"A Guide to the Passion" by the editors of Catholic Exchange

Reviewed by Jackie Alnor

This mini-book consists of 100 questions about the movie and gives the Catholic meaning to the scenes in "The Passion." Those questions are followed up with a call for all movie-goers to come back to "Mother Church" in order to have the fullness of Christianity.

The authors state their reason for writing the book in the Introduction. "I noticed early on the fervor with which many Protestant communities were preparing to use the film for evangelistic purposes," wrote book editor Tom Allen. "The irony is that our Protestant brothers and sisters cannot adequately speak to many of the issues and questions the film evokes because the film is so distinctly Marian, so obviously Eucharistic, so quintessentially Catholic. . . And without an understanding of Mary as our model in true Christian faith, one cannot begin to understand her significant role in the film."

And yet in total hypocritical fashion, the writers of the book pretty much plagiarized non-Catholic apologist Josh McDowell in Part 2 of this book called "The Case for Christ." They use McDowell's famous "Liar, Lunatic, or Lord" argument from his "More Than a Carpenter" book (without attribution, of course) to convince the readers of the truth of the Gospels and follow that up with their own prayer to receive Christ. "Help me to find You where you may be found, in Your Father's House, the temple which is the Church," their model prayer reads. And the ones who say the prayer are instructed to "pray in front of the tabernacle where the Eucharist is contained."

Question number 46 asks the question, "Why does the director choose to have Peter fall at Mary's feet and cry out, 'I have denied Him, Mother'"? Their answer in part: "to portray Catholic teaching that it is acceptable to appeal to Jesus' mother when you have offended God." Of course, Gibson couldn't have been very faithful to the biblical record which nowhere has Peter calling Mary "Mother."

"Is it a stretch to assume that Mary was an active participant in Christ's Passion," asks questions number 48. "Not at all," the authors affirm, since she "in fact helped launch Jesus' public ministry by requesting that He provide wine" at the wedding in Cana.

The focus on Mary in the film, according to this book, shows her "role as intercessor before God," and presents her as "the supreme example, and to the Church, of whom Mary is the supreme icon and image." "She is, quite simply, the new 'Ark of the Covenant," the authors declare.

The question also arises of the fable of Veronica who supposedly wiped Jesus' face with her veil and his image miraculously engraved upon it with his blood. The "Guide to the Passion" calls this a "historical record," since the veil "has been seen and venerated over the centuries." It is also said to have "curative properties" which they claim cured the Roman emperor Tiberius. However, this veil cannot be presented today, other than little pieces of cloth too small to see what it once was.

Another Catholic fable that the film reproduced was the subject of Question 84. "Please explain the strange scene in which the cross on which Jesus has just been nailed is flipped over but remains suspended above the ground." This levitation was attributed to the visions of two nuns who wrote "mystical writings" that Mel Gibson borrowed from to fill in the missing pieces of the scenes of the crucifixion. The Catholic Exchange writers of this book admit the the Catholic Church has not officially recognized these nuns’ visions as authentic but they say that "for centuries they have inspired genuine devotion to the truths of the faith."

Upon closer examination of other Roman Catholic sources, these nuns Maria de Agreda and Anne Catherine Emmerich both showed symptoms of diabolical oppression, if not out and out possession. The former, who lived from 1602 to 1665, claimed to have been transported around the heavens by a multitude of angelic beings and was visited by an entity she called the "Lady in Blue." She is said to have to so-called gift of bi-location -- being in two places at once -- though one would be hard-pressed to find such a gift mentioned in Scripture. She interpreted this "Lady in Blue" to be Mary and said she would have victory "over heresies … before the Second Coming of Christ… in order to bring unbelievers into the Catholic Faith."

The other nun, who lived between 1774 to 1824, also showed evidence of demonic oppression. Anne Catherine Emmerich was in contact with some being of light that made a painful mark of a cross upon her bosom that would blister and become fiery red every Friday. She also had the bloody wounds of the stigmata and possessed the supposed gift of "reading hearts," another one not found in Scripture. She related her mystic visions of the crucifixion, having never read the Bible, only the Catholic catechism.

The Catholic Exchange succeeded in blurring the lines between Catholicism and Protestant Christianity by the same "bait and switch" approach used by Mel Gibson in his film. Some of the contributors to the book are former Protestants-turned-Catholic and have used Evangelical terminology and apologetics to attract people to the truth of Scripture just to then turn them to Catholic fables about the Queen of Heaven and the Pope as Christ's representative on earth.

Towards the back of the book is an ad for a "Catholic Scripture Study" written by former Presbyterian-turned-Catholic Scott Hahn and Mark Shea (one of the contributors to the "Guide.") This "Study" is touted as an "in-depth and solidly Catholic Bible study and commentaries . . . Catholics no longer have to stray from the [Catholic] Church to find a vibrant Bible Study!" There is also an ad for former Protestant, Jeff Cavins' Bible tool to help Catholics see the Bible as Rome would have them to.

"A Guide to the Passion: 100 Questions About The Passion of The Christ" truly reveals the Roman Catholic methodology for using ecumenical fervor as a way to blur the distinctions between Catholic and Bible-believing Christianity. And whether or not director Mel Gibson meant for that to happen, his film is being used to further Rome's quest to bring all professing Christians under the authority of the Pope and into the waiting arms of the Queen of Heaven,

Anne Catherine Emmerich