‘Rocky’ Stallone back in church as new movie in theaters

http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=22474

I've always been a bit of an admirer of Sylvester Stallone. Suffered from Bell's Palsy, which affects the facial muscles and basically causes at least partial paralysis of the face. Father at 50. Played truant from the Vietnam War somewhere in Europe. Man behind Rocky and (urg urg) Rambo. Blazed the trail for Arnie and a whole generation of B-grade on-screen tough guys like Seagal and Norris and that quintessential Caucasian guy - Lundberg or Lundgren or something. Yeah.

But I never knew this guy was born Catholic. In fact I never thought of Rocky, Rambo Roman (Catholic) and Religion in the same sentence.

So this article came as a real eye-opener to me. I have extracted some bits of it for you, dear reader, to taste:-

"Stallone's shift back to church started when his daughter Sophia was "born sick," Stallone said in a Dec. 7 telephone interview from Dallas to promote his new movie, "Rocky Balboa."

In November 1996, at age 2 months, Sophia underwent open-heart surgery at the University of California at Los Angeles Medical Center.

The operation went well, and Sophia, now 10, is doing "great," Stallone said. "She's the No. 1 athlete in her class."

Stallone tried to find the words to describe what brought about his self-imposed exile from Catholicism.

"I don't know. Life," he said. "Your career is going, you're not communicating with your family."

The weight of celebrity was "very heavy," he added. "I didn't have any strong foundation behind me of people that would keep my feet on the ground. I was extremely seduced by the newfound freedom."


"When I got married everything changed," he said. "When my daughter was born sick, and I realized I really needed some help here, I started putting everything in God's hands, his omnipotence, his all-forgivingness."

If you're rolling your eyes at the prospect of a 60-year-old Stallone playing an aging boxer, that's OK with him.

"I actually embrace that, and the rolling of their eyes (is) a 100 percent natural valid reaction. I rolled my eyes when I thought of it," Stallone said. "You can't judge anything until you see it. When you see the film, it's about actually being able to listen to your heart and not so much your mind, following the guidance of someone much more powerful than you: Jesus.

"In 'Rocky I,' the first person we saw was Jesus," he said, referring to an opening scene of the boxing club where there is a big mural of Jesus on a back wall."

Full article: click on the link above.

LMT