Exodus: Episcopal Controversy Leads Some to Rome
by TIM DRAKE
Features Correspondent

CONCORD, N.H. – Tensions are guaranteed to be high when the Episcopal General Convention meets in Minneapolis on July 28. The church is in crisis.

In May, Jeffrey John was appointed to head the Anglican diocese of Reading, England. Just one month later, across the Atlantic, Gene Robinson was elected Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire. Both men describe themselves as homosexuals.

Their appointments have caused divisions in the Anglican church and its American counterpart. Furthermore, the Anglican Communion’s move away from orthodoxy has also led some of her members to consider the claims of Catholicism.

Rev. John withdrew his name from consideration July 6 citing Church unity.

Historically, the Anglican Communion has opposed homosexual relations. At its 1998 Lambeth Conference – a meeting of all of the world’s Anglican bishops - the southern provinces (Africa, Asia and Latin America) outvoted the northern provinces 527 to 69 to approve a resolution calling homosexual acts “incompatible with Scripture.” That declaration also opposed the blessing of same-sex unions and the ordination of actively homosexual clergy.

Yet, individual parishes in England, the United States and Canada have ignored the resolutions, blessing same-sex unions and ordaining actively homosexual clergy under the rubrics of what is described as a “local option.”

Bishop Jeffrey John told The Times of London that he has been in a homosexual relationship for 27 years, but claims that the relationship is celibate. Gene Robinson said that he “came out” as a homosexual in 1986 and soon after divorced his wife, with whom he had two daughters.

Robinson, running against three other candidates, won the majority vote of 58 of 77 clergy members and 96 of 165 lay representatives in his election in May. However, before he can take office, his election must be ratified by a majority of U.S. Episcopal dioceses. If he is confirmed he would be the ninth bishop of New Hampshire.

The moves have led to a dispute within the Anglican Communion – a church body made up of 79 million members. Sixteen of the Church of England’s bishops wrote an open letter expressing their concern over the action, some calling for Bishop John to resign his post.

They warned that it could divide the church.

The Archbishop of the West Indies and the Primate of Nigeria have both called for Bishop John to step down. In addition, fourteen Evangelical and Anglo-Catholic Global South Primates have declared themselves in "broken communion" with the Diocese of New Westminster.

North and the South
“The split has become a fissure that is going to wrench the whole Anglican community apart,” said David Virtue, an Evangelical Anglican and critic of the actions. Virtue operates Virtuosity – a West Chester, Pa.-based orthodox Anglican news service.

“If the Anglican Communion dies, we will have a federation,” he said.

Virtue is not alone in predicting a schism. Lee Penn, a convert from the Episcopal church to the Eastern Rite Russian Catholic Church in 1995 believes that the division could lead to a “true schism between the rich, northern provinces and the poor, southern provinces.”

“Following the 1998 Lambeth Conference, Trinity Parish located on Wall Street decided to withhold some of their funding of the poor southern provinces,” said Virtue. “They were saying, ‘You didn’t do what we told you to do, so we aren’t going to give you any more money.”

Virtue said that the divide is not about gender, but rather over the authority of Scripture.

“Do we adhere to Scripture or not?” asked Virtue. “The southern global provinces are saying, ‘Yes, we do,” and the north is saying, ‘We do not.’”

“Revisionists are trying to tell God that he needs to change his mind about sex,” said Virtue. “If we can change that we can change anything.”

One thing is for certain. The dispute is leading some Anglicans to look elsewhere.

“My sense, based upon what I hear from other conservative Anglicans, is that the controversy is starting to push people out,” said Penn, who resides in San Francisco. “There is an acceleration in the breakup of the Anglican Communion and an increasing defection to other denominations.”

Membership statistics demonstrate that the Episcopal Church USA has decreased from approximately 2.5 million in the early to mid-1990s to 2.3 million today.

When it comes to abandoning the Anglican church, Virtue explained that there are four common options available to Anglicans – the Anglican Continuing Church movement, the Anglican Mission in America (AMIA), Orthodoxy, or the Catholic Church.

Of those options the AMIA has had some success in attracting disgruntled Episcopalians.

“The AMIA is a mission based in South Carolina that is trying to rescue Anglicanism from the liberals,” explained Virtue. “They have a couple of bishops and are creating mission parishes in the U.S.” At present the AMIA is comprised of approximately 51 parishes and 12,500 people. “When a parish joins the AMIA,” said Virtue, “they take the whole congregation with them.”

Still, others are headed toward Rome.

The exodus from the Anglican Communion to Catholicism has been a steady trend that the Coming Home Network – a non-profit organization that assists Protestant clergy considering entering the Catholic Church – has kept abreast of over the past decade.

Crossing the Tiber
In 2001, the organization noted at least eight Episcopal clergy converts. Last year there were 14. The network received their largest group of inquirers in 1995, when they were contacted by 49 Episcopal clergy, all of whom later converted.

The Coming Home Network also noted that the largest denomination represented by their members is the Episcopal church.

“We are in contact with 149 Episcopal clergy,” said Jim Anderson, assistant director for the Zanesville, Ohio-based Coming Home Network. “Of those, 111 have converted to Catholicism and 39 are still on the journey.”

Among the converts, one of the most recent is Jeffrey Hopper of Abilene, Texas. Ordained an Episcopal priest in December 1988, Hopper served as a military chaplain.

He entered the Catholic Church on June 1 and has already begun the pastoral provision process to be considered as a candidate to the Catholic priesthood.

Hopper told the Register that the impetus for his spiritual search was the moral breakdown in the Episcopal church.

“I finally realized that you can’t change Church doctrines with a 51% vote,” said Hopper. “Once the Anglican Communion began allowing female ordination in the 1970s it seemed natural that homosexual ordination would be next. If you can compromise on one standard, why can’t you compromise on another?”

He said the decision didn’t come easily. At one point, a colleague asked him, “If all of the people who believe as we do leave, who will be left?”

“At some point you have to ask is this the Church?” said Hopper. “Cardinal Newman said that to be deep in history is to cease being Protestant.”

Hopper said he knows of other clergy who feel similarly.

“While at a recent clergy conference I encountered two other Episcopal priests who were considering leaving the church. They had the same concerns,” said Hopper.

As important as the crises are, they are not the sole reason for conversion.

“Crises in the Episcopal Church are common, and in one sense it was the passing succession of theological controversies that kept me in the Anglican Communion for so long,” said Dr. Gregory Elder, who was ordained in the Episcopal church in 1983.

“As a priest and pastor, I was concerned about the spiritual lives of the Episcopalians to whom I ministered,” he added.

Elder was received into the Catholic Church at Easter and currently serves as associate professor of history, philosophy and religious studies at Riverside Community College in Moreno Valley, Calif.

David Mills, a Catholic convert and editor with Touchstone magazine, agreed.

“I could have joined another Anglican body,” said Mills, “but I was never really a convinced Anglican.” “For others who were, the collapse of the Episcopal Church has showed them that there really is only one Catholic Church, and they aren’t in it.”

Copyright 2003. Tim Drake writes from St. Cloud, Minnesota. Reprinted with permission from the National Catholic Register, July 13-19, 2003. All rights reserved.
posted by Tim Drake at 11:20 AM

An Interview with Fr. Matthew Munoz - the Grandson of Actor John Wayne
by Tim Drake

Ordained on January 19, 2002 for the Orange Diocese, Father Matthew Munoz is currently the parochial vicar at St. Edward’s Catholic Church in Dana Point, Calif. The eldest of seven children, Munoz is the grandson of actor John Wayne. He recently spoke with Register features correspondent Tim Drake from his home in California.

Tell me about your family.
I was born in Encino and my family moved to Tustin when I was five. I am the oldest of seven, with four sisters and two brothers. My mother lost one son, and one daughter, right after birth. We always include them and have a prayer relationship with them. My mom’s next pregnancy was twins – a boy and girl.

My father was an attorney for 30 years and for the last several years has been a Superior Court judge. My mom was a stay-at-home mother and was active at Church, teaching Natural Family Planning and doing outreach with cancer patients.

Have you always been Catholic?
Yes, my family was raised Catholic. I’ve always attended Catholic schools. I attended Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, and went to undergraduate at St. Mary’s College in Moraga. I also studied at the Universities of Seville and Madrid.

Was there a time you fell away from your faith?
Yes, when I was in college my parents went through a difficult separation and divorce and it shook my roots for a good solid 3-4 years. I was caught up in the secular ways of college life and was really searching. I felt as lost as anyone could be and was searching for meaning in life. I lost my faith at St. Mary’s, but I also got it back. I graduated in May, but took my final course, in Heretics, the following January. During that class, taught by Brother Brendan Kneale, I learned about the heretical attitudes of history and how they have recurred through time and are still present in our modern time. At a time when I was seeking meaning and truth, that class was the spark that reignited my faith and got me back to the Church.

What did you do prior to becoming a priest?
After I graduated, I spent some time in my father’s law office, I did some construction work, I coached high school cross country, and I explored an acting career.

One professor at St. Mary’s encouraged me to be an actor. Although she didn’t know about my grandfather, she felt I had a gift. So, for a while I worked in a Beverly Hills art gallery trying to sell art so that I could work on my acting career. It took just a couple of months to discover the emptiness in the work. I felt that the draw of the money and the fame and all that goes along with that lifestyle were traps for me in my life. I had been through enough during college to know that I didn’t need to see any more of it. I learned a great deal about the value of poverty and working together as a family from my father’s side.

The prayer life was calling to me.

What led to your vocation?
I felt the calling more strongly at certain times of my life. As a young altar boy I began to experience this vocation. However, I used to think that the priests were dumb because they had to look at the book. I had memorized all the prayers and would pray them when I was serving.

