Catholic film has world premiere in Napa

By ANNA ABBOTT
Register Correspondent

He handles cobras, he waves a whip, he rides upon camels in the scorching desert.

Is this another adventure of Indiana Jones? No, he's Stephen Ray, the nationally known Catholic apologist who journeys throughout Greece, Turkey, Israel and Egypt to walk in the footsteps of figures from Biblical and Christian history in a 10-part movie series going from Abraham to Augustine.

"It is a work of love, it is a work for the Church," said Ray before showing the world premiere of his movie, "Moses: Signs, Sacraments, and Salvation" at Trinity Grammar and Prep School in Napa on Friday, March 7.

Stephen Ray

It had finished post-production a week before in Phoenix. Ray spoke of how, at two in the morning, he had inspiration to make a series of movies about salvation history from a Catholic perspective.

Tony Ryan and Mark Brumley, who are involved with Trinity Grammar and Prep, and whose children attend the private Catholic school, helped him in the making of the series. Brumley is the president of Ignatius Press, a nationally known publisher of Catholic movies and books; Ryan is the CFO of the same company. Two and a half years ago, in a cafe in Yountville, Ryan, Brumley and Ray discussed the movie project.

Trinity Grammar and Prep has helped fund the movies. So far, Ray has made movies about the Virgin Mary and Saint Peter. Making the movie about Moses was a labor of love. Ray, his wife Janet and his crew worked in 110 degree heat in Egypt from 12 to 14 hours a day.

Before showing the movie, Ray told of his personal journey to the Catholic Church. He had been raised in an anti-Catholic environment, and before 1994 he had never set foot in a Catholic Church.

"I was taught that Catholics worshipped the Virgin Mary and revered the Pope more than Jesus," he said of his past. "I was taught that Catholic priests corrupted the church, but when I read the Early Church Fathers, I saw that their teachings were distinctively Catholic." Ray and his wife said they read their way into the Catholic Church. Ray views his movie series as a labor of love for the church.

In "Moses: Signs, Sacraments, and Salvation," Ray travels throughout Egypt and Israel to trace the journey of the famous Biblical figure. From going to the well of Jethro within St. Catherine's Monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai, to standing at the summit of Mount Nebo from which Jerusalem, Jericho, the Dead Sea and the Jordan River can be seen, Ray has a sense of adventure.

Ray believes that Moses is important in that he prefigures Jesus. "Moses is a major character," Ray commented. "He is a great way to teach about Jesus, the Church, and the sacraments. Moses prophesied the new law in Christ, that he would reinterpret the Law."

Ray views this Moses movie as a way to reconcile Jews and Christians. "Sadly, most Christians don't know their Jewish heritage. This should help Christians respect their elder brothers in the faith", said Ray.

"The Catholic Church has roots deep in Jewish history; it is the blossoming of Judaism."

Throughout the movie, Ray makes parallels between Moses and Jesus. As Moses laid hands on Joshua to make him leader of the Israelites, Ray says in the movie, so Jesus ordained his 12 apostles.

The sin offerings, according to Ray's interpretation, prefigure the sacrament of reconciliation, and the manna in the Sinai desert foretells the sacrament of the Eucharist.

Ray combines the travelogue, the biography and the Bible in the film, showing ancient sites and discussing archaeological findings and history at the time of Moses.

"It was very sacramental," Ray said of his making of the movie. "I loved being on Mount Sinai, and riding around on a horse, seeing the Jordan Valley from Mount Nebo. I love the austere beauty of the land."

"Catholics want to understand and defend the faith. It is a consuming project, a full-tune job for my wife and I. The movie about Jesus will be released in June, and the last two movies will be released in 2006."

Next year, Ray plans to go to Iraq when making the movie about the life of Abraham.