Shroud of Turin experts say Gibson film sparks new interest in cloth

Published: 2004-04-05

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (CNS) -- The wide publicity and controversy surrounding Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" have brought a spike of new interest in the Shroud of Turin, which many believe was Jesus' burial cloth. John P. and Rebecca S. Jackson, who run the Turin Shroud Center of Colorado in Colorado Springs, and Barrie Schwortz, who runs the interactive Web site www.shroud.com, reported a significant increase in calls or visits since the movie came out. "This is normally a busy time of the year for us, but there's been about a 40 percent increase" in phone calls, said Rebecca Jackson, associate director of the center. A New York-born daughter of Orthodox Jews who is now Catholic, she is a specialist in Jewish historical migrations and cultural influences and has written and lectured on Jewish aspects of the shroud. Schwortz, a professional photographer, said that this March, for the first time, hits on his Web site in single month exceeded 1 million. "In addition to the dramatically increased Web traffic, incoming e-mail also rose to an all-time high, peaking at more than 1,000 e-mails per day," he said.

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