When I was 14, I was invited to attend a junior seminary, but when I saw how many cute girls were going to Mater Dei I lost interest in seminary. I was active in youth ministry in high school, but the vocation slipped away in college.

After my final college class I experienced a tremendous conversion which led me to get rid of my worldly possessions and desires. Thereafter, I entered St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo.

Do you have a favorite memory about your grandfather?
I used to tell my students that if I say anything about my grandfather John Wayne, I also have to say something about my grandfather Fernando Munoz. Although you haven’t heard of him, Fernando was a Mexican immigrant coal miner that helped this country to grow. He came to the U.S. 82 years ago. He was a real cowboy. In many ways, John’s life on the screen depicts much of the life of my grandfather Fernando.

My grandfather John was just grand daddy. As kids we thought anyone’s grandfather could be on TV. As we got older we got to meet different actors and actresses. On screen they seem larger than life, but they’re just human beings. I remember when Clint Eastwood was up-and-coming, he brought one of his early films for my grandfather to watch. He was very unassuming and down-to-earth. It doesn’t strike you as something different until you realize how many people’s lives around the world have been effected by an actor.

My fondest memory is from when I was nine-years-old. We were on Balboa Island. My parents let us drive the boat, but told us not to go more than 300 yards from shore. One day I asked my cousin, who was 10, to go with me, and we took the boat a mile up the back bay all the way to my grandfather’s dock. When we arrived, in shorts and full of sand, my grandfather was entertaining guests with a formal dinner. He let out a big hoot, pulled me onto his lap, and asked me what we were doing there. I can still remember his huge smile, and the company smiling, enjoying that moment. I told him that mom and dad didn’t know we took the boat. He covered for me until we told the story a few years later.

You were 14 years old when your grandfather passed away. Is there any truth to the deathbed conversion story that’s been attributed to him?
Yes, one of the great stories of his life was that my grandmother prayed for his conversion. He would often attend Church with her and was involved with Catholic Charities and helped the Franciscan Sisters with their charitable works.

He often used to take his boat down to Panama. He was fond of the Latino people and had a real heart for the working people. It was there that he met Archbishop Clavelle. When he got ill, Archbishop Clavelle wanted to baptize him, but couldn’t. His successor, Archbishop McGrath ended up baptizing my grandfather. The current Archbishop Torres told this story to me on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, December 12, 2000. My grandfather was very stubborn, but prior to his death, Archbishop McGrath said, “Come on Duke, let me wash you up,” and he converted. I recall one priest joking, ‘Your grandfather… he got to do movies, he had a great career, he used to drink, he had all those women, and then he got baptized. Can you believe he got all that and heaven too?!’

Do you have a favorite film of your grandfather’s?
Yes, I prefer The Searchers and The Quiet Man. My mother was in The Quiet Man, as was Maureen O’Hara. Maureen was at my ordination and is a wonderful Catholic woman. She was a good friend to my grandfather and was a positive influence.


Copyright 2003, Tim Drake. All rights reserved. Originally appeared in the National Catholic Register.
posted by Tim Drake at 3:59 PM

Back to History: Returning Students Have New Textbook
by Tim Drake

CAMARILLO, Calif. - When students return to school this year, some will have a new resource that has not been available for more than 35 years - a modern, full-color, authentically Catholic history textbook.

For the past three decades, secular publishers such as Harcourt Brace and Silver, Burdett and Ginn have largely dominated the textbook market. The new book, All Ye Lands: World Cultures and Geography, published by Ignatius Press, hopes to fill the void.

Written for sixth-grade students, All Ye Lands is the first in a series of five textbooks to be published as part of the Catholic Schools Textbook Project. Seven U.S. bishops served on the project's episcopal advisory board, along with a team of history scholars, researchers and writers under the direction of Dr. Rollin Lasseter of the University of Dallas.

"This project is long overdue," said Douglas Alexander, executive director of the Catholic Schools Textbook Project. "For the past 35 years Catholic schools have been forced to use secular history textbooks because the older Catholic history textbooks have become increasingly out-of-date.

"Books from the 1930s and 1950s were written to help Catholic students face a certain set of challenges," he continued. "Students today face a different set of challenges. They need freshly written books to help them."

As an example, Alexander cited the canonization of hundreds of new saints by Pope John Paul II. The textbook project's books will include vignettes about saints.

Alexander also cited the powerful impact of a few of the many events of the past 35 years: moon landings, the ending of the Vietnam War, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Internet, the launching of World Youth Days, the saintly examples of Padre Pio and Mother Teresa, and the devastating effects of 30 years of legalized abortion.

"We have a whole generation of Catholic children who are simply unaware of their own reality," Alexander said.

James Hitchcock, professor of history at St. Louis University, agreed.

"The books usually studied by Catholic students teach them the Church was backward and tyrannical until the Second Vatican Council came along," Hitchcock said. "As a result, Catholic students do not cherish those who have gone before them or identify with the sacrifices made by previous generations to evangelize and build up the Church."

"Even worse," Alexander added, "many of today's popular secular history textbooks contain blatant factual errors, some of which directly involve the Church."

He provided as an example the world history textbook Continuity and Change, published by Holt in 1999. "On Page 404, it reads, 'Copernicus … accepted the idea that the planets moved in perfect circles around the earth.' The truth is that Copernicus, a Polish university professor and Catholic priest, argued that planets moved around the sun, not around the earth."

Catholic schools across the country have expressed interest in the project. "They are hungry for good, Catholic, up-to-date history textbooks," Alexander said.

Unfortunately, printed only weeks ago, the textbooks are too late for most schools to use this year. However, schools in California, Michigan, Alaska and Nebraska have already ordered them for use this year. The Lincoln Diocese in Nebraska plans to order books for all its sixth-graders.

Because of the book's late arrival, Anthony Ryan, marketing director for Ignatius Press, said he expects to launch a full marketing campaign prior to next school year.

Birth of a Textbook
The idea for the textbook came from Michael Van Hecke's teaching experience. When Van Hecke started teaching history 13 years ago, he was given a copy of Prentice Hall's Pageant of World History and a black-and-white photocopy of a Catholic textbook.

The secular textbook, though colorful and glossy, had no religious coverage. The old Catholic history textbook, while it contained some good stories, wasn't graphically inspiring.

Van Hecke found it overly parochial. "Why can't we marry the two?" he thought.

That idea grew and grew until 1996 when he received a $17,000 bequest to kick off the Catholic Schools Textbook Project. The project gathered a group of people to work on the project, received support from Ave Maria University and hired writers Carl and (Register correspondent) Ellen Rossini of Dallas, to write the manuscript. About three years ago, they struck a deal with Ignatius Press to print the book. The result was printed and shipped to the warehouse four weeks ago. It retails for $55.

"The textbook meets the grade-level standards of most public school systems," Van Hecke said, "but it's decidedly Catholic." Van Hecke, currently headmaster of St. Augustine Academy in Ventura, Calif., plans to use the textbooks in his school.

Tina Sabga, a fifth- and sixth-grade teacher at Spiritus Sanctus Academy in Ann Arbor, Mich., had the opportunity to use a test version of the book last year with her 22 students.

While Sabga gave the textbook high marks, she said some students struggled with the book's language and thought it was a bit advanced for their grade level. "In some sections I had to break it down word-by-word. It's probably more appropriate for a seventh- and eighth-grade level," Sabga said.

Still, the majority of her students received As and Bs - and that while using a test version without maps or pictures.

In particular, Sabga noted students enjoyed the textbook's section on the Church's history and heresies. "I have a degree in theology and thought that the way the book covered the different aspects of the Church was beautifully done," she said.

One example comes in Chapter 6, "Christianity: A Gift from God."

Says the book: "St. Augustine was widely known for his defense of Christianity against two major heretical groups, the Donatists and the Pelagians. In doing so, he developed several major teachings of the Church. The Donatists had long ago separated over the issue of bishops who weakened during persecution. To them, St. Augustine argued that sacraments are valid even if the minister is a sinner, and that the Church is holy even though it consists of saints and sinners."

An early review from the Love to Learn Catholic home school Web site has also been positive. The site described the textbook as both helpful and enlightening.

"There is a distinct effort to be fair to our Catholic legacy without whitewashing faults," it noted. "It recognizes the role of Christianity in shaping Western culture without ignoring the contributions of the Hebrews, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans."

The review noted the textbook's fun features as well. For example, a "Let's Eat" segment for each culture, toward the end of the chapter, provides information on what people ate and some simple recipes.

The text has also received praise from bishops. "I am a strong believer," says a promotional text by Bishop Raymond Burke of La Crosse, Wis., "in the importance of the knowledge of Church history for the understanding of our Catholic faith and its practice. Therefore, I am happy to give my endorsement to the Catholic Schools Textbook Project."

Mark Brumley, president of Ignatius Press, said the book was a natural for the nonprofit company.

"Fifteen years ago, when I was teaching junior high and was on the St. Louis archdiocesan textbook evaluation committee," he said, "I would have loved to have a book like this. The content is solid, the graphics are superb, and it reflects a Catholic worldview that is neither pietistic nor biased in favor of Catholicism."

No stranger to textbooks, Ignatius is also the publisher of the popular Faith & Life religion series, which is currently being revised. In addition to All Ye Lands, the project is writing a high school American history textbook. Next fall the group hopes to have its fifth-, seventh- and eighth-grade textbooks completed.

© 2002. Article originally appeared in National Catholic Register, Sept. 1-7, 2002.

posted by Tim Drake at 2:54 PM

The Day They Begged for Priests
by Tim Drake

NEW YORK - The firefighters, police officers and other rescue workers of Sept. 11 weren't the day's only heroes.

Priests were, too.

