Louis Zamperini and the Film Unbroken

[Monica02]

I just watched a segment on The 700 Club on the story of Louis Zamperini and the film just out titled "Unbroken"

It looks like a great film and one I actually would like to see and Mr. Zamperini's story is amazing.

I read a little of his bio and he was raised a Catholic and left the Church after hearing Rev. Billy Graham at a crusade and felt "Jesus in his heart".

In the TV segment he mentioned that he prayed constantly while stranded on a life raft and I assume he prayed while in Japanese captivity. He must have believed in God at this time, while he was still a Catholic.

This incident caused me to ponder something I often think about. Why is it so easy for non-Catholic movements to convince people that, as a Catholic, you do not or cannot have "Jesus in your heart", or you are not a Christian or you must be "born again"? They present a handful of bible verses and people get caught up in the moment and leave their faith.

I do not mean to denigrate Mr.Zamperini as he appears to have been the finest of heroes and a dedicated and faithful Christian. I guess I wonder why he and others who left the Church did not seek and/or find answers in the Church. I think maybe the Church is derelict in this area. Did any of his Catholic relatives, neighbors or friends reach out to him?

I have attended several local non-Catholic services that attract mostly Catholics ( to see what the attraction is) and honestly did not see what the attraction was. I spend alot of time at county fairs and usually visit non-Catholic Christian evangelization booths and listen to their pitch of three or four verses or take their little quiz and still cannot see how this attracts people. It must work because they are there every year so I must be missing something.

I was an evangelical as a child (church bus came and got me) but never really FELT or believed that I was certain to go the Heaven just because I "accepted Jesus as my Savior" even though that is what was taught to me. I knew that there was more to it and became Catholic as an adult. The whole history of the bible and the Church cinched the deal.

What should and can Catholics do to keep people Catholic and bring others to the Faith?

 

[Antigone]

I think it's at least partially because Catholicism is academic and untransparent, both to outsiders and to insiders as well occasionally. I think that it can be a daunting organisation to join as opposed to the methodist or baptist church around the corner where they go 'back to basic', so to speak: no Latin, no Deuterocanonicals, no 2000 years of doctrine, no Cathechism, no transsubstantiation... I can see where they're coming from.

 

[Fantine]

I haven't seen the movie yet, and borrowed the book from the library but didn't have a chance to get too far into it during Advent.

I am sure that there were times in his long captivity where he felt abandoned by God, and he probably didn't have access to the sacraments. I am sure that such experiences have profound effects on people. Some people get PTSD and never recover, even after years of therapy.

I know two people personally whose Catholicism comforted them--one a priest who was captured in WWII and promised God he would become a priest if he were freed. He was a missionary in Africa until he was about 50 and then wound up in our diocese and our parish in NY. He had been imprisoned in North Africa.

The other was a Vietnamese man who was imprisoned by his own people because he had worked for US Aid during the war. He and his immediate family had had the opportunity to go to the US by helicopter in 1975, but he couldn't leave his mother-in-law and other extended family who were dependent on him. He hadn't counted on being sent to a POW camp a few months later.

While imprisoned, he and the other prisoners could visit with relatives once a month. They would smuggle in tiny pieces of bread, at great risk. The priest who was a prisoner with them would say Mass and each prisoner could receive a crumb of the Eucharist. He said that that was what kept him alive for nine years.

It's probably harder for someone who is a convert to Catholicism to understand why a cradle Catholic would leave, but Zamperini was baptized as an infant and went through the trials of Job many times over by the time he heard the Reverend Billy Graham. I am grateful for his life and his witness around the world and his example of forgiveness.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

I read the book years ago.

If I remember correctly, Zamperini had two marriages. The first one failed due to his alcoholism and PTSD.

The 2nd one, Jesus came into his life and his wife's as well.

They probably did not go to the Catholic Church because back in those days, divorced people where literally shunned from the Church and in some places, society as well.

The annulment process was difficult before Vatican II and I can understand why many people who were divorced, but Christ came into their lives afterwards, ended up in non-Catholic denominations.

Jim

 

[Fantine]

The movie began with his childhood and ended with the end of the war. In the epilogue, we learned briefly about his life after the war and saw footage of the real Zamborini, then 80 years old, carrying the torch through the streets of Nagano.

It was a tremendously inspiring movie.

 

[AMDG]

snipped to question answered. Longer post above.

What should and can Catholics do to keep people Catholic and bring others to the Faith?

Not a commentary on the film just answering the question. It has been my experience that people who have strayed from the Catholic Faith have never really understood it from the beginning. There has been no apologetics--no true understanding, no Catholic family traditions in every minute of one's day AND no "personal relationship with God, His mother, and family--our elder brothers and sisters who have won the race", no true closeness, no struggles that we have overcome thanks to our Faith, no "miracles". (IMO the Catholic Faith is that "much is given so much is expected" since it is so deep, but often through ignorance of it all, there are some convinced to take an easier path.)

I feel really sad for them that they are missing out on such a rich Faith, but "God writes straight with crooked lines" and I figure that at the particular time perhaps the person in question NEEDS something basic and without the depth of Catholic Faith.

As far as bringing others to this wonderful Faith we have, well WE are the ambassadors of our Faith. Others will see our examples.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

I disagree. Many strayed Catholics were raised in traditional Catholic homes, and their parents are still devote Catholics.

However, many people who leave the Catholic faith, do so because yes they lacked faith, but in addition, life circumstances has led them away.

Many former Catholics are divorced Catholics who were married in the Church.

