I think one outcome of The Passion, one you don’t hear much speculation of, will be further reconciliation between Catholics and Evangelicals.

Catholic-Evangelical relations have improved in recent decades. One reason has been the abortion issue bringing them together on the same side. Another: the continued liberalization of mainline Protestant denominations combined with Pope John Paul II’s leadership has brought more Evangelicals to the place where, like me, they find they have more in common with conservative Catholics than with mainline Protestants.

I’m convinced The Passion is further accelerating this trend. Why and how?

There is the well publicized traditional Catholicism of Mel Gibson. His popularity combined with the popularity of his movie is making Evangelicals among others more sympathetic to his religious background, even if they disagree with it.

Catholics and Evangelicals once again find themselves on the same side of a cultural issue. Most Catholics and Evangelicals support the Passion while many liberal Christian and non-Christian spokesmen and pundits are critical, often caustically so. (That is not to say there aren’t a number from non-Christian backgrounds who applaud the movie. There are.)

But there is a deeper reason The Passion is bringing Evangelicals and Catholics closer together. The Passion as portrayed in the movie is a profoundly Marian one. One could almost call it The Passion of Mary as well as The Passion of the Christ. Much of the movie focuses on Mary and her suffering. Much of it views the Passion through her eyes.

The movie gives Mary an exalted role in the Passion. Yet is does so without contradicting the Biblical narrative as Evangelicals see it. Mary is made a focus of the Passion, but in a way very few Evangelicals find objectionable. Moreover, only the callous, of any background, can’t sympathize with her and feel her pain as her Son suffers.

And who can forget the masterful pieta scene when Mary, holding Jesus, lifts her eyes from Him and looks directly at the audience, putting responsibility on us for what Christ went through and for what our response now will be.

My primary response to The Passion was a deeper, much deeper, appreciation of what Jesus went through for me, an appreciation beyond words. But I also came away with a deeper appreciation for Mary and her passion. And, yes, while remaining quite Protestant in my view of Mary, I understood better why Catholics venerate her so.

I suspect I’m not alone.

I’m hesitant to mention this because some may find it more amusing, or even irreverent, than edifying. But the next day, I prayed something like, “Lord, I’m not going to pray to Mary. I think she wouldn’t want me to anyway. But would you tell her I appreciate her and what she went through?�

That’s the first time this Fundamentalist Protestant ever prayed anything like that.