World Trade Center command centers put out an urgent call for priests that day. Priests gave general absolution to rescue workers rushing into the buildings. Priests gave the last rites to people falling out of the buildings. Priests were listening to confessions in the streets before the ash blacked everything out. And then, for months afterward, they buried the dead, comforted the troubled and ministered to a profoundly shaken flock.

Then, after the World Trade Center towers fell, the tower of the priesthood came under attack as a result of the sexual-abuse scandals. But if the sins of a tiny percentage of priests have made headlines this year, Sept. 11 tells a different story, a story of how we count on priests in times of trouble and how they don't let us down.

Each Sept. 11 priest the Register spoke with has particular images seared into his memory.
For Father George Baker, it was seeing the second plane hit the World Trade Center and later helping those that had taken refuge in his Manhattan church.

For Father John Delendick, at the site just minutes after the second plane hit, it was seeing people jump from the towers.

And for Father Geno Sylva, it was blessing recovered body parts at the site later that day.
Each will be commemorating the one-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks in a far different way.

At Ground Zero
The images are as clear today for Father George Baker as they were on Sept. 11.

His parish, Our Lady of Victory, sits just three blocks southeast of the World Trade Center complex. Following the 8:20 a.m. Mass that day, Father Baker stepped outside to greet parishioners. That's when he noticed everyone staring toward the World Trade Center. In walking over to get a better look, he saw a gaping hole in the tower with dark smoke pouring out. He returned to the church, removed his vestments, put on his suit jacket and made his way to the Millennium Hilton across from the World Trade Center complex, where a triage center had been set up.

"It was while I was there comforting people that I witnessed the second plane go into the second tower," Father Baker recalled. "Shock waves went through my body and time seemed to go blank. Suddenly, all of the police and fire personnel started screaming, telling everyone to run in an eastward direction."

Father Baker ran back to his parish.

There he found approximately 100 people gathered in the church basement - coughing, wheezing, praying and crying. They would remain until they were given clearance to leave by the National Guard later that day.

In the days following Sept. 11, the most difficult thing for Father Baker was observing among parishioners "a belief that God, for a moment in time, had turned his back or stepped away from us. When I began to celebrate public Mass with the congregation again, I looked out on all these people that used to be so attentive and they suddenly looked blank, as if they had been drained of every possible emotion and feeling, as if there was nothing left in them. They were performing the ritual of their faith, but not feeling their belief. They were like sheep without a shepherd."

It was then that Father Baker realized his parishioners needed something more.
As a result, his parish set up post-traumatic stress disorder discussion groups over the lunch hour.

"Friends or family that lived even 20 blocks away would tell them, 'It's over. You made it through. You need to move forward,'" he said. "These people needed a way to articulate their pain and hurt. They needed to shout and stomp and cry to express their emotions."

Since then Father Baker has noticed a more significant increase in the depth of soul-searching with which people come to the sacrament of reconciliation.

"It's an increase in quality, not quantity," he said. "We've always been blessed with vast numbers of people coming to the sacrament, but now they are coming with very deep reflection on their lives and examining areas where they have strayed and where they can improve their relationship with God or with others."

Father Baker plans to celebrate a 12:15 Mass on Sept. 11 to commemorate the victims of last year's attacks. He invited Cardinal Edward Egan to be the celebrant and homilist.

"After our Church reopened, we placed a Book of Remembrance in the sanctuary where parishioners could enroll names of those that had perished," he explained.

"The book has maintained a place of deep respect in our church. During the liturgy, we will place that book and a wreath in front of the altar."

Working With Youth
Ever since he responded to an emergency call on Sept. 11 to leave his chaplaincy post at a nearby high school to minister at Ground Zero, Father Geno Sylva has been trying to comfort youth, especially those who lost family members.

"Many teens' presuppositions that life is fair or that everything happens for a reason came tumbling down on Sept. 11," said Father Sylva, director of DePaul High Catholic High School in Paterson, N.J. "We're trying to try to rebuild teen-agers' faith in the goodness of people."

Father Sylva plans to start the new school year with a theme based on Isaiah 43, "I have called you by name."

This Sept. 11 he plans to gather students and faculty at 8:30 a.m. to remember what they saw a year ago. He wants teachers to discuss with students what is different about what they pictured a year ago to what they remember now.

Then he will play a video in all of the classrooms of children suffering from cystic fibrosis. He hopes to encourage students to rebuild the world and make it a better place.

As part of the school's effort, DePaul High School is partnering with the Passaic County Elks Cerebral Palsy Treatment Center to allow students to minister to children there.

"My hope is that we can change the presuppositions that were lost last September - the things that evil tried to destroy in us last year - and reverse the idea that the world is no good," Father Sylva said.

He also plans to give each student a medal bearing both the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Blessed Mother - medals he received while in Turin, Italy, this summer.

"I want to let our students know that these children need to be treated the way that Mary treated Jesus," he said.

Serving Families
Father John Delendick estimated he has served at hundreds of funeral Masses and memorial services for fallen firefighters during the past year, and the memorials still aren't finished.

"I have three more scheduled in September. Another family is waiting until they get something back," said Father Delendick, pastor of St. Michael's Catholic Church in Brooklyn and currently one of six chaplains serving the New York City Fire Department.

"We're busy, but it's a different kind of busy," Father Delendick said. "A year ago, most of our time was spent with families and family-support groups. Now, the time is spent planning for things like memorials and handling problems in the firehouses themselves. What has us worried is that other still-unforeseen problems may crop up."

While the disaster has drawn some firehouses closer together, Father Delendick said, in others the large number of deaths has contributed to mental-health issues, disagreements and hostilities.

As a result, Father Delendick helped set up counseling units to sponsor weekend getaways for firefighters and their wives. The weekends involve spending a morning and afternoon with a counselor, followed by a date consisting of dinner, a Broadway show and an evening at a New York City hotel.

"Many firefighters spent a lot of time away from home, taking care of other families while they ignored their own," Father Delendick explained.

He said he will take part in an ecumenical prayer service at fire department headquarters on Sept. 11.

The department will unveil a bronze plaque bearing the names, company and date of death of all 343 men that were lost in the attacks. Families have been invited to attend.

"I'll spend a good part of my day there," Father Delendick said. In the evening, his parish will host a Mass followed by a candlelight procession to Engine Company 201, a company that lost four men.

Still, the ceremonies are bittersweet.

"Most families are tired and want to get on with their lives," Father Delendick said. "They're sick of ceremonies. They need time for themselves. During September there will be a lot of different things happening. A lot of fresh wounds will be opened up again."

What the Priests Saw
by Tim Drake

"As people escaped from the buildings, some of them were making confessions. 'Give me a blessing, Father,' they'd ask. I heard one or two confessions. They were all hurrying away. But they'd say, 'Just give me absolution, Father,' as they hurried to get out of the place."

- Father Peter Philominraj, Our Lady of Victory parish.

"While ministering to the wounded in front of the Millennium Hotel, I heard what sounded like gunshots coming from the towers. It was not gunfire. It was the distinct sound of bodies falling to the earth."

- Father Jim Hayes, St. Andrew's Catholic Church, Manhattan

"After the buildings came down, I saw an officer running out of the debris cloud covered with dust. I ran into a nearby deli and grabbed eight to nine bottles of water to pour on his head. He later joked that he thought I was one of New York's first looters."

- Father Chris Hynes, Port Authority chaplain

"As I approached the place where one of our fellow citizens lay, every activity would stop. Soldiers would halt, digging would cease, police officers and firemen sifting through the rubble would lay aside their duties, and together we would kneel in the dust and bow our heads to pray for the dead and to afford them the reverence, respect and love that they so richly deserve.'"

- Father Robert Marciano, military chaplain, Pentagon

"I was appointed as chaplain of the Port Authority just 10 days before Sept. 11. When I got down to Ground Zero on the evening of the 11th, I could not believe the devastation. It was like World War II. It was beyond my imagination. The dust was ankle-deep. There was so much smoke and the smell was unforgettable. There were three air-cooled tractor-trailers serving as morgues. As body parts were discovered they were placed in plastic bags, wrapped in an American flag and saluted and carried away. I spent the evening praying over and blessing them.

"For the first five months I spent Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. working at Ground Zero and working with the 74 Port Authority families that have lost a loved one."

- Father Mark Giordani, Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Paterson, N.J.

© 2002. Article originally appeared in the National Catholic Register, Sept. 8-14, 2002.
posted by Tim Drake at 2:52 PM

Thank You, Father: Grass-Roots Efforts Seek to Support Priests
By Tim Drake

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The messages posted on ThankYouFather.com are simple yet profound, each revealing a truth about the priesthood.

"Dear Father Joe, You make people laugh. You teach us about God and Jesus. Eddy."

"Dear Father Don, I like you very much. You help people that are sick and dying. Love, George."

Written by second-grade students at St. Albert the Great School in Louisville, Ky., the messages are merely two of approximately 2,500 messages posted on the site from people of all ages and walks of life who want to say Thank You to priests. Most of them have little to do with the current sex-abuse crisis in the U.S. Church. Nevertheless, they have been negatively affected by the scandal's impact.

The idea for ThankYouFather.com came to former television news workers Joe Lilly and Rick Redman one morning during coffee.

"After hearing a homily by the pastor in my parish about the impact the current crisis was having on priests who have been true to their vows, I started trying to think of something that could be done to uplift the 'good guys,'" Redman said. "The vast majority of priests are good men and true to Christ and their vows."

"Priests we knew told us they were afraid to go out in public with their collars on," Lilly added.

"Our television news experience taught us the media would hammer everything negative they could out of this story, and we felt that was unfair to the good priests," Redman said.

