Quotable & Notable

“It made me feel unimportant to the church, so I decided to write the bishop and ask him to reconsider his decision.”

-- A 10-year-old girl writing to the Lincoln, Neb., Journal Star about the Lincoln diocese’s being the only one in the country that does not allow female altar servers

“I believe the government that governs best is the government that governs least. And by these standards, we have set up a fabulous government in Iraq.”

-- Comedian Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner

“I’m not going to sit here and listen to a shirt-and-tie preacher. But I might listen to a guy in spandex because he’s like me.”

-- Timothy “T- Money” Blackmon, founder of the evangelical Christian group Wrestling for Jesus

“The good news is the Democrats don’t have much of a plan. The bad news is they may not need one.”

-- Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio on President Bush’s dismal approval ratings

“The Bible has been selling far more copies than Dan Brown’s book for many years and it will be selling by the multiplied millions long after The Da Vinci Code is a forgotten relic.”

-- Bible scholar Michael Brown, who doesn’t see any threat from the book and movie to people of faith

National Catholic Reporter, May 12, 2006