Pope’s book a best seller. Jesus of Nazareth by Joseph Ratzinger debuts @ #10 on the New York Times hardcover nonfiction list.

New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan on 60 Minutes. Here’s Dolan (on the show’s online supplement) defending Church teaching on abortion, the ordination of women, priestly celibacy and gay marriage. People can decide for themselves how convincing he was (or wasn’t) on each particular hot-button issue.

Emilio Estevez prays for Charlie Sheen. The older brother of the once-and-future (?) Two and a Half Men star joins his father Martin Sheen in praying for him, saying “There’s always hope, and there are so many examples of people pulling themselves out of the s**t and having a rebirth.” Very true.
Personally, Charlie, no matter what CBS President Leslie Moonves wants, I think you’d be wise to call it a day on Two and a Half Men and to resist offers from Fox or HDNet’s Mark Cuban (whom you appeared with on Jimmy Kimmel last night) as well. There’s no indication that these guys see you as anything more than a way to rake in money for their respective corporations.  Todd Bridges, the former Diff’rent Strokes star who has successfully battled substance addiction, offered some good advice on The View that involves staying away from  enablers who don’t really care about you. Also, Alcoholics Anonymous works. Rely on a Higher Power that really does care about you. You’re not really a “warlock.”
BTW, Emilio’s new film (as actor/writer/director), the faith-themed The Way,   marks his third collaboration with his dad. View Trailer. Let’s hope and pray Charlie finds his personal way to a better, healthier path.

Big Love ends its run on HBO. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints once issued a statement about the show (which focused on a polygamist family belonging to a fundamentalist Mormon sect) that read “Big Love, like so much other television programming, is essentially lazy and indulgent entertainment that does nothing for our society and will never nourish great minds.” I think that means they didn’t like it.
But as one Big Love ends it run on TV, the irreverent satire The Book of Mormon (from the creators of South Park) opens on Broadway.  As USA Today reports, the play is actually receiving a good reception from some Mormons. It may, in fact, be funny and it’s good for all people (including Catholics) to be able to laugh at themselves.
Still, I think Mormons would appreciate a show about them that doesn’t portray them as either polygamists or spoof them as the world’s most-naive geeks.

.XXX? The idea of an online red-light district has aroused (poor choice of words) the ire of both religious groups and pornographers.  The former believes it legitimizes the content, the latter thinks it ghettoizes it.

Producer of The Kennedys speaks out. Joel Surnow (24) says History Channel’s dumping of his eight-hour miniseries on the nation’s most famous Catholic political family smacks of censorship. View trailer. The controversial film debuts Sunday, April 3rd on something called ReelzChannel.

Bill Maher has yet another name for Sarah Palin. As part of a joke (that also manages to involve Japan’s tsunami), he calls the former veep candidate a “dumb twat.” Twat, of course, is a vulgar term for part of a woman’s anatomy. A.) I’m not sure tsunami jokes are funny right now (just ask Gilbert Gottfried). B.) Adding the word “twat” to a joke, even for the apparently socially-acceptable reason of demeaning Palin,  doesn’t make it funnier.

On a positive note…Sandra Bullock has donated $1 million to the American Red Cross for earthquake and tsunami relief efforts in Japan. In a statement, the relief organization said “This contribution is vitally important as the Red Cross works to provide critical assistance and essential relief items in this time of urgent need for so many people in Japan.”

Encourage one another and build each other up – 1 Thessalonians 5:11