LOS ANGELES — As lines form for the distribution of ashes this Feb. 9, many Catholics will remember another set of lines they queued up in last Ash Wednesday.

Those were the lines to see Mel Gibson’s motion picture The Passion of the Christ on opening day — Ash Wednesday, 2004.

And while the film was shut out from receiving a major Academy Award, viewers say the movie has had a lasting impact that deserves far more than an Oscar trophy.

The Passion, which set box-office records, received Oscar nominations Jan. 25 in only three categories: cinematography, makeup and original score.

Yet “the impact of the film was wide-ranging and varied, according to the position of the heart of the viewer,” said Jody Eldred, a Pentecostal and an Emmy-award-winning executive producer of “Changed Lives: Miracles of the Passion,” a television documentary that aired on PAX-TV and TBN.

Eldred went into theaters and used night-vision cameras to shoot footage of people’s faces as they watched the film.

 “I got to experience other people experiencing this film as it happened,” Eldred said. “I was seeing a lot of people crying and weeping. For some, these were the beginning steps for being set free. To get to see that in the process of happening impacted me.”

Eldred documented the film’s impact on viewers in “Changed Lives” and in a forthcoming book of the same title. He pulled from a base of 70,000 stories for the television documentary and featured 100 in the book. He said the film’s impact was life changing for many.

“It’s not like going on a diet, where you lose a bunch of weight and then put it back on. That’s not a miracle,” Eldred said. “When you deal with people who are profoundly changed by something, they are profoundly different. The people in the book and documentary have lasting changes.”

Most federal prisons will not allow R-rated films to be shown to prisoners. One of the first prisons where the film was shown was the Women’s State Correctional Facility in Broward County, Fla.

“As Christ was being crucified, and he told the good thief, ‘Surely you will be with me this day in paradise,’ the room was filled with loud crying,” Eldred said. “Even though many of these women might be in prison for the rest of their lives, they understood that freedom was available to them. The Passion of the Christ reminds us of the price paid for our freedom.

In addition to a special-edition DVD of the film that features a “making-of” documentary, Eldred said Gibson is working on a PG-13 version of the film that could be shown in prisons and perhaps on network television.

Tim Drake is the author of

Young and Catholic: The Face of Tomorrow’s Church.

The People Own the Airwaves’

Federal Communications Commissioner Michael Copps called the Register as this story went to press. He spoke with Tim Drake about the Superbowl and the FCC’s efforts to clean up the airwaves.

How concerned is the FCC about TV sleaze? Is the commission doing enough?

We’re trying to fight the good fight.

I would say that in the past year the FCC has become considerably more aggressive than they were on indecency because it was pushed by the people. Am I satisfied with where we are? No, I’m not.

What role did the Super Bowl half-time show last year play in focusing attention on these problems?

It wasn’t just the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl was a catalytic event.

The FCC recently dismissed 36 complaints concerning content that was aired on television, but that major newspapers refused to publish. Why were they dismissed? Because those who complained were associated with an organization?

With the dismissal of the 36 complaints, the FCC should have analyzed each one. That would have helped build some guidelines. We dropped the ball on that one. I’m disappointed that we didn’t look at that with closer study.

Many of these individuals who are making complaints are members of groups, such as the Parents Television Council or the Church, but that doesn’t mean that their complaints aren’t legitimate. The law wants us to take these complaints seriously. Anyone who is trying to sell the fairy tale that these are being sent by some organization that is pushing a button doesn’t understand what is happening in America.

Many Catholic parents fear the FCC’s focus on indecent content may ease up again.

The citizen pressure will need to keep up. People own the airways. The role of the Church has been a formative one.

At least the Super Bowl will be cleaned up.

Everyone is telling me that the Super Bowl is going to be a tamer event. I would probably bet that that’s so, but it’s money that motivates all of this, so nothing would surprise me.

I hope the networks have learned their lesson, but advertising sells for $1 million for 30 seconds. If we fine them $500,000, that’s just a nuisance. By selling another ad, they can pay for the whole thing.