Mel Gibson passionate about his film on Jesus

LA Times ^ | 2/15/04 | Rachel Abramowitz

[truthandlife]

In the course of a half-hour conversation, he appears alternately embattled and exhausted, angry and self-pitying. There is a sense that the world is divided into those who are for him and his ``Passion,'' and those who are against.

His film is on the verge of release, and even the outraged criticism seems to be buoying it toward a big opening. Yet Gibson is not happy.

``I'm subjected to religious persecution, persecution as an artist, persecution as an American, persecution as a man,'' he says. ``These things have happened in the last year. I forgive them all. But enough is enough. They're trying to make me some cult wacko. All I do is go and pray. For myself. For my family. For the whole world. That's what I do.''

He has spent the past few days talking to handpicked members of the media, trying to dispel any notion that his film, which graphically depicts the last 12 hours in the life of Jesus, blames Jews for killing Jesus or is in any way anti-Semitic.

``I've taken every opportunity to say this out there and publicly: this is not the blame game. . . . I understand that some may have fears . . . because they maybe look at one aspect of it; it emotionally sort of causes a knee-jerk reaction. I'm sorry for that. I'm stunned by that. I don't understand.''

He pauses. He's been brooding on this, and seems pained. ``I do understand it now, because I've had to think about it and look at it for a while. It wasn't something that I was completely aware of.''

[Burlem]

I received the following in an e-mail. I do not know the validity, but the story is said to be told by Paul Harvey as you can see.

Sent: Saturday, February 07, 2004 6:59 PM
Subject: True Story told by Paul Harvey



Here is a true story by Paul Harvey. You will be surprised who this young man turns out to be. (Do not look at the bottom on this letter until you have read it fully.)

Years ago a hardworking man took his family from New York State to Australia to take advantage of a work opportunity there. Part of this man's family was a handsome young son who had aspirations of joining the circus as a trapeze artist or an actor. This young fellow, biding his time until a circus job or even one as a stagehand came along, worked at the local shipyards which bordered on the worse section of town. Walking home from work one evening this young man was attacked by five thugs who wanted to rob him. Instead of just giving up his money the young fellow resisted. However, they bested him easily and proceeded to beat his body brutally with clubs, leaving him for dead. When the police happened to find him lying in the road they assumed he was dead and called for the Morgue Wagon.

On the way to the morgue a policeman heard him gasp for air, and they immediately took him to the emergency unit at the hospital. When the was placed on a gurney a nurse remarked to her horror, that this young man no longer had a face. Each eye socket was smashed, his skull, legs, and arms fractured, his nose literally hanging from his face, all his teeth were gone, and his jaw was almost completely torn from his skull. Although his life was spared, he spent over a year in the hospital. When he finally left, his body may have healed but his face was disgusting to look at. He was no longer the handsome youth that everyone admired.

When the young man started to look for work again he was turned down by everyone just on account of the way he looked. One potential employer suggested to him that he join the freak show at the circus as "The Man Who Had No Face". And he did this for a while. He was still rejected by everyone and no one wanted to be seen in his company. He had thoughts of suicide. This went on for five years. One day he passed a church and sought some solace there. Entering the church he encountered a priest who had seen him sobbing while kneeling in a pew. The priest took pity on him and took him to the rectory where they talked at length. The priest was impressed with him to such a degree that he said that he would do everything possible for him that could be done to restore his dignity and life, if the young man would promise to be the best Catholic he could be, and trust in God's mercy to free him from his torturous life. The young man went to Mass and communion everyday and after thanking God for saving his life, asked God to only give him peace of mind and the grace to be the best man he could ever be in His eyes. The priest, through his personal contacts was able to secure the services of the best plastic surgeon in Australia. There would be no cost to the young man as the doctor was the priest's best friend. The doctor too was so impressed by the young man, whose outlook now on life, even though he had experienced the worst, was filled with good humor and love. The surgery was a miraculous success. All the best dental work was also done for him. The young man became everything he promised God he would be.