At first, the two men tossed around the idea of hosting some type of event. However, with few financial resources, Lilly eventually suggested the idea of a Web site, and it stuck. With the volunteer help of their friends Ingrid Bolton, Bryan Rensel, Steve Costello and Doug O'Donnell, the site was created for less than $200 and went live Aug. 1.

To date, the site has received more than 25,000 visitors and has received letters from Poland, New Zealand, Korea, Norway and China. Father Don Hill, pastor of St. Albert the Great in Louisville, said he checks the site almost every day.

"We've had priests tell us that they have wept as they have read the letters," Redman said.

"The site is not a forum for the crisis," Lilly explained. "It simply posts messages of thanks. It is no substitute for individuals' thanking their priests in person; it offers an alternative."

Money and Faith
Joe Maher of Detroit went a step further in his support of priests: He quit his job.

In May, Maher left his work as a financial systems analyst to start Opus Bono Sacerdotii - Latin for "Work for the Good of the Priesthood" - a financial and spiritual support group for priests who say they are innocent of alleged misconduct or who are repentant and reformed.

Maher made the decision after a visiting priest at his parish, Assumption Grotto Catholic Church in Detroit, was accused of raping a choir member.

Maher set to work and raised money, hired an attorney for the priest's legal defense and paid living expenses for the priest, Father Komlan Dem Houndjame - also known as Father Filicien - during the trial. Father Filicien was acquitted of the charges Aug. 30.

Ever since, Maher has been receiving approximately one call per day from parishioners or priests who are aware of other priests in need of similar support. He said he has raised more than $100,000 and is currently working with 50 priests across the country.

"These priests need help," Maher said. "Once their names are in the newspaper, it's over for them. It's very difficult to overcome it."

"Most people do not realize that once a priest is suspended he has no place to live, he no longer receives stipends and he has no salary," he said. "In most cases they are penniless."

Opus Bono Sacerdotii's network operates independently of dioceses or religious orders to provide support through legal defense, living expenses, transportation and accommodations for priests in need.

Maher has his critics. Mark Serrano of the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests told the Detroit Free Press, "You don't see any legal defense funds established for child molesters in professions like teaching or coaching."

While Maher agreed that victims have rights, he said the accused have rights, too.

But isn't it this sort of presumption of guilt that makes special support of priests necessary? "I feel that the victims currently have much support available to them, and priests have no support other than the work that we are doing," Maher said.

Families
As part of its "In Solidarity with Our Priests" program, the Knights of Columbus has encouraged families to hold clergy-appreciation nights and invite priests to individual homes for a family meal. Not only do the Knights think such efforts will encourage priests, but they also think they will foster potential future vocations. The Knights are also offering an ad that can be used to support local priests.

The West Covina, Calif.-based Catholic Resource Center is also reaching out to families in an effort to support priests and the Church. In reaction to the negative media coverage and in response to requests from inquirers, the center is distributing more than 10,000 copies of its video The Splendor of the Church free to anyone who asks for it.

The video, originally produced in 1993, features Scott Hahn, a theology professor at Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio.

"The video provides a much-needed perspective on scandals in the Catholic Church and explains why no scandal gives us an excuse to abandon our faith," Hahn said.

"We realized that there needed to be a voice out there addressing the scandals but also guiding people to the beauty of the Church," said Ruben Quezada, office manager for the Catholic Resource Center. "This is what the video does."

Since first offering the free video in June, Quezada estimates the center has distributed approximately 7,000 copies. "Our goal is to try to reach every Catholic family in the country with a copy," Quezada said.

Each effort, although different in scope, intends to build up the priesthood that has been under attack for the past year. Redman hopes efforts such as his own will remind people to thank their priests.

"We so often take them for granted," he said, "but like Christ, they are always there for us."

© 2002. Article originally appeared in the National Catholic Register, Nov. 17-23, 2002.


posted by Tim Drake at 2:43 PM

On Paul's Conversion Day, Three Modern Converts
by Tim Drake

For sheer, earthshaking impact, the fall from a horse that turned Saul of Tarsus into St. Paul may be unequaled in the annals of Church history. That's why the Church celebrates the mysterious Conversion of St. Paul - who changed from a dogged persecutor of the early Church into the traveling Apostle who wrote much of the New Testament - each Jan. 25.

St. Paul, you may recall, was on his way to Damascus to halt those pesky Christians in their tracks when he was knocked to the ground by a blinding light. Then he heard a voice saying, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting … Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do" (Acts 9:1-6).

Twenty centuries later, people continue to be knocked off their own "horses" in all manner of ways: Approximately 200,000 converts enter the Catholic Church each year. As the Church once again remembers what was arguably the greatest conversion of all time, the Register looks at three contemporary converts whose experiences have made a comparably modest, but no less inspiring, impact on the world around them.

Producing Barbara
Barbara Hall has enjoyed a long and successful career as a television writer and producer. Currently noted for her work as executive producer of CBS' "Judging Amy," she has received the Humanitas Award, the Viewers for Quality Television Award, the TV Critics Award, a Writers Guild Award nomination and three Emmy nominations. She previously worked on such well-received shows as "Chicago Hope," "I'll Fly Away" and "Newhart."

Hall told the Register she "fell off the horse" during the decade following her first year of college. Raised in a strict Methodist home, she abandoned the faith in college. "It stopped speaking to me," Hall says. "I was falling off the horse all over the place."

The victim of a violent crime, Hall found herself facing a divorce and raising a daughter. "I examined all kinds of spiritualities, from Buddhism to yoga to meditation and therapy," she recalls.

When Hall's ex-husband remarried a Catholic, her daughter began attending Mass at a Catholic church. "I needed to know what she was hearing," says Hall, whose journey first led her to an Episcopal church. "It was unlike anything I had ever seen. Suddenly I realized that church is about Communion."

The conversion of her sister to the Catholic faith eight years earlier also played a role. "When you're thrashing around for religion, you need role models," says Hall. "You want to point to someone and say, 'I want to be that kind of Catholic.'" She was also drawn by the content and form of the Mass, recognizing a deep consistency with the early Church. "I found that I completely connected with [liturgical worship]," she says. "I wanted a liturgy that was as close to the original as possible."

The journey had its difficulties. "It was an incredible struggle because I was alone in it," explains Hall. "I had had a negative experience with religion to get over." Her conversion also forced her to develop new friendships.

For Hall, the turning point came during a discussion with one of her Christian friends about three years ago. "I knew I had this need to go back to the church, but I was railing, going through all of the contradictions. I asked my friend, 'How can you believe this? How can you live this?' She responded, 'You don't understand. I'm a bad Christian.' At that moment, everything seemed to make sense."

With friend and sponsor Barbara Nicolosi, director of Act One: a screenwriting institute, Hall attended a local parish's Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) classes. She came into the Church at St. Monica's Catholic Church in Santa Monica, Calif., last Pentecost. "Most of my evolving in the Church has happened since then," Hall says. "You begin to understand it the more you participate."

Florida's Burning Bush
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's "horse" moment came by means of a family crisis following his failed bid for the Sunshine State's top office in 1994. Bush, whose brother would go on to become president of the United States, became so obsessed with his gubernatorial campaign that he nearly lost his family as well.

Raised an Episcopalian, Bush had been introduced to the Catholic faith through his Mexican-born wife, Columba. He had occasionally accompanied his wife to church since their 1974 marriage, but it was not until 1995 that he entered the Church.

By the end of his 1994 campaign, Bush was estranged from his wife and children, one of whom was struggling with apparent substance abuse. Last year, their daughter Noelle was arrested on pharmaceutical-fraud charges; the family has confirmed that she has been through treatment.

In an effort to save his family, Bush decided to explore the Catholic faith. Bush told Time magazine: "I vowed to myself after the election that I would convert."

Beginning in November 1994, just two weeks after his defeat, Bush attended his first RCIA class. He continued with the program once a week for five months at Epiphany Catholic Church in Miami. He was received into the faith at Easter 1995.

Bush has explained that his conversion turned out to be therapeutic. Of his RCIA experience, he said in an interview, "These were real people, and it was so much fun to talk about normal things and to be treated as just a normal, ordinary person … I'm convinced that I'm better off for not having won."

Subsequent to his conversion, Bush was elected governor in 1998 and handily won re-election in 2002.

From Convert to Cardinal
Although he grew up Presbyterian, Cardinal Avery Dulles' faith had given way to atheism and skepticism by the time he entered Harvard University in 1936.

Books by Aristotle, Plato, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine and others first opened Cardinal Dulles' eyes to the richness of the Catholic faith. At Harvard, Dulles - the son of former U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles - confronted the classics as well as contemporary Catholic writers such as Jacques Maritain and Étienne Gilson. "The more I examined, the more I was impressed with the consistency and sublimity of Catholic doctrine," he recalls.

Cardinal Dulles' conversion was a gradual, rational process. Through his study of history, he became familiar with the medieval Church and found himself attracted to it. "I studied the Reformation and read Luther, Calvin and the decrees of the Council of Trent," says the influential cardinal. "I found my sympathies were always on the Catholic side and felt that was where I belonged."

Like Hall, Cardinal Dulles also found himself attracted to the liturgy: "I was living in Cambridge, Mass., which, at that time, and perhaps still today, is a very Catholic city. The Catholic Church had a hold on its people that no Protestant church seemed to have. The people were attending church services in huge numbers and going to confession, communion, Benediction and Holy Week services."

Also like Hall, he describes his journey as a solitary one. Aside from brief contact with a Harvard professor who had converted, Cardinal Dulles was "very alone" in his journey. "That professor was the only glimpse I had of a living Catholicism," he says. "I didn't have any close friends who were practicing Catholics. Only later did I realize that others were making the same journey."

