Mel Gibson: $5 Mil to Fringe Church (FOX attacks "antiquated Catholic ideology")

FOX ^ | Friday, February 20, 2004 | By Roger Friedman

[Behind Liberal Lines]

Mel Gibson's put his money where his mouth is. By now everyone in the world knows he's spent $25 million to make "The Passion of the Christ" and promised nearly $25M more to market it.

But what you may not know is that Gibson has also put up $5.1 million so far to run his own personal church near Malibu.

Last year Christopher Noxon wrote in The New York Times that Gibson had donated $2.3 million to make Holy Family Catholic Church in Agoura Hills, California a reality. Holy Family rejects the universally accepted teachings of the Second Vatican Conference and chooses to stick with antiquated Catholic ideology.

Bu it turns out that Gibson has donated a little more than twice that amount to Holy Family since 1999, according to federal tax filings. And that's not counting 2003, since the most recent report has not yet been filed.

Gibson and his wife Robyn are listed in federal tax records as directors of the Holy Family Catholic Church. The church is run out of Gibson's Icon Production company offices, with an Icon employee responsible for keeping the church's books.

The Gibsons' tax-free donations to Holy Family are made possible by a charity they established called the AP Reilly Foundation, which is named for Mel's late mother. The foundation was created on October 29, 1999 for the sole purpose of creating the church.

The church, by the way, has an unlisted phone number, keeps its address a secret and has asked those who have the information not to release it.

Gibson is no stranger to controversy when it comes to voicing his opinion about his religious beliefs. In a 1992 interview with the Spanish magazine El Pais, his comments about homosexuals — which cannot be printed here — caused an international stir.

In the same interview Gibson talked about the fact that his brand of Traditionalist Catholics did not subscribe to the Second Vatican Council's 1965 rulings on various subjects including who was responsible for the death of Jesus Christ.

[MEGoody]

"I stopped going to Mass when I saw a woman, a teenage girl do a "guest spot" on the altar reading from the bible."

A girl (or woman) reading a passage from the bible as part of the service caused you to walk out?

Wow. You probably would have walked out of many an early New Testament church as well, since we know from scripture that prophesying and tongues speaking/interpretation of tongues are not gender specific gifts.

[It's me]

Which diocese is that?!

[It's me]

Is Mel going to hell for not being in union with Rome?
Mel's salvation is Mel's business.

Then why does it matter where his church is?

[steve-b]

I feel no need to go around publicly denouncing my own father when he says things I disagree with.

Really, now, there is a difference between making a mistake and spewing venom. The former can be overlooked out of courtesy; the latter has (in Gibson's case) reached the point where the only available options are 1)objection or 2)tacit concurrence.

[steve-b]

Since there is no inconsistency between the two (it would be easy enough to comply with both requirements with a weasel-free statement of love for the man and condemnation of the opinion), that excuse doesn't work.

[MEGoody]

"Since there is no inconsistency between the two"

Perhaps not in your mind, but you aren't Mel, and you won't be answering for to God on Mel's behalf on judgment day.

To judge the son as 'guilty' of anti-semitism because of the father's comments is unfair to say the least. Do you have documented evidence of anti-semitic comments Mel has made? If so, that would be a different issue.

[CobaltBlue]

So according to steve-b, Mel Gibson only has two "available options" - publicly denouncing his 85-year-old father, or accepting that steve-b thinks he's a Holocaust denier.

My guess is that Mel Gibson doesn't really care what steve-b thinks, but I guess we'll have to stay tuned.

[ZULU]

Of course, that's your choice.

However, tradition always forms a very significant part of any religious belief system. Its important, as a matter of fact, in ANY organization, secular or religious. It provides a sense of identity to the members. In addition the Tridentine Mass is a very inspiring and moving ceremony. Even non-Catholics have said as much. The lay-out of the older churches with their statues, altar, rails, grand altars, etc, lent a sense of otherworldliness to the structure and helped elevate the viwer's thoughts to a non-material world. Start stripping away tradition and you loose adherents. Its a simple fact, and the number of Catholics who left after Vatican II'sinduced changes will attest to that.

