Posted on 09/03/2008 7:20:36 AM PDT by marshmallow
Hollywood, Sep 1, 2008 / 08:51 pm (CNA).- The author of the dark thrillers "Basic Instinct", "Jagged Edge" and "Showgirls" is about to release a book unlike any script he has ever written. It is the story of his spiritual conversion from a party-lifestyle to one devoted to Christ and his family.
In his book, "Crossbearer: A Memoir of Faith", the former senior editor of the Rolling Stone, Joe Eszterhas, explains his conversion.
Eszterhas grew up in refugee camps in Hungary during World War II before living in the back alleys of Cleveland. It was there that he worked as a police reporter racing to cover “countless shootings” and “urban riots,” he told the Toledo Blade.
At the time, his life was very dark—one filled with death, murder, crime and chaos. He describes his writing as equally dark and also “sexually graphic.”
During the summer of 2001, Eszterhas was diagnosed with throat cancer. His doctors worked to remove 80 per cent of his larynx and told him to immediately quit drinking and smoking. Eszterhas was 56. He lived a wild lifestyle and knew that changing his habits would not be easy.
His Conversion
On a day Eszterhas describes as “hellishly hot,” he was walking through a tree-lined neighborhood when he realized he had hit rock-bottom.
Eszterhas described his frame of mind: "I was going crazy. I was jittery. I twitched. I trembled. I had no patience for anything. … Every single nerve ending was demanding a drink and a cigarette.”
He sat on the curb and began to cry. In between fits of crying he began to pray, “Please God, help me.”
He hadn’t prayed since he was a child. "I couldn't believe I'd said it. I didn't know why I'd said it. I'd never said it before," he wrote.
God reached out His hand
Eszterhas was immediately overwhelmed with peace. His twitching stopped. He no longer trembled. He saw a "shimmering, dazzling, nearly blinding brightness that made me cover my eyes with my hands."
Similar to Saul seeing a blinding light on his way to Damascus, Eszterhas had seen the light of Christ.
Eszterhas described the experience as “absolutely overwhelming."
He went from doubting if he could make it through life without tobacco and alcohol, to knowing that he could "defeat myself and win."
Living the Catholic Faith
Since his Damascus-like experience in 2001, he and his wife have attended Mass regularly at a local Catholic church.
In his book, Eszterhas frankly includes his opinions on the clerical sexual abuse scandals. Because of the abuse and cover-ups, Eszterhas describes his continued struggle to trust the Church. He explains that he and his wife decided that they could not, in good conscience, donate money to the church and they are paranoid to leave their sons alone with priests at catechetical classes.
The book also describes priests’ homilies as boring and pointless. In a search for more content and dynamism, Eszterhas attended a non-denominational mega-church. While the sermon was powerful, he left feeling empty without the Liturgy and Eucharist.
"It may have been a church full of pedophiles and criminals covering up other criminals' sins … it may have been a church riddled with hypocrisy, deceit, and corruption … but our mega-church experience taught us that we were captive Catholics," he wrote.
"The Eucharist and the presence of the body and blood of Christ is, in my mind, an overwhelming experience for me. I find that Communion for me is empowering. It's almost a feeling of a kind of high."
Today Eszterhas continues to receive large offers for movies with dark, sinister themes. However, he maintains he has “spent too much of his life exploring the dark side of humanity and does not want to go there anymore.”
"Frankly my life changed from the moment God entered my heart. I'm not interested in the darkness anymore. I've got four gorgeous boys, a wife I adore, I love being alive, and I love and enjoy every moment of my life. My view has brightened and I don't want to go back into that dark place."
“Miraculously Cured”
Eszterhas' appreciation for life intensified even more last year when his surgeon told him another visit would not be necessary.
"He used the word 'cured,' a word that oncologists generally don't use," Eszterhas said. "He said I didn't have to come back for any checks, that my tissue had regenerated to the point where you cannot only not tell that there was ever any cancer there, but you can't tell that there had been any surgery there.
"Naomi and I were, of course, overwhelmed when he told us. I think it's truly a miraculous blessing."
Eszterhas was compelled to write his book as "a thank you to God" and "to tell the world what He has done for me."
His wife has consistently been supportive. When she finished his book, she gave it a hug saying, “That's how I feel. I'm very proud of it."
Praise God. This screenwriter used to eat the “devil” of Hollywood, Mike Ovitz, for lunch.
