Cinematical

Just for the heck of it, I looked it up; Castle-Hughes is not a minor in her country of New Zealand, where 16 is the age of consent.

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As a Catholic with a good deal of knowledge about her religion, it irritates me to no end that those not of my faith refer to Jesus' conception as the "Immacualte Conception". That is NOT the Immacualte Conception. Mary's conception is the Immaculate Conception. She was born pure of original sin in order to be a pure vessel in which to carry Jesus. Will all non-Catholics and any other know-it-alls out there PLEASE get it right?
BTW, all you chumps wearing rosaries as necklaces.... they are prayer tools you idiots, not fashion accessories. You spit on my faith every time you put one around your neck!

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to quote lauren:
BTW, all you chumps wearing rosaries as necklaces.... they are prayer tools you idiots, not fashion accessories. You spit on my faith every time you put one around your neck!

The name calling and anger is a bit much to promote your Godliness, don't you think? ..but then, you're probably one of the people that adorn your house with green ugly witches at Halloween, and spit on the people with faith in the Old Religion too, aren't you?
A little tact would be preferable in your future comments. Have a lovely day, and Merry Christmas. =)

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Yeah, its simply one of those cases where society looks at these things differently. Yeah, at first I was shocked when I heard about it but then I considered that the minor laws were most likely different where she lives. I mean, crap...there are places in Europe where the drinking age is as low as 12 years old. While drinking and getting knocked up aren't the same thing, its still all about legal age of consent...and she of age there.

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Just to clarify, that is the Catholic version of the story. Other Christians do not believe Mary was sinless, that she was just like everyone else born into a sinful world etc. She was not pure of sin. Only Jesus was according to many other Christian believers.

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I was raised catholic and always thought it didn't seem right that Mary was without sin...because wouldn't that make her equal to Jesus? I thought Jesus was the only "perfect" human being. And i am glad to see MAry portrayed as she really was....childlike, darker skinned and NOT blonde and blue eyed!

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The age of majority (that is, the age at which one is able to vote and be conscripted into military service) in NZ is 18, therefore, Castle-Hughes is a minor. The age of consent -- the age at which one is legally able to decide whether to have sex -- is 16 in NZ, as it is in many countries around the world and most states in the US.

A pregnant 16YO is not a "childhood" pregnancy, it is a teen pregnancy. Personally, as a former teen mother who did manage to (gasp)actually raise my child, be a good mother, finish school, and go on to be a productive and successful adult, I'm not too worried about Castle-Hughes. If she has emotional support from her family, she and her baby will be just fine.

Personally, I'm rather more concerned at the continued hypocrisy of the Catholic Church and its papal head. Having the audacity to judge Castle-Hughes for a teen pregnancy, in light of the church's history of and ongoing role in covering up the pedophilia rampant among its priests is the height of hypocrisy.

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It's interesting to note that, according to most Catholic doctrine, Mary's "conception" by her parents (the physical joining of sperm and egg) is not the "Immaculate Conception." The Immaculate Conception refers to the moment the rational soul infused the body, not to the physical act of creating a human baby.

According to doctrine, Mary was predestined to the "second Eve," free of the stain of original sin, so as to be the perfect vessel for the son of God. However, some scholars, (i.e. Saint John Damascene) went so far as to extend the immaculate nature of her conception to her parents, writing that they were filled and purified with the Holy Spirit at the time of she was conceived, thus rendering even the sexual act that created her free of any possible stain of sin.

As former-Catholic-schoolgirl/niece of a priest, I'm curious to see how, if at all, The Nativity Story addresses this facet of Mary. It's a topic of interest to me, since, as a Catholic growing up in the Bible Belt, I frequently had to defend my family's faith against born-again Christian kids whose parents had told them Catholics were going to hell for worshiping Mary.

The Immaculate Conception bit is commonly misunderstood by non-Catholics, and with this movie coming out there will no doubt be more of it, but when helping others to understand what the term means, it probably goes over better with a side order of grace. I kind of doubt that Mary went around calling people "chumps" and "idiots," even when they didn't believe she had conceived a child without having been with a man.

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Okay, is it too much to ask that you cite a source? This is just a rumor at this point -- and no source makes it severely dubious.

Part of the problem is that the Pope is so high up on a pedestal, we often paint him into a corner. We -- Catholic, protestant, agnostic, atheist -- only see him as "holier than though," who can't even be in the room with a (gasp!) sinful person. Could it be the reality is far different? That the Pope himself actually loves and cares about Ms. Castle-Hughes, and might even talk to her if he met her?

And I wish the Internet at large would get off this "we're talking about religion, not rationality" thing. Catholicism contributed heavily to modern philosophical thought, and their doctrines are arrived at through long rational thinking (even in cases when it's wrong). And Monks often carried rational knowledge by preseving and transcribing manuscripts throughout the dark ages.

Case in point, the far more rational thought is that the Pope did indeed have a prior engagement, rather than wanting to avoid a pregnant teenager.

-Pie

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Hi Pie,

Monika did cite the source story -- an article in the UK pub The Guardian -- in the "read" link at the bottom of the post. Readers don't always realize that's there, however, so I also added a link to the source story into the body of the text to make it more obvious.

-kdv

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Thanks for the correction Kim. My apologies to Monica, as I stand corrected.

The Guardian's "According to Reports" sure doesn't instill much confidence... guess I better head over there and hassle them! :)

-Pie

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Thanks for the correction Kim. My apologies to Monica, as I stand corrected myself.

The Guardian's "According to Reports" sure doesn't instill much confidence... guess I better head over there and hassle them! :)

-Pie

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There's a great book out by Scott McKnight called The Real Mary. It looks quite interesting. Check it out here:

http://www.amazon.com/Real-Mary-Evangelical-Christians-Embrace/dp/1557255237/sr=8-1/qid=1164833045/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-0916415-2134059?ie=UTF8&s=books

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Great response to Lauren, J....I couldn't have said it better!

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Too many people in this world have the inability to seperate an actor or actress from the roles that they play on screen. People are imperfect. I saw this movie last night and it was one of the most powerful movies I have seen in a long time. Keisha Castle-Hughes did an AMAZING job! I was moved beyond expression by her performance and the performance of all the actors. Keisha is a young girl who is capable of making mistakes and hopefully learning from them as well. I am not Catholic, but I am a religious Christian and I do not feel that it is Christlike to judge this young girl or to call for a boycott of this movie as some people have. On the contrary, I think that every Christian should see this film and should support it. There are too many films out there that are trash that people don't think twice about seeing and films like this rarely get a turn out.

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