Cardinal Dulles frequented the lending library at St. Thomas More bookstore, taking books out over the weekend and returning them for more. The turning point came in 1938 after he read a chapter of St. Augustine's City of God. "I got tired of reading and went out for a walk," he recalls. After leaving Harvard's Widener Library, he walked out into a rainy spring afternoon and noticed a young tree budding along the Charles River.

"Somehow, I had a sense of God in nature and providence and work, which to me was very decisive," says Cardinal Dulles. "I got down on my knees and prayed for a while and had a sense of the presence of God that I hadn't had before. I knew that I was on my way to the Catholic Church, but I still had a lot of things to work out."

One day, Cardinal Dulles recalled asking at the bookstore, "How do I get into your church?" When they responded that he needed to be instructed by a priest, he answered that he had never met a priest. The store connected him with Edwin Quain, then a Jesuit graduate student at Harvard. He spent the next six weeks studying the Catechism.

Young Avery's decision came as a shock to his family. Although his father did not think the decision was right, he respected his son's freedom to make his own decisions.

The future cardinal was received into the Church at St. Paul's Church in Cambridge in November 1940. He was 22. After graduating from Harvard, he attended law school before being called to duty as an intelligence officer by the U.S. Naval Reserve. Upon returning to the United States, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1946. He is currently a theologian and professor at Fordham University.

Cardinal Dulles tells the story of his conversion in his book A Testimonial of Grace. In it he wrote: "If the Kingdom is the pearl of great price, the treasure buried in the field, one should be prepared to give up everything else to acquire it."

© 2003. Article originally appeared in the National Catholic Register, Jan, 19-26, 2003.
posted by Tim Drake at 2:41 PM

Edited DVDs Cleaning Up Hollywood's Act
by Tim Drake

PLEASANT GROVE, Utah - Stay-at-home mother Shauna Sheridan found herself in a dilemma. As an avid movie fan, there were many films she wanted to watch but just couldn't.

"I remember starting to watch Erin Brokovich but I had to shut it off because of all the profanity," she said.

Then there were the films her 9-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter had heard about at school and wanted to see but were not allowed to because of objectionable content. "They felt they were being cheated," Sheridan recalled.

That all changed once Sheridan discovered CleanFilms (www.CleanFilms.com). CleanFilms is one of nearly a dozen companies that offer family-friendly versions of major motion pictures. The films are edited for profanity, sex, nudity and violence.

CleanFilms offers edited versions of popular DVDs through a direct-mail rental club, similar to Netflix. Since last August, Sheridan's family has been watching films such as Spy Game and SpiderMan - movies they otherwise would not have seen.

While the edited phenomenon began in Utah and was concentrated among Mormons, there is reason to believe that there is a much larger market for the family-friendly films.

Citing a Wirthlin Worldwide poll, ClearPlay chief executive Bill Aho said, "58% of all Americans are interested in watching popular Hollywood movies that have been edited of all graphic violence, nudity and profanity."

Customers appear to be backing up that statistic.

"So often when you see nudity or a sex scene in a movie you ask yourself, why did they put that in? They could have done away with that," said Dave Miller, a sales representative with Bowman Distribution in Taylorsville, Utah, and a father of five. "The MovieMask software does such a good job of filtering objectionable content out that you don't even know it is there."

Miller said the software has allowed his daughter and four sons to watch the war films they enjoy watching.

"We've been able to watch We Were Soldiers and Blackhawk Down without having to see arms falling off," he said.

Demand for the service is growing. In 2000, CleanFlicks opened two stores. Today there are 76 locations in 18 states. In addition, demand for ClearPlay has doubled since last fall.

Additional companies such as Video II, Clean Cut, Family Safe and Family Flix also rent or sell edited videos via the Internet or through retail stores.

Other companies, such as ClearPlay, MovieMask and MovieShield, do not rent films but instead offer equipment or software that masks or filters objectionable content as the movie plays.

Catholics in particular should be eager for the service. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says:

"Pornography consists in removing real or simulated sexual acts from the intimacy of the partners in order to display them deliberately to third parties. It offends against chastity because it perverts the conjugal act, the intimate giving of spouses to each other. It does grave injury to the dignity of its participants (actors, vendors, the public), since each one becomes an object of base pleasure and illicit profit for others. It immerses all who are involved in the illusion of a fantasy world. It is a grave offense. Civil authorities should prevent the production and distribution of pornographic materials."

Most R-rated movies contain simulated sexual acts, making those scenes off-limits to Catholics.

The Big Screen at Home
The concept of edited films is nothing new. They are frequently offered on airline flights and television. In the 1980s and 1990s, the Varsity Theater at Brigham Young University even showed them on the big screen.

Chad Fullmer, chief executive officer of CleanFilms, remembered seeing such movies while he was a student at the university.

"People would come from all over the valley to see the edited films," he recalled. "The lines were amazing."

Believing there was an untapped market beyond Salt Lake City, Fullmer tried unsuccessfully to obtain a license to release airline versions elsewhere. Last year, after renting films from a CleanFlicks retail store, Fullmer created his monthly online direct-mail rental club.

For a predetermined price, club members are free to rent an unlimited number of edited DVDs. They arrive and are returned by mail.

"There really is a pent-up demand for this type of thing," Fullmer said.

Within two weeks of the company's launch he had customers from across the United States and as far away as Japan.

Not Happy in Hollywood
While parents are pleased with the services the companies provide, Hollywood is not.

The debate began four years ago when a company called Sunset Video profited by editing out the nudity and sex scene from hundreds of copies of Titanic brought to them by movie-owners.

Last September, the major editing companies were named in a counter-lawsuit by the Directors Guild of America and eight Hollywood studios - Disney, DreamWorks, Fox, MGM, Paramount, Sony, Universal and Warner Bros. At issue is whether editing films, or making software that changes movies, runs afoul of the "derivative work right" of copyright holders to control the making of related works.

"What they are doing is taking something that was created by others, and owned by others, and changing it without permission, and then making a buck off of the derivative product," said Andrew Levy, former spokesman for the Directors Guild of America. "That is illegal."

The studios are seeking an injunction to stop the sale and renting of the edited videos and to declare that the unauthorized editing infringes upon the studio's copyrights and trademarks.

While Hollywood has long allowed movies to be edited for television and airplane viewing, Hollywood studios control that editing.

"To alter these creations in the name of 'morality' or 'family values' is the height of hypocrisy," said Director's Guild of America president Martha Coolidge. She compared the editing to allowing parents to "rip pages out of a book simply because they don't like the way something was portrayed or said by somebody else."

Others admit they are not sure how the court case will play out.

"It's pretty unlikely that a judge would say that editing out 10 seconds of bad language would run afoul of the derivative work right," Pamela Samuelson, a law professor at the University of California, told the Wall Street Journal Online.

Meanwhile, the editing companies and media violence advocacy groups contend that parents have the right to control how they view a film in the privacy of their own homes.

"If I wanted to watch Titanic tonight with my boys, I might watch it differently than I would with my wife. It's up to me to make that choice," said Merrill Hansen, director of the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Viewer Freedom. The organization's mission is to help the home and school to avoid potentially offensive content through information, solutions and creative partnerships.

"We appreciate the principles of creative choice, but there are some sound arguments on the viewer's side," Hansen added. "We would like to see the courts be most generous in allowing viewers the broadest offering of choices."

Furthermore, the owners of the editing firms argue that they are providing the studios a market the films would not otherwise have.

"We are confident that because we are purchasing the originals at a 1-to-1 ratio that the fair-use provisions under the copyright law support what we are doing," Fullmer said. "We have a growing number of members that are paying us to do this. These are people that would not normally be renting and watching these films."

© 2003. Article originally appeared in the National Catholic Register, Feb. 2-10, 2003.

posted by Tim Drake at 2:39 PM

Abortion, the Governor and Communion

California Gov. Gray Davis' bishop made headlines recently when he directed pointed criticism at Davis in a homily at a pro-life Mass on Jan. 22, garnering the attention of both local and national news media.

Ordained Bishop of Salt Lake City in 1980, Bishop Weigand was installed as bishop of Sacramento in 1994. He currently serves on the U.S. Bishops' Latin American and Pro-Life Committees. He spoke recently with Register features correspondent Tim Drake about his decision.

How does a bishop like you begin?
I was born in Bend, Ore., and raised in the Spokane, Wash., area as the third of four boys. My father was the manager of J.C. Penney stores in small towns around Spokane. He died rather prematurely from cancer when I was 18 years old. My mother stayed at home but went back to work after my father's death, working in the county auditor's office. She served two or three terms as the elected county auditor until she retired.

My mother had been a Presbyterian and converted prior to her marriage. She made a wonderful Catholic. My father was the strong element in the faith. He was very active and had a great love for the Church. He always spoke positively of priests and our own parish priest, and that influenced me. We would never have thought of missing Mass on Sunday. He set the tone. Even if we were on vacation, he would find out in advance where Mass was and the times. It was a very intentional sort of thing, and that stayed with me all my life.

What led to your vocation?
I attended Catholic schools growing up. My elementary years through seventh grade were spent at Mt. St. Joseph's Academy in Tekoa, Washi. During fifth and sixth grade I was an altar server, and I would say this is when I first felt called to the priesthood. During sixth or seventh grade it came to me that I should serve Mass every day during Lent, and so I did so at the Sisters' convent every morning at 6:30. That is probably when my vocation was clarified. After seventh grade my family moved to St. Maries, Idaho. In August 1951, after eighth grade, I entered Mt. Angel's Seminary in Oregon. I was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Boise, Idaho.

What led you to make your much-publicized comments of Jan. 22?
Locally, prior to Christmas there had been a very public exchange between Gov. Gray Davis and Msgr. Edward Kavanagh [head of St. Patrick's Home]. At the spur of the moment, the governor intended to visit St. Patrick's Home for Children, which was originally an orphanage and is now a home for troubled youth, to hand out gifts.

