Director of pro-life film 'Voiceless': 'We have become apathetic as a church'

CHICAGO (Christian Examiner) – Movie director Pat Necerato wants to see Christians take a bold stand for the great moral issues of our day, and so he made a movie about it.

Voiceless (PG-13), which opens in theaters Friday, follows the story of a man who joins the staff of a downtown Philadelphia church, only to learn that an abortion clinic is directly across the street. He assumes the pastor and the church members will support him in his opposition to the clinic but is shocked when they tell him that the issue of abortion is too political and controversial. He refuses to back down, though, and soon learns that his pro-life stance could cost him his job and land him in jail.

Necerato wrote and directed the film and said he "could have put a lot of things" in the place of abortion "that we need to take a stand for" – although abortion is a big issue.

"I love the church and I'm not an anti-church guy, but I just have think that we have become apathetic as a church," Necerato told the Christian Examiner. "So I wanted to take one of the most egregious sins of our nation – which I believe is abortion – and put an abortion clinic across the street from a church and then show that church holding back and not knowing what to do in that situation. We have orthodox issues and we have orthopraxy issues. We have to learn how to put our faith into practice and really live out this Christian life."

Necerato said he wants people walking away from the theater thinking: "Wow, we have to do more. That is our territory."

Homosexuality is another issue on which the church seems to be retreating, said Necerato, who does street preaching on the side and said that whenever homosexuality is raised during his sermons, people – even Christians – flee.

"Our back is being put against the wall, and we're losing the political battle – for sure. When I say political battle, I'm talking about things like same-sex marriage and abortion," Necerato said. "We've bought into the whole worldly philosophy of, 'Don't judge and there's really no right or wrong.'

"We have to draw the line and say, 'There is an ultimate standard.' There's no better time in history than now to draw that line. Because it is being blurred."

For information, visit VoicelessTheMovie.com.