Editorial

Mel Gibson's Passion of Christ Film

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Editorial

Once again we are in another storm. This time it is the Mel Gibson movie, The Passion of Christ. Storms tend to weaken solid foundations. The latest storm endangers the strong bond between Catholics and Jews.

Unfortunately the public media contributed to this problem. Of course not all public media people are guilty of bigotry, misrepresentation, misreporting, twisting the facts or creating sensational headlines. We read headlines like: Jews are Christ-killers, Gibson is a fundamentalist, Gibson’s father is anti-Semitic, Catholic-Jewish relations have been set back four hundred years. These statements are false as well as others. The media loves sensationalism. Truth is not always their main concern. Some media people want to drive a wedge between Catholics and Jews. Why? God knows. Some try to destroy the credibility of the tow religious faiths. Again, Why? They attempt to destroy the great progress of respect, understanding, and appreciation of Catholic and Jewish identities, similarities and differences during the past forty years. Again, some media people, not all are guilty of these charges I mentioned.

Catholics and Jews must be careful not to fall into the media frenzy. We must take the offensive attack by providing a just and fair evaluation of Gibson’s movie.

Catholics and Jews may not agree on the different aspects of Mel Gibson’s film. But if we use our intelligence wisely, we will quench the fire storm over the film and explain properly the historical scene.

Catholic and Jewish religious leaders and scholars should explain clearly the historical scene of Christ’s passion to their people. Basically, the historical scene speaks of some Jews, some Romans and Catholics believe the sins of mankind too were responsible for Christ’s suffering and crucifixion.

Catholics and Jews should combat the media inflammatory remarks through the same public media, religious newspapers, pulpits and study groups. We can not afford to take one step forward and two steps back. Education and media methods are the keys to allay the fears and misunderstandings between Catholics and Jews.

If we fail to take the initiative, then we will loose. Catholic-Jewish relations will have suffered a major set back. The old bigotries and hates will return and we will re-enter the dark ages.

Canon Badia