Msgr. Kavanagh told the governor not to come onto the property because of his aggressive abortion stance. Msgr. Kavanagh felt that it wouldn't be authentic for the governor to give the impression that he was pro-children. The controversy was played out in the media. The governor invited some of the children to the Capitol and handed out gifts anyway, essentially outmaneuvering the monsignor in the media.

Davis made widely quoted comments that many Catholics hold his pro-abortion views, leaving the impression that such is acceptable. Because of the real possibility of confusion in the minds of some about what is the authentic Catholic teaching on the Gospel of life, I felt obligated to set the record straight.

I used the opportunity of Jan. 22 to do so. As diocesan bishop, I was speaking to our Catholic people, doing so in our Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament from my "cathedra," or teaching chair. No media were known to be present.

When the media contacted me later that day, I assured them that it was not my intention to "take on" the governor but to teach and clarify the faith. That is an important part of my charge as bishop of the diocese. I mentioned the governor specifically only because he has chosen to make his Catholic credentials a public matter on a number of occasions in the context of the abortion issue.

Among other things, I said:
"As your bishop, I have to say clearly that anyone - politician or otherwise - who thinks it acceptable for a Catholic to be pro-abortion is in very great error, puts his or her soul at risk and is not in good standing with the Church. Such a person should have the integrity to acknowledge this and choose of his own volition to abstain from receiving holy Communion until he has a change of heart."

The Holy Spirit was present and my message touched hearts. There were people crying in the pews.

How have people reacted?
The Catholic response has been overwhelmingly positive. We have received many hundreds of supportive letters, e-mails, faxes and telephone calls at my office, the cathedral and to our Catholic newspaper. They appreciate the clarity.

There have been a few negative responses, but most seem to be based on misinformation about what I actually said on Jan. 22. I clarified my remarks in my Feb. 8 "Feed My Lambs" column.

What has been your message to those who disagree?
To those who hold views similar to those of Davis and seem confused about what the Church teaches or about what is required of one who is Catholic, I would urge them to study, consult and pray.

In our Catholic understanding, we are to receive Communion worthily and be properly disposed. We are also to be free of serious sin - going to confession first, if need be.

For somebody who takes a very public stance that is contrary to the teaching of the Church on some matter of great importance, there is the additional obstacle of giving public scandal. This would certainly be the case of a public official who makes a public point of being Catholic and also pro-abortion or speaks against Church teachings in other important matters. They have a duty as disciples not to use their public office to confuse their brothers and sisters in Christ. Davis left confusion.

Also, for Catholics, receiving Communion is not simply a private act. It is not something merely "between God and me." We are members of the Body of Christ, the Church. When we receive Communion, while we believe that we truly receive the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus, we also publicly express by our action that we are in union with [in communion with] the Body of Christ, the Church.

If one is not, in fact, in union with the Church on an important matter, such as the Gospel of life, then one is proclaiming a fundamental contradiction by the very act of receiving holy Communion. This principle is also applied in ecumenical relations. We do not admit non-Catholics to holy Communion in major part because they are not in full communion with the Catholic Church. In our Catholic understanding, it would not be authentic and fitting to receive Communion without being in union with the Church on all important matters.

Do you plan to take any further action?
No. Some people thought I was "considering formally forbidding the [governor] from receiving Communion." I did not intimate that I had any such thing in mind or that we would refuse Communion to someone that approaches.

Some people thought that there must inevitably follow a further step, namely to excommunicate Davis. But there are no inevitable consequences to my action.

After instructing people, we respect them and strive to treat them as adults. We prefer to trust in their sincerity and good will. That is why I stated that a person of integrity should "choose of his own volition to abstain from receiving holy Communion until he has a change of heart."

You have tried unsuccessfully to meet with the governor, have you not?
Yes. Right after the homily, the governor's spokesperson said that the governor was not going to back down and that I should not be telling people how to live their faith. I sent the governor's office a copy of the homily, as well as a polite cover letter requesting an appointment. His office has replied that he is very busy with budget issues.

© 2003. Article originally appeared in the National Catholic Register, Feb. 23-March 2, 2003.
posted by Tim Drake at 2:35 PM

Out of the Starting Gate - and Into the Church
An Interview with Jockey Jerry Bailey
by Tim Drake

Bailey has earned more than $22 million in purses by winning 225 races in 900 starts. He has won the Kentucky Derby twice, the Preakness twice, the Belmont once, the Dubai World Cup four times and the Breeder's Cup 13 times. He's also won the Eclipse Award for best jockey of the year - the Oscar for jockeys - for six of the last eight seasons.

Just before leaving for this year's Kentucky Derby, Bailey spoke with Register features correspondent Tim Drake from his home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Where are you from originally?
I was born in Dallas and raised in El Paso, Texas. I have two sisters, one who is four years older and another who is 13 months younger than I am.

What did your parents do for a living?
My father is a pedodontist - a children's dentist. My mother taught home economics until the kids came along. Then she worked as a housewife. She died in 1975 of breast cancer, when I was 17.

How did you handle your mother's death?
It could have been worse. I could have been 7 instead of 17, but I don't think I dealt with my mother's death particularly well. It is a piece of a young man's life that is not easily overcome. I went out on the road and fell into the lifestyle of those people around me - bars and late nights. I ended up becoming an alcoholic.

What led you to become a jockey?
Texas didn't have legalized racing at the time, but my father used to frequent the races across the border at Sunland Park in New Mexico. He was so enthralled that he purchased several racehorses and has owned them all his life. I became hooked by osmosis. In addition to summer jobs like paper routes and mowing lawns, I worked at the stables.

Did you grow up Catholic?
No. I grew up Methodist but wasn't terribly spiritual growing up. Spiritually, I didn't have a basis to draw from. That's probably why I fell on the side of the fence that I fell on.

What led you to become Catholic?
I was married to my wife, Suzee, in 1985. She is Catholic, and both of my sisters married Catholics. Although I wasn't Catholic, I attended a Catholic church with my wife. She has been a great power of example to me.

We have dual residences in both Florida and New York. I went to see our priest on Long Island, N.Y., and he referred me to some members of Alcoholics Anonymous. I recovered in 1989 and am still recovering.

After that, I became more spiritual. I believe God had saved my life and I wanted to grow closer to him. I was received into the Catholic Church at St. Bernadette's Catholic Church in Hollywood, Fla., about four or five years ago. One of my sisters has also converted and the other one is debating it.

Was there a particular incident that led you to join Alcoholics Anonymous?
No, it was a steady progression. We didn't have a child at the time, and it was apparent to me that if I was going to be responsible and be a father, my lifestyle had to change. We suffered with infertility issues but eventually conceived. Our son, Justin, is now 10 years old.

Tell me a little about the daily life of a jockey. Do you ride daily, even when you're not racing? How do you prepare for a race?
Generally races run five days a week, Wednesday through Sunday.

Most mornings I'll exercise the horses that I will be riding the next day or the next week, and I'll go riding at about 6 a.m. I get on them and work them around the racetrack, not at race speed but at three-quarters speed. Then I'll go to the barn area where the horses are stabled and do some public relations with the trainers and go over the mounts with my agent. Every jockey has an agent.

If I'm able, I make it a habit to return home between 9:30 a.m. and noon, and return back to the track for my races in the afternoon. They typically start at 1 p.m. and then run every half-hour.

How does your spiritual life fit into that routine?
Every day the racetrack chaplain has a daily devotion at noon in the jockey room. Wherever I'm at, I'm usually there for devotions every day.

I'm usually away on Sunday, but I try to find a Mass. If I'm in New York, I'll go to church on Long Island. If I'm in Kentucky, I'll attend St. Paul's. If I'm in California, I have to catch a 6 p.m. Mass after the races.

How do you develop a relationship with your horse?
You either have a knack of getting along with horses or you don't. You communicate to the horse through your hands - through the reins and the bridle. That's how you control them and communicate with them. Basically, if you have something through your mouth and someone is sitting on your back and they kick your ribs, you go. If they pull on you, you stop.

The better jockeys are a bit more subtle and have gentler hands. Some jockeys talk to their horses.

What do you most enjoy about working with horses?
I didn't initially get into racing because of the horses. I liked the competition the best, and I still do. I like the actual race itself the best - from the time the gate opens to the end of the wire.

How much of a race depends upon the horse and how much upon the jockey?
Ninety percent is the horse and 10% is the jockey. A good jockey can't make a bad horse win. A bad one can get a good horse beat.

How has your faith impacted your work?
I can't say how it's affected my work, but I can say that my faith has helped me to handle life a lot better.

I've run across many people in this business who are very spiritual people. I realize that the reason I'm winning is that God has blessed me with a talent for winning races. That keeps my head in perspective.

You've said you plan to hang up your jockey uniform soon, haven't you?
Yes; it's a dangerous sport and not one you always walk away from. It also takes me away from my family a lot. I only race here in Florida three months during the winter, so the rest of the time I'm on the road. I return home every Sunday night and then have to leave again on Wednesday. I might quit at the end of this year, or next year. I take it a year at a time. At the most I would say I have a year and a half left.

What are your future plans?
I've had some conversations with a couple of networks as far as doing some broadcasting periodically throughout the year, but I do not plan to do anything full time that takes me away from my family like horse racing does.

You are one of the most successful jockeys of all time. You've earned more than $20 million during your career. To what do you owe your success?
I have to look above and thank God. I owe it all to him.

© 2003. This article originally appeared in the National Catholic Register, May 11-19, 2003.


posted by Tim Drake at 12:46 PM

Reaching Out from Behind Bars: Evangelist and Apologist Russell Ford
By Tim Drake

Russell Ford may be behind bars, but in many ways he is more active in Catholic evangelizing than most Catholics living in the outside world. From his cell in Alabama’s Draper Prison, Ford evangelizes not only with words, but also with wood.

