To the editor:
Bread and circuses! Bread and circuses! Citizens, when did Hollywood become our spiritual guide and Mel Gibson our spiritual adviser? Mercy! How did the saints and sinners before us ever keep the faith without being treated to spectacular visuals to satisfy their morbid curiosity?
The media violence we and our children are now exposed to makes the debacle in Iraq, the violence to the unborn, elderly, and urban youth look paltry in comparison. But thankfully, reading between the lines promoting “The Passion of the Christ,” Gibson’s fundamentalist reasoning is evident: that salvation hinges only on accepting Christ as Savior. Thinking Catholics don’t have a problem with this?
The major Western philosophies intertwined in our faith, i.e., original sin, predestination and free will, cannot possibly be addressed by a movie. Neither can issues of social justice, moral theology, or personal spirituality. Fear not, Mel Gibson would absolve us of all the tension that an active faith requires.
The hype surrounding this gruesome, R-rated film convinces me that we are willfully being escorted into a dark, post-literate era. Wake up, fellow citizens! Rome is burning while we are being sedated with ever more fantastic “entertainments” — now, sadly, even in the name of Christ. What is next. Public executions?
Mary Ann Cole
Jersey Street
Rochester
