Movie review: JUNO

Not that I'm taking the place of Roger and Ebert, nor is this of expert film-critic quality. Rather, these are just a few thoughts about a movie that I saw the other night which was not only entertaining but edifying and insightful. I had heard good things about this movie from other friends of mine, so my curiosity just needed to be satiated with this one ... partly because it was a movie about teen pregnancy, but also because I heard that it was filled with hilarious one-liners. As a budding theologian, I could have viewed the movie with hawk-eyed moral lenses. It's obvious, as a Catholic, that the situation of teen pregnancy is not compatible with the Church's teaching on marriage and sexuality. I could have watched this from a parent's point of view (as best as I can imagine it, being the celibate-seminarian that I am) and observing how the dynamic of this family's life is less than ideal and could have contributed to the wondering curiosities of a sixteen year old girl and her boyfriend. But let's face it, this is a real situation that faces many teens and parents that are in our parishes. Instead of watching the film with a moral theologian's lenses, I tried my best to watch this movie as a pastor, a future shepherd of souls. And I thought to myself, "What would my reaction be if this was a pastoral situation in which I was included? What would I say to the parents? To the young girl? To the girl's boyfriend?"

I walked out of the theater thinking to myself, "Love conquers a multitude of sins" (cf. 1 Pt 4:8). How can love -- in the fullest Christian sense of the word -- be the operative factor in this situation? How can the Church's moral teaching be proudly upheld while respecting the dilemma that faces the lives of these people? While I am still pondering what my response would be (I know that there are still a few classes to help me navigate through the complex issues surrounding this situation here in the seminary curriculum), my initial thought is this: I'd like to say that I want to be like the father of the prodigal son who joyously welcomes his son home. The father knows deeply how the son offended him by demanding his share of the inheritance. To pour salt in this wound, the younger son squanders the hard-earned inheritance that was a gift to him from his father. And yet, the father -- knowing all this -- eagerly awaited the return of the son. As Scripture tells us, the father, anticipating the son's return, runs out to meet the wayward son while he is still off in the distance. What joy must have filled the heart of the father: "My son has come home!" Perhaps a conversation would have ensued between the father and the younger son to reflect on the recent course of actions. It would be easier as a priest to berate people in situations like this which are filled with emotional complexities in addition to the moral complexity of the situation. But, from what I am learning from our Pastoral Theology courses like the one on Ministry to Families which Theology 3 took this past JTerm, it would be a lack of charity to condone their choice which put themselves in a situation like this in the first place. The peculiar pro-life plug in the movie is how Juno considers having an early term abortion to remedy the situation quickly. There was something about being at the clinic that spoke to her conscience that told her that there are better alternatives to the situation than the quick-fix of an abortion. I, as a future-priest, would applaud Juno for wrestling with such a tough situation and making a decision for life, and would be eager to support her in navigating through the murky waters of teen pregnancy.

One cannot help but enjoy Juno's quick-wit which makes the movie very light-hearted, even though it is dealing with a very delicate real-life situation. I had many laughs throughout the movie, but within the laughter, there is the voice of a wandering soul questioning it's identity: "Who am I?" "What -- or who -- am I created to be?" I think that this movie, while not giving concrete Christian answers to the questions, speaks deeply to the heart of a situation in which many people today find themselves. Today's young people, amdist the grown pains that accompany the adolescent years, are quite perceptive to the hope that life can offer because they have not yet been jaded by the pursuit of dreams that oftentimes can cloud the mind from purusing God's will in their life. Yet sometimes, these young people make imprudent decisions along the way toward happiness. Rather than a judge deciding their sentence, they need a Cyrenean in their lives who serves them, as a ladder to help them climb out of these situations. Today's young people are yearning for what it means to find lifelong happiness. And while I know that that pursuit of ultimate happiness is best undertaken with Christ as the center and pinnacle of such an endeavor, I know that this is not the starting point in the lives of many of today's young people. They can be so deaf to the voice of Jesus speaking in their lives because of the noise of our society. Hence it is the job of priests to have a knack for being able to speak a word of truth that gives clarity to the hearts and minds of people who find themselves in complicated situations like Juno's.

All these thoughts the day after our silent Canonical Retreat conclude.