Ford is a much different person today than the one who came to prison 16 years ago. “I came to prison a hate-filled and embittered agnostic, living as a practical atheist,” said Ford, who was sentenced to 25 years in 1987.

Ford’s agnostic-to-Catholic conversion story is told on the audio-tape No Escape, available through St. Joseph’s Communications.

As Ford tells it, toward the end of his first year in prison an older Catholic convict, whom had been inspired by Pope John Paul II to be an evangelist to prisoners, tricked Ford into studying the catechism. After not having much success at first, the older convict appealed to Ford’s ego by challenging him to read The Baltimore Catechism #2. He told him he doubted that Russ would be able to answer the questions after reading the book. The tactic worked, sparking an interest in Ford.

Later, Ford became convinced by the intellectual realization that the Catholic Church was the Church founded by Christ. After learning of Christ’s real presence in the Holy Eucharist, Ford emotionally embraced the faith. He was received into the Catholic Church on February 11, 1989 — the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.

While on his own journey of faith, Ford also became a catechist for others. “My chaplain handed me a catechism and urged me to teach other convicts,” explained Ford. Using the Sharing the Faith video series by Father Robert Fox, Ford continues to teach his fellow inmates about the faith.

His success is impressive. Ford now counts 61 godson converts, and has played a direct role in the conversion of nearly 200 other inmates. Perhaps more impressive, the recidivism rate among his Catholic converts is only 1.6%, compared to a general recidivism rate between 70 and 80 percent for the state.

Prisoners, Ford has written, are drawn by a sense of the sacred. He compares his work as an evangelist to that of being a “tag-team salesman.” “The salesman presents the product with its features and benefits to prospective buyers,” said Ford, “once the presentation has been made, the Holy Spirit comes in for the close.”

It is work for which Ford has paid a price. As a white Catholic evangelist in a predominantly black Evangelical Protestant prison system, Ford has been beaten by a guard, unjustly locked in solitary confinement, had his Bible and books confiscated, and has been denied parole five times. His parole was once denied reportedly because Ford’s priest would not reveal what Ford had divulged under the seal of the confessional to a female member of the parole board.

Ford’s catechetical work has also led him to found an apostolate for prisoners and to engage in apologetics writing.

Reaching Out to those in Chains
Ford sees his apostolate work as a mission of outreach. According to Ford, there are more than 2 million men and women in the nation’s prisons. “We are losing the battle for souls in prison by default,” said Ford.

“The largest mission field in America has almost no Catholic presence in evangelization. The groups competing for convicts’ souls are not just Fundamentalists and Islamic sects, but also growing numbers of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Native American spirituality, Wicca, Druidism, and even Satanism,” explained Ford.

In response, with the help of his first godson, Phil Hanna, Ford founded First Century Christian Ministries (FCCM) dedicated to evangelizing prisoners in cooperation with prison chaplains. FCCM’s newsletter, “The Perfect Prisoner” reaches more than 1,100 subscribers, 75 percent of whom are prisoners. The lay apostolate sends materials such as Catholic books and magazines, catechisms, rosaries, and scapulars to more than 70 prison chaplains across the nation.

Other FCCM initiatives include a strictly screened pen-pal program for Catholic inmates and a “Bibles for Inmates” program.

The program has received praise from various prison ministry offices. “I can’t speak highly enough of FCCM,” said Heidi Sumner, secretary to the prison ministry office for the Diocese of St. Petersburg, Fla. “They have donated a wealth of materials from their members to our ministry.” Lay volunteers with the office have distributed the materials to 16 correctional facilities in the five-county diocese.

“If we’re not in there with the Gospel, something else will grab them,” said Joseph Strada, chairman of First Century Christian Ministries. “While they have their debt to society, we have an obligation to save their souls.”

Reaching out with the Pen
Another way that Ford evangelizes is through his writing. At the urging of Father Killian Mooney, S. T., Ford began engaging in Catholic writing. Influenced by the work of Catholic Answers’ Karl Keating and Peter Kreeft, Ford’s work has appeared in such Catholic publications as This Rock, Communio Magazine, Immaculata Magazine, The Wanderer and Homiletic and Pastoral Review.

In addition, Ford is the only Alabama convict to have published a book from prison. His straightforward and streetwise The Missionary’s Catechism (Magnificat Institute Press) poses some 600 questions and answers based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Catholics such as apologist Karl Keating, the late theologian Father John Hardon, and Fathers of Mercy Superior General Father Bill Casey have endorsed Ford’s work.

Ford’s writing is extraordinary for several reasons.

First, the writing is done amidst the constant noise of the prison, an environment which Ford admits is anything but conducive to spiritual writing. Second, Ford has access to neither a computer nor a typewriter. His articles and books are entirely written by hand. Third, Ford suffers from arthritis, making writing with a pen difficult. “Every word is wrought from pain,” said friend and Jewish convert to Catholicism Marty Barrack.

Reaching Out through Wood
Ford’s words aren’t the only thing wrought from pain. Ford also carries out a woodworking trade from the prison’s hobby craft shop. Proceeds from the trade help to fund the work of his prison apostolate. It’s a vocation that Ford came to by accident.

“I was making rosaries and they were not selling, so I started watching the guys who were doing woodworking,” said Ford, “and I started making things.” It is a vocation to which Ford is able to devote approximately two-and-a-half-hours per day.

Using largely self-taught skills, Ford fashions stunning heirloom gaming tables, ladies jewelry boxes, cigar humidors, rifle racks, quilt racks, and wall and mantle clocks from solid hardwoods, such as cherry, walnut, red oak, maple and mahogany. The one-of-a-kind pieces, such as the rifle cabinet or wall clocks, start at approximately $400-500 and retail for more.

Ford uses hand-rubbed finishes that strongly accent the grains in the wood. Each piece is inconspicuously signed and dated. Delivery typically takes six to eight weeks.

In addition, Ford also produces a line of decorative Catholic wall carvings. Each carving is meticulously hand-carved by Ford. The carvings feature one of more than 30 different prayers, such as the Ten Commandments, Hail Mary, the Prayer of St. Francis and many others. Each plaque is decorated with molded edges and traditional Catholic symbols, such as a Celtic cross, the fleur-de-lis, or a chalice and host. The symbols are accentuated with a partial or complete stone inlay. Ford’s hand-carved wall coverings range in price from $35-50 and retail between $50 and $75.

Last year one customer ordered ten small plaques for her friends and family as Christmas gifts. “I have received many thanks from the recipients,” she said.

Federal appellate attorney Fred Isaacs of Lake Oswego, Ore. first learned of Ford through his Catholic writing. Fred and his wife Nancy, co-direct the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) program at their local parish and frequently distribute copies of Ford’s Missionary Catechism to their RCIA students.

Only later did Isaacs learn of Ford’s skill with wood. Isaacs commissioned Ford to build a Regulator-style clock. To say that Isaacs was pleased with the result is an understatement.

“He made us perhaps the most beautiful clock we have ever seen,” said Isaacs. “It has a German movement and a beautiful wood case with a piano finish. It took Ford several months to complete, but it is a work of art and it graces our living room fireplace mantle.”

Isaacs was also pleased with the price. “We paid about one-fourth, or less, of what a custom-made clock would cost elsewhere,” said Isaacs.

In addition to individual sales, Ford also makes his woodwork available to retail stores.

Marty Barrack has devoted 11 pages to guest apologist Russell Ford on his own apologetics web site Second Exodus (www.SecondExodus.com). There, customers can read about Ford and his work, see photos of his woodworking projects, and place orders for his books and wood products.

“Russ does superb work,” said Barrack, who owns some of Ford’s woodworking as well. “He makes woodwork items as if for Christ himself. I know the love for Christ that Russ pours into every piece, and I know the pain in Russ’ arthritic hands that he offers up to Christ as he works.”

© 2003, This article originally appeared in the Catholic Marketing Network Trade Journal. Tim Drake is features correspondent with the National Catholic Register, and the editor of Saints of the Jubilee (1stBooks, 2002). He writes from Saint Cloud, Minnesota.
posted by Tim Drake at 2:33 PM

Signs of Contradiction in the 21st Century
By Tim Drake

By most external appearances one might suggest, as Nietzche did, that faith is dead. Only 35 percent of Catholics, we are told, believe in the Real Presence. Forty-five percent believe that abortion is acceptable. Fifty percent do not attend Church regularly. Eighty percent believe contraception is permissible. The secular media tells us that Catholicism is passé. Our pope is derided as “rigid”. Although the Church defies such labeling, our teachings are described as “traditional,” “old-fashioned,” and in some circles, “conservative.”

Faithful Catholics find themselves surrounded by dissenting views on all sides – from television and radio, the newspaper and magazines, in motion pictures, among non-Catholic friends and family, and even, at times, among fellow Catholics.

If, however, we know where to look, we can find light shining in the apparent darkness. For if we look beyond the headlines, into our own communities, we will discover pockets of great faith. If we will look within our Churches we will find vibrant Catholics and Catholic families – signs of contradiction leading us toward history’s greatest Sign of Contradiction.

It is through such examples that we can best learn how to defend our Catholic faith in an age that seems to have abandoned most of the Church’s values.

What is worth defending?

If we are like most people, we defend those things that we love – our freedom, our families. A gardener, worried that invading rabbits might raid his precious carrots and cabbage, constructs a fence to defend his produce. If we are good parents we defend our families against the many dangers which threaten our children.

Yet, we take our faith for granted. How much more should we love Christ and His Church than we love our garden, our pet, or our spouse? How much more should we love Christ than television, golf, or shopping? What does it mean to love Christ as he loved his Bride, the Church? Are we willing to lay down our very lives for her?

