one to appear. Maybe #1? No, try Not At All. Rocky, of course, is a man. And if you watch him from Rocky to Rocky B — you see the ups and downs and hits and misses and the heartaches. And where pop culture so often trivializes men – by making them buffoonish (the doofus dad, the over-testosteroned action hero, or feminized dude) – to have a guy who faces his responsibilities, insecurities, and trials … like a man … is something to celebrate.

And what twenty-something boy doesn’t need to hear this from his father?

Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t how hard you hit; it’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done. Now, if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain’t you. You’re better than that!

Actually, there is no reason to pick on twenty-something guys. Someone could tell that to everyone wanting to be bailed out right about now.

Yesterday I mentioned the doc-sitcom Scrubs. Today, comes this news on the Wall Street Journal’s op-ed page: “Hospital Scrubs Are a Germy, Deadly Mess.” In the last season of another medical drama, ER, will George Clooney have the audacity to return to the state of the emergency and expose this dangerous state of affairs? We can only hope.

Without being grim or sectarian, let me summarize. During an episode of the NBC ABC show last night, stars J.D. and Turk, two young doctors who had been roommates during college, walked an older patient—a retired football coach and widower—toward “the light.” Turk described himself as a “man of faith.” Dr. J.D.’s not quite there yet.

Over in the National Review world, we’re anticipating the likely imminent death of Father Richard John Neuhaus. He’s a Catholic priest who is on our masthead, was a longtime religion editor of ours, and founded the ecumenical journal First Things, which covers religion, politics, and culture. I’m a Catholic, too, and was surprised by the urgent pray-for-Fr.-Neuhaus-to-get-well e-mails. He’s been sick for a while now; this is his second relapse of cancer. And, as it happens, doctors don’t expect him to hang on for much longer. Which is sad for all who know him—a prolific writer, solid preacher, and generous man, he will be missed—and for all who would have liked to know him. But, for a faithful Catholic priest (and so many religious believers), death is actually joyous news.

Which is what Scrubs was getting at, with laughter and poignancy. There’s, of course, uncertainty, even for the doctor of “faith.” But there’s something good and decent and healthy about celebrating a life well lived and being at peace with its end. J.D.—again with no religious agenda of any sort—explained, when the patient worried no one would remember him, that he had similar concerns when his own father died. But years later, a homeless man (J.D. and his brother used to call him Mr. Stinky Pants) who his dad used to give food to—treat as a person and not a nuisance—approached him, fully employed and clean shaven. He told J.D. that his father had been a great man, making clear that simple kindness made a real difference in his (now known to J.D. as Kevin) life.

I’m not blogging at “Big Hollywood” to say you have to believe what I believe—I doubt you’d drop everything to rush to the “Taj Mahoney” in Los Angeles even if I tried to persuade you to do this (and, especially architecturally speaking, I wouldn’t blame you). I’m blogging to say “thank you” to all of you who do good things with your power in the entertainment world. There was nothing heavy-handed at work on Scrubs. Just something good.

UPDATE: Fr. Neuhaus died Thursday morning.