The changes wrought by Vatican II would have appealed to Oliver Cromwell, who, along with his Puritan Adherents, viewed the subject very differently.

[Mamzelle]

Know what? I disagree with a lot of what my own folks have to say about this and that. They come from a different time and place. I expect that holds true of almost everyone, including Mel Gibson.

I don't see how it's any business of yours what he does about his, what I do about mine, or that you have any standing to demand that he do anything about his family, anyway. In a world of Hollywood, his family looks exceptionally wholesome.

I hope Mel cleans up, big time.

[steve-b]

Er, the other option is to accept that any reasonable person will draw that conclusion from his evasion when Pops' noxious notions are raised.

How hard is it to say, "I love him, but he's wrong about this"?

[Pyro7480]

Really? How do you explain these words of Paul?

"As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silence in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as even the law says. If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church."
-1 Cor. 14: 33b-35

[IrishCatholic]

What a tool. Just another hit on Christians. Fox is fair and balanced. I do want to state that. They have conservative viewpoints and then they have raving liberal same sex marrying dope smoking socialists. This must be from the left side of the building.

[CobaltBlue]

This is such a red herring. Do you know any 85-year-old men? The ones I know are half gaga, very frail. Even if he's in good health, he's got one foot in the grave already.

The articles I've read all seem to have one agenda - they object to movie because it is a literal depiction of what is in the Gospels.

It seems to be politically correct these days to blame the Romans for the death of Christ, and to whitewash the actions of the Jews - NOT "the Jews" in general - but the very specific Jews described in the Gospels who wanted Christ to be executed for blasphemy.

As Gibson says, what they object to are the Gospels themselves.

So making Gibson look like a nut case is what they're after.

How about you? Do you object to the depiction in the Gospels of the actions of the Sanhedrin? Do you think that this is, in and of itself, anti-Semitism?

[VRWC_minion]

To the liberals, any church that insists on using the bible is "antiquated" and "fringe".

Not the way the "moderates" in the Episcopal Church use the bible.

[EODGUY]

Very well articulated comment.

The only "acceptable" bigotry in the world today is anti-Christian.

[rogator]

"But ripping out altar rails, removing religious statues, turning around the altar, introducing "profane" music to services, and ending the Latin and the Tridentine Mass, destroyed a lot of the majesty of that faith.
Count me as one who disagrees with this position. I think you're talking about personal preferences in aesthetic matters"
"If you want to believe that God prefers the mass in Latin, that's your prerogative"

How about the rest of your quote? Do you really believe God (or Vatican II for that matter) called for the destruction of Catholic worship traditions?

[Lost Highway]

Matthew 5 11-12

11"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

[rebel25]

Mel is following the Word of God, honor thy mother and thy father... he is not dishonoring him by correcting him publicly. "holocaust denial" is a neat word liberal overtones all in it... behind liberal lines is not attacking any religon, you are the one attacking, like you have something to prove. are you the irs or his accountant then how do you know the business was shady...i dont know and if he did build a church then more rich people need to be like him.

[CobaltBlue]

I understand that you find the traditional Latin Mass more pleasing and that it is your personal preference. I do not believe that changing the language the mass is said in, etc., is contrary to the teachings of Christ.

I think a humble gathering of the devout worshipping in their own language - Aramaic - is exactly what happened at the Last Supper.

Thus, I do see some irony in Gibson's simultaneously making a movie where Christ speaks in the vernacular, but attending a church where the priest does not.

But I don't think it's any big deal. I am comfortable with the mass in English and the other changes made in Vatican II. I was very young when they occurred, don't have much invested in the old status quo.

[Petronski]

P.S. - I assume that your misattribution of the quote was a mistake made for the sake of brevity.

LOL