He was also blessed with a wonderful, beautiful wife, many children, and success in an industry which would have been the furthest thing from his mind as a career, if not for the goodness of God and the love of the people who cared for him. This he acknowledges publicly

The young man. Mel Gibson. His life was the inspiration for his production of the movie "The Man Without A Face". He is to be admired by all of us as a God fearing man, a political conservative, and an example to all as a true man of courage.



Mel Gibson has produced the movie "The Passion of the Christ". This is his way of thanking God for his many blessings. And it's also his way of showing us how Christ truly suffered. He's gotten a lot of flack from Hollywood for doing this movie. Please e-mail this to everyone you know. And go see the movie when it's released on Feb. 25. It will change your life forever!

[tcuoohjohn]

It's early yet...Gibson can be redeemed by bringing himself under the authority of the Church. If not then let him create his own protestant faith like Calvin or Knox. He can call it "The Gibsonite Church Of Malibu."

[sinkspur]

I am still awaiting evidence that Gibson worships in any way the Pope would not approve of!

If Gibson adheres to the beliefs of his father, he is a sedevacantist.

Also, there is no evidence that the chapel Gibson built was done under the auspices of the Diocese of Los Angeles. Even private chapels must be consecrated by a bishop in union with Rome. Was that ever done?

[onyx]

Mel is a tradionalist. Hardly a cult. But rave on.

[VeritatisSplendor]

The article you linked to is more to the point than the article DallasMike linked to. But it still does not establish that there is anything schismatic about Gibson's worship, because it is very vague on points where there is no excuse for not being precise (the article DallasMike linked to had the excuse of being written for the mainstream press by an uninformed reporter).

The problem is the statement Gibson and his son, the star of blockbuster films like "Braveheart" and "Lethal Weapon," are practitioners of an ultraconservative Catholic movement known as traditionalism. The small splinter group seeks to revive orthodox practices that were abandoned several centuries ago by mainstream Catholicism. .

There is no unified movement or group called "traditionalism". "Traditionalist" is a descriptive word applied to a very large variety of groups, movements, and tendencies, most of which are not schismatic. To say that "Gibson and his father belong to the same movement" is either simply false or intentionally misleading.

The question is what this group called "Holy Family" is. There are many lay groups in the Church (such as the Knights of Columbus or your local Catholic hospital or school) which may build private chapels and have masses validly and licitly celebrated, with the full awareness of the local bishop. On the other hand, if the title "church elder" which the article applies to a member of the Holy Family group is actually a term used by the group rather than made up by the writer, this raises a concern. The CRITICAL question is what the local bishop thinks, and the fact that neither of these articles made any attempt to call his office indicates to me that there is nothing schismatic or heretical going on and they are just trying to make Gibson look bad.

[VeritatisSplendor]

Shouldn't the burden of proof be on Gibson's critics here? It's easy enough to call up the diocese.

[sinkspur]

This article indicates that Gibson's chapel is not affiliated with the Los Angeles Archdiocese.

[tcuoohjohn]

I can cite Gibson's efforts himself. The " Holy Family Chapel of Malibu" is incorporated under Ginson's name as a private entity in which Gibson is the executive director. He has four members on his board of directors three of whom are his family members, to include his father Hutton Gibson. It is not incorporated under the Church. The chapel lists seventy members. Unlike Catholic Churches anywhere in the world, Gibson's church is not open to the casual Catholic worshipper.It is a members only chapel.

Is Gibson's church a cult?...I don't know. Perhaps. I do know it is schizmatic. It is a " private church" in which a layman decides what his chapel's fundamental tenets are. Those tenets are not in accord with the Holy Father in Rome or the Church of St. Peter.

[sinkspur]

You know what gets me? If Gibson (as it appears) disassociates himself from the Catholic Church today, why did he care what the Pope thought about his movie?

Was he hoping to get some positive publicity?

[Ciexyz]

Go Mel go!