I had a feeling something was up a few years ago when I read his Monica/Bill book. Lord bless and keep Joe E.
Wonderful conversion story.
Anti-Catholicism, Hypocrisy and Double Standards
Hauled Aboard the Ark
Why I Returned to the Catholic Church. Part I: Darkness
Why I Returned to the Catholic Church. Part II: Doubts
Why I Returned to the Catholic Church. Part III: Tradition and Church
Why I Returned to the Catholic Church. Part IV: Crucifix and Altar
Why I Returned to the Catholic Church. Part V: The Catholics and the Pope
Why I Returned to the Catholic Church. Part VI: The Biblical Reality
His Open Arms Welcomed Me
Catholic Conversion Stories & Resources
My Personal Conversion Story
My (Imminent) Reception into the Roman Catholic Church
Catholics Come Home
My Journey of Faith
LOGIC AND THE FOUNDATIONS OF PROTESTANTISM
"What is Truth?" An Examination of Sola Scriptura
"Have you not read?" The Authority behind Biblical Interpretation
The Crisis of Authority in the Reformation
Our Journey Home
Our Lady’s Gentle Call to Peace
A story of conversion at the Lamb of God Shrine
Who is Mary of Nazareth?
Mary and the Problem of Christian Unity
Why I'm Catholic
A Convert's Response to Friends
My Story
Courage to Be Catholic
Finally Catholic! My Conversion to the Catholic Church
Southern Baptist Pastor Leaves Everything for the Eucharist
The Short Version (the Way International convert)
Shower of Roses-- An Independent, Fundamental Baptist Becomes Catholic Through Mary's Intecession
Confessions of a Catholic Convert
Alex Jones: the evangelical who became a Catholic deacon
A TRIUMPH AND A TRAGEDY
Women's Ordination Was Non-Negotiable
Catholic Mariology, Authority, and Various Other Qualms of Protestants Considering Conversion
Married, ex-Baptist minister to become Catholic priest
Also see:
Sheep That Go Astray
Pope Benedict Goes to Washington Ecumenical Meeting at St. Joseph's Church, New York
Orthodox and Catholic Churches are allies, (Orthodox) Bishop Hilarion says
How to become a Catholic
PRAISE GOD!
BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD.
A very sad comment in an otherwise wonderful testimony.
I'm just saying...
I spend a majority of the summer on Mackinac Island, Michigan. Being Missouri Synod Lutheran, I feel far more at home attending Catholic Mass than one of the protestant church services on the island. For years, the Parish Priest at St. Anne's has been Father Jim Williams. Last week, Father Williams was the featured speaker at the local Barak Obama fundraiser.
Is there any sort of protocol governing a priest's advocacy of a political position which is contradictory of Church teaching?
I'm glad he's not getting a high off of alcohol and tobacco anymore, but someone should warn him that chasing after spiritual highs is not exactly Christianity.
I don't think advocating for a pro-abort politician is a responsible thing for a Catholic priest to do. Are there any conservative Catholic churches around? If not, is there a Protestant church that doesn't mire itself in liberal politics that you can attend?
I don’t really know. Of course it is troubling, and also sinful because of the Obama’s proabort position, but whether he is violating a particular canon of the law as a priest, I don’t know.
Ask him how he is reconciling that in his mind. Maybe he would agree to post his rationale here.
It is dangerous in absense of a spiritual director, but Catholicism has a long and glorious history of mysticism, so we should not condemn it outright, especially in a person who reacts to the world in hyper-emotional way to begin with.
Isn't that his condition? He doesn't trust the Catholic church he attends enough to give them any fruits of his labor. He's wary of the altar boy scandals to the point that he tried out a megachurch. He comes back for a spiritual high that he experiences with communion, but what happens when that becomes more routine? Will enough truth sink in by that point so he continues in Christ, or will he seek out the next spiritual high in Buddhism, or Jewish mysticism that is popular in Hollywood?
I would much prefer him to have said that the truths and traditions touched him more at the Catholic church than the megachurch than to say that he missed a spiritual high.
Ping
I don’t know him and am reluctant to presume any of that. You may be right, but I would still not dismiss a mystical experience outright. It is a valid part of the Holy Communion, even if it is not felt by all or at all times.
Wow..Joe Eszterhas!! who would have thunk it.
This Southern Baptist is awestruck by this story. Welcome to our faith, brother, and see you in Heaven!
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