They still seek Jesus Christ, but because the Church treats them as adulterers and living in mortal sin with their new spouses they have no choice, but seek Jesus elsewhere. Many of these Catholics have successful 2nd marriages and are happy.

Pope Francis understands the issue and it's why he's called for the Synod to study it and provide a solution for such former Catholics.


Jim

 

[AMDG]

I disagree. Many strayed Catholics were raised in traditional Catholic homes, and their parents are still devote Catholics.

However, many people who leave the Catholic faith, do so because yes they lacked faith, but in addition, life circumstances has led them away.

Many former Catholics are divorced Catholics who were married in the Church.

They still seek Jesus Christ, but because the Church treats them as adulterers and living in mortal sin with their new spouses they have no choice, but seek Jesus elsewhere. Many of these Catholics have successful 2nd marriages and are happy.

Pope Francis understands the issue and it's why he's called for the Synod to study it and provide a solution for such former Catholics.

Just because some people were raised in "traditional" Catholic homes, does NOT mean that they are "marinated" in their Faith nor even that they KNOW their Faith. Many, many traditions were "jettisoned" when the "Spirit of Vatican II" (which is really what some secular folks THOUGHT that Catholicism ought to be) came to be in the 60s (followed by the "silly seventies" which further weakened the Faith AND have only seen a few people on OBOB whose families seem to have avoided that and I bet that they will be able to pass their Catholicism on to generations in the future with no problem.)

Most parishes today do NOT have apologetic courses and most Catholics are not even aware of their history--good and bad. IMO, this makes them "sitting ducks" for some evangelical with a list of grievances and with some Bible Studies specifically designed to separate the Catholic from Catholic teaching. (Heck, many Catholics aren't even aware of how great their personal relationship is with God and so when they are told that they don't have one, they believe. Often it's the one who informs them that Catholics don't have a personal relationship with God who is in awe of the Catholic who seemingly doesn't know it but ends up behaving like God is an everyday welcome confidant.) And somehow I have the feeling that when stories of the difficulties family members may have endured BECAUSE their Catholic faith upheld them (not to mention family miracles experienced) this will serve as an inoculation against losing the Faith.

BTW one ALWAYS has a choice whether to sin or not and in the case of a failed marriage, it isn't just the Church that notes that divorce and remarriage IS adultery, God is the one who is of that opinion. Remember, marriage is His idea. Priest spoke about it in today's homily--spouses are a means of working out salvation.

 

[Monica02]

I think it's at least partially because Catholicism is academic and untransparent, both to outsiders and to insiders as well occasionally. I think that it can be a daunting organisation to join as opposed to the methodist or baptist church around the corner where they go 'back to basic', so to speak: no Latin, no Deuterocanonicals, no 2000 years of doctrine, no Cathechism, no transsubstantiation... I can see where they're coming from.

I can understand how a church being viewed as untransparent can be unappealing but the 2000 years of doctrine, the history of the Deuterocanonicals and the Catechism are what drew me to the Catholic Church. These other sects, while viewed as simpler, cannot trace their roots back to the time of Christ.

It seems to be a matter of personal taste.

 

[Fantine]

After having seen "Unbroken" and what Louis Zamperini went through being lost at sea on a raft for 47 days and imprisoned for several years in Japanese POW camps, I find it somewhat astonishing that people could hold him up to criticism for finding another pathway to Christ.

Here is his conversion story:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RplIfPcCGkw

He calls his experience at the Graham Crusade "a miracle." And let's face it, miracles don't usually take place in apologetics or church history courses--they take place in our hearts.

Conversion takes place when we have an experience of God's presence in our lives, and legalism has little, if anything, to do with it.

Yes, he could have returned to God at a Redemptorist-led mission, but he didn't. But he certainly returned to God.

 

[Monica02]

snipped to question answered. Longer post above.


Not a commentary on the film just answering the question. It has been my experience that people who have strayed from the Catholic Faith have never really understood it from the beginning. There has been no apologetics--no true understanding, no Catholic family traditions in every minute of one's day AND no "personal relationship with God, His mother, and family--our elder brothers and sisters who have won the race", no true closeness, no struggles that we have overcome thanks to our Faith, no "miracles". (IMO the Catholic Faith is that "much is given so much is expected" since it is so deep, but often through ignorance of it all, there are some convinced to take an easier path.)

I feel really sad for them that they are missing out on such a rich Faith, but "God writes straight with crooked lines" and I figure that at the particular time perhaps the person in question NEEDS something basic and without the depth of Catholic Faith.

As far as bringing others to this wonderful Faith we have, well WE are the ambassadors of our Faith. Others will see our examples.

Mr. Zamperini most certainly was on fire for his new found faith.

I wonder if this "basic faith" that people may need can be found in Catholicism. The Catholic Church does not need to be deep - does it?
It can be, but how did people of past years who were illiterate manage?
I am no whiz kid, bible expert or theologian but the fact that others are and that there is more information ouo there does not make Catholicism unattractive to me. I just figure that God gave me my gifts and St. Augustine was given his.

Perhaps if this problem of "depth" and "basic" should be addressed by the Church.

 

[Country Gal]

I recently read the book. Mr Zamperini was Italian American, so by default Catholic. He was a juvenile deliquent whose brother guided him to track and running, and he ended up in the Olympics.

Then he went to the airforce, had incredible experiences of suffering and endurance, which he amazingly survived. He had PTSD and became an alcoholic. He had a miraculous transformation and healing through a Billy Graham crusade revival. That is how he found God.

It's an incredible true story.