[SJackson]

Urban legend

http://www.snopes.com/glurge/noface.htm
http://www.urbanlegends.com/ulz/gibson.html
http://hoaxinfo.com/gibson.htm

[DallasMike]

You have misinterpreted the story you linked to

The responses on the thread (I should have linked to it the first time) were all over the place. Some Catholics agreed that Gibson is a schismatic while others argued forcefully that he isn't schismatic at all. I don't know who is correct because I'm not a canon lawyer and am not a Catholic.

[VeritatisSplendor]

I have not seen any statements from either Gibson's "Holy Family" group or from any official church source on the matter. The only information I have found that addresses the specific issue of diocesan approval says that Gibson's group applied to the diocese for approval but was rejected, but that is itself a secondhand account which is talking about permission to hold Latin (Tridentine?) masses rather than permission to hold masses at all.

Obviously, if they have no permission to hold masses, than such masses are illicit (but not invalid), though that doesn't amount to schism. If the liturgy is neither Tridentine nor Novus Ordo, then the masses may be invalid as well, but I have no evidence of that. But if they have been negotiating with the diocese, they sound to me like any number of other orthodox traditionalist groups that are trying to do everything in the right way and remain in faithful communion with Rome.

I am going to ignore further articles on this unless they contain information that comes from EITHER a member of Gibson's group OR the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The possibilities are
1) They don't want the diocese's approval (they are schismatic)
2) They want the diocese's approval but don't have it yet (they are not schismatic, though they may be illicit in celebrating masses there while negotiations are still going on)
3) They have the diocese's approval for masses but not Tridentine masses (nothing of concern unless they are celebrating Tridentine masses there, but that is still not schism; it seems to me that this is the most likely scenario, according to the source I cited above)
4) They, like many other traditionalist groups, have the diocese's approval for all they are doing (appears not to be the case since the story you link to is unrebutted, but maybe they just don't care to rebut every false story about themselves because there are so many).

[tcuoohjohn]

Yep...a whole lot of con-jobbery going on here. The Pope is fine when Gibson is looking for an endorsement but he is a " false Pope" among his acolytes.

As to the controversy. I think it is a classic in the new PR marketing humbuggery. The Spears Kiss, The Jackson Boob show, and any host of other goofiness. Outrage sells. Gibson is playing this thing to the hilt. On every talk show he can find crying crocodile tears. Mel, "the Victim of Heartless Critics".

[Old fashioned]

The only ones with legitimate cause for concern are those in the sights of ignorant, venomous, smear artists like yourself.

[CalKat]

If it's rated R, that means you have to be 17 to see it, and they will check your ID and make sure that if you're under 17, you have an adult with you. Where I live they are very diligent about checking ID for R rated movies (I have a 16 year old).

[LisaMalia]

If it's rated R, that means you have to be 17 to see it, and they will check your ID and make sure that if you're under 17, you have an adult with you. Where I live they are very diligent about checking ID for R rated movies (I have a 16 year old).

Our theater is like that as well. I was thinking you had to have a parent with you. I remember my friend taking her daughter and her daughter's friend to see "We Were Soldiers", and the friend was not allowed in, because she did not have a parent with her. I just checked the rating system site, and it said "adult guardian".

[CalKat]

Yes, it doesn't have to be your own parent. Another mother just recently took my son and his friends to that Last Samauri movie. I'm glad I didn't have to see it -- not a big Tom Cruise fan.

[LisaMalia]

I remember my friend being very irate about the entire situation, because the kids said that they had gone to other R rated films and not even had their ID checked. It seemed like they were making a point about this particular movie. It may have been a case of who was working at the box office at the time.

As for "The Passion of the Christ", I'm going with my children and son in law, as I want it to have them with me when I see it. Not sure quite why, I just do.

[radiohead]

This story has been bothering me all day. I thought I knew a bit about Gibson and had never heard this story.

Anyway, I did a bit of searching and came up with the 'real' story at http://www.snopes.com/glurge/noface.htm

Briefly, Gibson did get pretty messed up in a fight the night before his Mad Max audition, but he was able to go to the autidion and his beat up look won him the role.

I think your version is pretty good, though. : )