Where’s the passion?

Bob Beltz, ordained Presbyterian minister-turned-movie-producer, was pretty cocksure about the movie “Joshua,” now playing on some area screens. When turning the popular book into film, he said during a preview showing this spring, they tried to make certain the finished product offended no one, especially Catholics or Protestants.

He didn’t quite succeed.

In fact, “Joshua” will offend some Catholics because of its almost cartoonish presentation of things Catholic. And will certainly confirm the anti-Catholic bigotry of some Protestants.

Others are likely to be put off that his portrayal of a Mr. Nice-Guy Jesus-like character comes across nothing like the original.

“Joshua” is the film version of the first of a series of wildly popular books by retired Albany (N.Y.) Diocese priest, Father Joe Girzone. The lead character—a carpenter only barely disguised as Jesus of the Gospels—experiences scriptural lessons set in modern-day situations, colored, of course, by the author’s perceptions of a hierarchy which cares little about God’s interaction with real people.

I first ran into the Joshua series a dozen years ago and was disappointed by the simplicity of the stories which lacked the fire and passion the real Jesus undoubtedly demonstrated. I interviewed Girzone in the mid-1990s and told him so. He conceded that Joshua was a simple retelling of Gospel events without the theological power of a Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. But, he said then, it was to be an invitation to readers to delve more deeply into the real stories.

To Girzone’s credit, the books were an entrée for many people. Sadly, for too many others, Joshua became an incomplete end.

So, too, does the film. Joshua saves some townspeople from themselves while making the religious establishment—mostly Catholic—look bad for not caring about the people Joshua cares for.

As a tale, “Joshua” can be entertaining, but empty. As a social commentary on the role faith plays in society, “Joshua” misses the mark altogether. Look no further than the stories in this issue of The Catholic New World.

On Page One, staff writer Michelle Martin chillingly tells of the struggle being waged by the church to keep necessary assistance from being lost to the millions of poor in this country. Poverty USA, a program of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, acknowledges there are more than 30 million Americans struggling with not enough to eat, substandard housing and wages which will not cover bare necessities.

Then turn to Page 15 for a look at how other powerful forces of the church—Catholic Charities and the Catholic Health Association—are joining forces to address this travesty.

Nor are these isolated examples. On Page 8 there’s a story of a press for better housing. And on Page 16, read how medical students at Loyola University’s Stritch School of Medicine are part of international efforts to bring aid to those who need it.

The movie probably wouldn’t show it, but Joshua should be proud. Jesus certainly is.

There’s a further lesson for Beltz and the makers of “Joshua” who hope to put other such “Christian” stories to film and create good family entertainment. I hope they do, but they should first take a page from the program called Act One which just completed a series of classes here in Chicago (See Page 22).

Act One is an effort to change the way filmmakers think by training screenwriters to include good values in their product. Beltz would agree with that; it’s part of the reason he produced “Joshua.”

But movies work best when they aren’t preachy; when the values are an integral part of the story line. “Joshua” is preachy; oh, my, is it ever.

For light summer fare, “Joshua” isn’t too bad. Just look beyond the snarky comments and deeper than a simplistic message.

Tom Sheridan
Editor and General Manager