By virtue of our baptism and the graces received at confirmation we, too, are called to defend Chist’s bride, the Church. The question, however, might be “how do we defend the faith”?

Perhaps it would first be advantageous to examine those ways in which we fail to defend our faith. For in exploring what we should not do, we will discover that which we should.

In what ways do we fail to defend our faith?

Foremost, we cannot defend our faith if we do not know it. When Joe or Jane Watercooler make an off-hand, offensive remark at the office about the Blessed Virgin Mary or the pope, are we willing, ready, or even able to come to the Church’s defense? When a non-Catholic questions why we believe in purgatory, are we prepared to provide an intelligent response or do we simply shrug our shoulders? Too few have received the proper catechesis to explain, let alone, defend the Church’s positions.

The key then is through education. It has been said that knowledge of Scripture is knowledge of Christ; ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ. Because the Church’s teachings are founded upon Scripture, we can also say that ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of the Church. So then, in order to defend the faith we must study it and come to know it. Whether this is through spiritual reading, apologetics tapes, fundamentals classes, adult education, or Bible study we must educate ourselves in the truth. Only then will we be adequately equipped to defend it.

Furthermore, we cannot defend our faith if we are not living it. The Evangelical convert Thomas Howard has said that “Catholic is not enough.” We cannot be content to be mere “Catholics” – Catholics who attend Church irregularly, who ignore the Church’s teaching on contraception, or who do not partake of her Sacraments.

We are not free to pick and choose the doctrines that we will follow any more so than we can choose whether to believe in the Trinity. To do so is to make a mockery of our faith. Anything less than orthodoxy is heresy.

Finally, we cannot defend the faith if we say one thing and do another. We lead by example. Therefore, if we are living a sinful lifestyle, we are not defending the faith. Rather, through scandal, we are leading others away from it.

How then do we defend the Church?

Certainly, one way of defending the Church is by constructing a fence. Yet, we are called to be in the world. Therefore, rather than fencing ourselves in we need to defend our faith by becoming living examples.

We can defend our faith actively. This could mean engaging in a friendly apologetics debate with a friend or colleague, writing a letter to the editor, or standing up publicly for the Church’s teaching on a given issue. While we are not all called to defend the faith in this way, we can rest assured that if we are being called to do so, the Holy Spirit will be with us.

We can also defend the Church simply by living our faith fully. We defend the Church every time we avail ourselves of her sacraments. We defend her every time we are absolved of our sins in the sacrament of reconciliation, every time we pray in public, and every time we receive of Our Lord in the Eucharist.

Such acts of faith speak perhaps more loudly than any letter we could ever write. Husbands defend their faith when they go straight home to their wife and children after work, sacrificing that trip to the bar. Women defend their faith when they turn off the soap operas that feed them the world’s lies. Parents defend the faith when they teach their children what the Church really teaches and believes. And we defend our faith every time we reach out to help another in need.

We silently defend our faith in myriad ways each day that we love God and one another and keep his commandments. This is our Catholic Christian call.

It is good to recall that we are not alone in our struggles to defend the faith. Not only do we have the example of fellow Catholic Christian neighbors, but a “cloud of witnesses” has gone before us and intercedes on our behalf.

The Church has officially recognized more than 12,000 martyrs for the faith in the last century alone. Pope John Paul II, has beatified and canonized more than 1,400 individuals since the beginning of his pontificate. The Holy Father recognizes that that in an age marked by such unbelief, we will need their modern examples as we move forward in the new millennium.

And what shining examples they are - examples such as Blessed Gianna Beretta Molla – the Italian doctor and mother who gave up her life for her unborn daughter, and Blessed Miguel Pro – who in the face of death itself, in Mexico, could cry out “Vivo Christo Rey!” before his execution. Or, from this year alone, we have the examples of a mystic, a visionary, and the founder of a lay movement in the newly canonized Padre Pio, Juan Diego, and Josemaria Escriva.

Yet, the Holy Father has said that to be a Christian in the new millennium may require a different kind of martyrdom. We may be forced to endure the slow, gradual martyrdom of facing daily the opposition to the Church that is so visible around us. We face it every time we receive a hostile comment about a Church teaching, every time we hear a harsh remark about our family size, and every time we are insulted for our belief that every human person has the right to life.

It is not difficult to see what it is that we are being called to defend the Church against. We are called to defend her against the secular humanism and the moral relativism so abundant in the culture at large. We are called to defend her against both apathy and heresy. We are also called to defend her against false ecumenism, or a watering down of the faith, which says that all roads lead to Truth. In short, we are called to defend her against anything less than the fullness of the faith.

We would do well to recall the words of a young, Polish cardinal who was asked to preach the annual Lenten retreat in March 1976. “If now… Jesus Christ is once again revealing himself to men as the light of the world, has he not also become at one and the same time that sign, which more than ever, men are resolved to oppose?” said then-Cardinal Karol Wojtyla.

Better yet, we would do well to remember Christ’s words from John 15 - “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first.”

Tim Drake is features correspondent with the National Catholic Register and editor of Saints of the Jubilee. He resides in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
posted by Tim Drake at 2:25 PM

Mel Gibson’s Passion
by Tim Drake

Mel Gibson has either directed or played a continuing series of heroic men: William Wallace in Braveheart, Benjamin Martin in The Patriot, Lt. Col. Hal Moore in We Were Soldiers, and Reverend Graham Hess in Signs. So, it should come as no surprise that he is directing a production on the greatest hero of human history, Jesus Christ. Gibson’s most recent project is the self-financed $25-million epic The Passion. Currently being filmed on the sound stage in Rome’s Cinecitta stuido, the film will explore the final 12 hours of Christ’s life.

“There is no greater hero story than this one,” said Gibson, “about the greatest love one can have, which is to lay down one’s life for someone. God becoming man and men killing God – if that’s not action, nothing is.”

Jesus has been the subject of more than 100 films, but never one quite like this. The Passion promises to be neither Jesus of Nazareth nor King of Kings.

For starters, the film will be told in three foreign languages — Hebrew, Latin, and Aramaic — without subtitles. Jesuit language expert Father William Fulco translated the script into Aramaic. Many critics have questioned the intelligence of filming a movie in two dead languages.

For Gibson, however, he feels that the languages will lend an air of authenticity to the film. The visuals, he insists, will tell the story.

“Caravaggio’s paintings don’t have subtitles,” said Gibson in a Zenit interview. “The Nutcracker Ballet doesn’t have subtitles, but people get the message. I think that the image will overcome the language barrier.”

The film also promises to be both bloody and violent. Early photographs have depicted a beaten and bloodied Christ carrying His Cross on the road to Calvary.

“No mere man could have survived this torture,” said Gibson.

EWTN news director Raymond Arroyo saw an early rough-cut of a portion of the film. The violence he described as “intense, but never gratuitous.” He found it “as disturbing as it is comforting.”

The project first took root in Gibson when he began taking his own faith more seriously more than a decade ago. The script is based upon the diary of St. Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824) as collected in the book “The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.” It’s a book Gibson found in his library, but didn’t know he had until it literally fell into his hands when he was reaching for another book. The script also draws from “The Mystical City of God” by venerable Mary of Agreda, and the Gospels.

“We’ve done the research. I’m telling the story as the Bible tells it,” said Gibson.

For Gibson, the film is clearly a work of faith. Gibson has a makeshift chapel installed on the set and attends daily Mass, in Latin. A priest on the set has been available for both Mass and confessions.

As interesting as the film itself is Gibson’s choice of actor to portray Christ. Last June, Gibson hand-picked the then 33-year-old Jim Caviezel (The Count of Monte Cristo, The Thin Red Line) to play the role. Caviezel himself is a devout Catholic with a devotion to Mary and the Rosary.

Of the role, Caviezel said, “Truthfully, it was never up to me. I’m interested in letting God work through me to play this role. I believe the Holy Spirit has been leading me in the right direction.”

On the set Caviezel is a daily communicant and has taken to wearing relics in his costume during the shooting.

“I can’t be successful in this business if I do not pray,” Caviezel told Al Kresta in an interview.

When Gibson first saw him onscreen he said, “He looks like the Shroud of Turin.”

The sight of Caviezel walking the streets has moved the townsfolk of Matera, where much of the film has been shot. Caviezel said that he gets one of two reactions. The people either shriek with laughter or they fall on their knees at his feet, lay their hands on him, and chant “Jesu! Jesu!”

The film is a monumental risk. It’s a Catholic film, by a Catholic director, starring a Catholic actor, about a Catholic subject.

It isn’t surprising then that Gibson claims that he has come under fire. Gibson told Fox news’ Bill O’Reilly that reporters had been digging for dirt on Gibson and his family. The New York Times Sunday Magazine recently ran an article attempting to tarnish Gibson by associating him with some of his father Hutton’s more outlandish ideas. To date, Gibson has not been able to secure a distributor for the film.

It’s expected that the film will open in theaters in April 2004, just in time for Lent.

Ultimately, the film seeks to do what Christ did — namely, change lives. In fact, the film has already had an impact. After the filming of the scourging scene many of the film crew had tears in their eyes. Reportedly, one of the Italian actors in the film has come back to the sacraments after a long hiatus, and another member of the film crew, an atheist, is exploring the Catholic faith.

“By the time audiences get to the crucifixion scene, I believe there will be many who can’t take it and will have to walk out — I guarantee it,” said Caviezel. “And I believe there will be many who will stay and be drawn to the truth.”

© 2003, This article originally appeared in Southern Renaissance. Tim Drake serves as executive editor of Catholic.net and features correspondent with the National Catholic Register. He writes from Saint Cloud, Minnesota.
posted by Tim Drake at 2:22 PM