Breaking News: Teen Actress Playing Mary in “The Nativity Story” is not a Virgin!
The Times OnLine is reporting that the Vatican is embarrassed the 16 year old actress, Keisha Castle Hughes, who plays Mary in the film The Nativity Story is unmarried and pregnant. It was also reported that the Pope will not attend the screening of the movie based on this revelation. As the case, more often than not, the media’s conjecture of motive is predictably wrong.
A Vatican spokesman said yesterday that the Pope “never was going to attend. The surprise would have been if he had.†His decision had nothing to do with the film. He is 79 and preparing for a visit to Turkey on Tuesday.
Father Melchor Sánchez de Toca y Alameda, deputy to Cardinal Paul Poupard, head of the Papal Council for Culture, which is hosting the screening, confirmed there were rumours that Castle-Hughes’s presence on Sunday had been “vetoedâ€, but said he “did not believe themâ€. He gave the film “8½ out of 10â€, and said Castle-Hughes was “not expected to be a saint herself, only to do her work as an actress properlyâ€.
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I don’t believe that acting pietistic is the answer. Christian pietism gives the wrong message to the non-believers. We need to always tell the world that we are ALL sinners who fall short!!!
That means the girl playing Mary might have used drugs or maybe pregnant and unmarried. She might has sworn or used God’s name in vain. She is IMPERFECT and in need (as you and I are) of a Savior.
Preach Christ and not good works. If the Pope refuses to see this movie based on the sinful act of one of the actors in the movie then he best not ever see another movie for the rest of his life.
He is reassuring the non-believers in the world that your a Christian by the way you ACT when he should be telling them that you are a Christian by the way you BELIEVE. Actions don’t always dictate what you believe because of our sinful condition, we mess up daily. EVEN THE POPE.
His sin shows in his acts just as much as mine shows in my acts.
Comment by Tammy — November 24, 2006 @ 9:18 am
Tammy,
I don’t believe that acting pietistic is the answer.
There is a difference between being sinful and repentant and sinful and unrepentant. Biblical admonitions dictate different approaches to each, for the sake of the unrepentant and for the sake of scandalizing others. If avoiding leading others into sin by not giving the impression that unrepented sinful acts are unimportant, is pietistic then I disagree with your statement. Jesus repeatedly warned that one must be careful in his acts not to lead others into sin. This includes by one’s actions, avoiding implying that sinful acts are unimportant or even acceptable. It is often a difficult matter to discern the most prudent action in any given situation. However, what I would suggest is unacceptable is for Christians to criticize other Christians for considering this obligation in their actions and uncharitably judging their motivations. Having said this, I do not think that this situation attains here.
Preach Christ and not good works.
This is a false dichotomy. To preach Christ is to preach conversion not simply in intellect but in the whole person including his actions. Jesus over and over preached that one who does not keep His commandments cannot be saved. It is not an either/or proposition. The biblical admonition is that for salvation it is “both/and”; we must have faith and we must cooperate with grace and keep the commandments.
His sin shows in his acts just as much as mine shows in my acts..
Since not going to a movie is not a sinful act, you must be judging the interior state of the Pope’s soul by intuiting his motivation as sinful. This is an act that Jesus warns against (judge not lest you be judged). In this passage, Jesus does not warn against judging actions but against judging the person’s state of soul.
In the end, if you read Shelray’s linked article you will see that the Vatican said that B16 had never planned to go to the movie.
Comment by David — November 24, 2006 @ 9:56 am
He is reassuring the non-believers in the world that your a Christian by the way you ACT when he should be telling them that you are a Christian by the way you BELIEVE.
Tammy, I’m sorry but that just doesn’t make sense. There should be no dichotomy between belief and act. I’m afraid sometimes our non-catholic friends are so afraid of “good works” that they have made “good works” a bad thing.
Plus, it’s simply that the Holy Father is busy, you know, doing good works and believing in Christ.
He had not intended to see the movie, says the article.
Comment by monica — November 24, 2006 @ 1:02 pm
Oh, just read David’s post — mine is redundant!
Comment by monica — November 24, 2006 @ 1:03 pm
I saw this movie, and I thought that Keisha Castle-Hughes did an OK job. She wasn’t phenomonal, but not many people are. I agree with everyone that just because she had a baby at 17 (the same age as I am) doesn’t mean that she can’t play Mary in a movie. However, due to the fact that she must not have been pregnant in the movie, and that she actually conceived after filming it, you’d think she would have learned from it. If she’s still having sex with her boyfriend after playing the VIRGIN MARY in a movie based solely on faith in God, it kind of makes you wonder. However, Hollywood is Hollywood. No one is perfect. I can just hope that she wasn’t simply playing this role for money and that perhaps, just perhaps, she and her 19-year-old boyfriend can somehow raise their child with Christian values in order to create a decent citizen. Dare to dream. In the meantime, I will pray for her and all the people in the world who think it’s OK to make “minor slip-ups” just because God forgives. You’re supposed to try and not make these mistakes. Especially not over and over again.
Comment by Suzie — May 2, 2007 @ 3:29 pm