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The Southern Cross, Page 4
Thursday, March 29, 2001
Strength and honor at the Oscars
L ast year, the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences heaped praise on
American Beauty, a well-crafted film that was,
in fact, a critique of Middle America that might
have been “daring” 40 years ago, but is now
merely a hackneyed cliche. That depressing film
was honored as Best Picture and its anti-hero,
Kevin Spacey, took home the Oscar as Best
Actor.
In stark contrast, this year’s Best Picture award
went to Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, a stunning epic
of ancient Rome, whose main character,
Maximus, is a genuine hero. Russell Crowe was
honored with the Best Actor Oscar for his
nuanced portrayal of Maximus, the competent
favorite general of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius
and later the victim of the emperor’s insane son
and successor, Commodus. His family de
stroyed, Maximus is sold into slavery and be
comes a gladiator, finally facing Commodus in
the Colosseum. (The historical Commodus really
did fancy himself a gladiator and fought staged
battles in the great arena). It was refreshing to
By Rose Cisik
s we enter the year 2001, may
the love of God be in our
hearts. This year, may we be trans
formed more in his image and like
ness, and experience the power of
God’s goodness and grace in our
lives.
God’s love is everlasting. We see
it in the beauty of the land, the
ocean, the mountains, the valleys,
sunrise, sunset, and so forth. God
blesses us with life, with breath,
with his creation, and offers us for
giveness, his Spirit. This is love
everlasting.
“For God loved the world so
see a central character actually acknowledged as
a hero, living by the gladiator’s motto, “Strength
and Honor.”
The meticulous attention to detail displayed in
Gladiator stands in marked contrast to standard
Hollywood Roman epics. The costumes were
extremely accurate (unlike the bedsheet togas
characteristic of Cecil B. DeMille’s extravagan
zas) and the pitched battle between the superbly
organized Romans and the valiant but unorgan
ized Germans in the opening scene was as mes
merizing, realisitic and tragic as the famous
opening D-Day sequence of Saving Private
Ryan.
The Academy awarded a total of five Oscars to
Gladiator, which had been nominated for 12, but
reserved the Best Director award for Steven
Soderbergh, for Traffic, a gritty and unsparing
look at the drug trade. (Soderbergh was also
nominated for Erin Brockovich.) In the context
of Hollywood, Traffic is “daring” for its refusal
to glamorize the destructive effects of drug
abuse. Benecio del Toro won the Best Suppor-
D.C.C.W. Notes
God’s love is everlasting
ting Actor award for his portrayal of the “good”
cop in Traffic.
Julia Roberts won, as expected, for her por
trayal of the main character in Erin Brockovich.
This true-life tale of a somewhat unrefined legal
aide who takes on a giant industry over its pol
luting of the water supply also features a hero.
Erin is a crusader for truth and a woman who
will not be dissuaded from seeking it. She is a
modem legal “gladiator” and her story also is
one of strength and honor.
Not everyone is happy with this year’s choices.
Roger Ebert, for one, has been severely critical
of all the praise heaped on Gladiator, which he
denigrates for not being “daring” like American
Beauty. Perhaps this criticism says more about
Roger Ebert than it does about Gladiator. One
could easily hold that the kinds of movies hon
ored this year are more daring than American
Beauty: they portray heroes in an age that dis
trusts and even debunks them.
—DKC
It is in that love that we become
not servants, but friends.
All things work for good for
those who love the Lord. We are to
love the Lord our God with all our
heart and love our neighbor as our
selves. The formula for success and
happiness begins by centering our
lives on God. It is then that our
lives will be fulfilled
God is the Almighty; the Creator
of the Universe. Hebrews 12:8
states Jesus Christ is the same yes
terday, today and forever!
Rose Cisik is a parishioner of
Saint Mary’s on the Hill, Augusta.
much that he gave his only Son, so
that everyone who believes in him
may not die but have eternal life”
(John 3:16). God sent the Spirit to
dwell within us, so that we might
be more closely united to Jesus
than we are to anyone or anything
else. Our desire should be to love
as God does, and demonstrate his
love to others.
God is the way, and the truth, and
the life. We are all in need of God’s
love. We all have needs and are
hurting, etc. Jesus took on our
human nature and the suffering of
our earthly existence. He suffered a
painful, human death in order to
remove our sins and set us free. No
matter what turmoil we experience,
God is always with us. He fills us
with love and hope.
Christ has begun new life through
the sacraments of Baptism,
Confirmation, and Eucharist.
We need to be committed to the
sacraments and walk daily with
God in order to have the fullness of
life.
We are loved with an everlasting
love. The coming of Christ is
shown by God’s love for us, as we
in turn take that love to others. As
Christ is loved by the Father, so we
are loved by Christ.
601 E. Liberty St.
Savannah, GA
31401-5196
Bishop J. Kevin Boland received the following
letter from Robert J. Vitillo, Executive Director,
Catholic Campaign for Human Development.
Thanks
Dear Bishop Boland,
On behalf of the Catholic Campaign for Hu
man Development, I am writing to thank you and
all of the faithful of the Diocese of Savannah for
your very generous contribution of $30,460.81.
This support reflects the strong commitment of
Catholics in Savannah to helping the 32 million
Americans living in poverty create more secure
lives and stronger communities.
Over the past thirty years, through your gener
ous support, the CCHD has strengthened its
efforts to help people help themselves. CCHD-
funded groups uphold the sacredness and dignity
of human life by encouraging self-sufficiency
and by educating all to the root causes of poverty
and other injustices in our communities. Your
generosity assisted CCHD-funded groups to
Letters
secure successes like these:
Job creation: A group of young women who
previously relied on welfare to support them
selves and their families are now in business for
themselves, selling fresh gourmet pastas at a
southern city’s local farmers markets.
Youth leadership: Young people in the Mid
west launched a billboard and media campaign to
reduce neighborhood crime and drug use.
Community revitalization. A community
group in an Eastern city successfully urged banks
to reopen branches in their neighborhood.
Pope John Paul II appeals to Christians to
change the structures of injustice in society: “the
promotion of justice is at the heart of a true cul
ture of solidarity. It is not just a question of giv
ing one’s surplus to those in need, but of ‘helping
entire peoples presently excluded or marginalized
to enter into the sphere of economic and human
development’” (World Day of Peace Message
2001).
FAX: (912) 238-2339
E-mail:
DClark5735@aol.com
Through their gifts to the Catholic Campaign
for Human Development, the people of Savannah
have joined with CCHD to help build that soli
darity. We are grateful for your leadership and for
the invaluable cooperation of your Diocesan
Director, Sister Jacqueline Griffith, SSJ, whose
partnership with us makes the CCHD’s mandate
a reality.
Rev. Robert J. Vitillo
Washington, DC
***
A Lloyd fan
Dear Editor,
The Southern Cross is an informative and
enjoyable newspaper. I especially enjoy the
human interest articles . My favorite contributor
is Ticki Lloyd. Her stories are heart-warming and
tell us about interesting people whose goods acts
are worth sharing. Thanks for a good paper.
G. L. Rountree
Savannah