Jim Caviezel, Pro-life, Adoption and Faith

The following comes from Lifesite news via the Marian Shrine:

Jim Caviezel, the star of the blockbuster film "The Passion of the Christ," told an interviewer that he had been challenged by a friend who was not pro-life to live up to his professed pro-life convictions and adopt a disabled child.

The friend told Caviezel that if he did that, then he would change to the pro-life position. When Caviezel and his wife Kerri, went to China to adopt not one, but eventually two orphans suffering from brain tumors, the friend reneged on the deal. Caviezel, however said, "It didn't matter to me because the joy that we hadfrom (Bo) - he's like our own." The couple's first child, Bo, had been abandoned on a train, grew up in an orphanage until he was five and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The Caviezels nursed Bo through his surgeries and he remains today at the centre of the family.

"We took the harder road," the actor said. "That is what faith is to me; it's action. It's the Samaritan. It's not the one who says he is; it's the one who does - and does without bringing attention to himself. I'm saying this because I want to encourage other people."

Handsome and a compelling actor, Jim Caviezel has taken leading roles in a number of mainstream feature films - "The Thin Red Line" and the "Count of Monte Cristo" being the best known. But it is his role as the suffering Jesus in the "Passion of the Christ" that he has become best known for. About the adoption of his children, Caviezel was frank about his feelings, saying the challenge "completely terrified" him at first. "Yes, you do feel fear, you do feel scared but you have no idea the blessings that you have coming to you if you just take a chance on faith."

When the Caviezels went to adopt their second child, they were first offered a healthy baby girl, but a five-year-old girl with a brain tumor from the Guangzhou region of China also needed a home. The Caviezels reasoned that a healthy baby would be more likely to be adopted by another family and that the child with the tumor had a greater need for a home.

Caviezel's optimism and selfconfidence showed early in his acting career. He was told that as a devoutly believing Catholic he should be prepared to keep his beliefs quiet. But it was his openness about his faith that attracted the attention of Mel Gibson and led him to offer Caviezel the role of Christ.

Asked about the challenges of being a publicly Catholic figure in Hollywood, Caviezel responded, "It's part of the cross you take up when you choose to believe in him (Christ)...we all have this desire to want to be liked...but what we should be asking God for is the desire for humility. (Lifesitenews)