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.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

FYI, Mennonites believe a mainstream (as it was taught 100 years ago) doctrine. They just live stricter.

I was speaking rhetorically about the idea that one can feel justified attacking a religion simply because it might not have as many adherants as some others and might not be considered "modern" by some.

[raptor29]

Maybe Gibson is just rejecting the concept of covering up for a bunch of homosexual priests molesting kids, and decided to set up his own church and not allow that.

[sinkspur]

"But I do not believe in the Church as an institution." ....Gibson's objections to the post-Vatican II church echo those of the members of the Society of St. Pius X, which broke away from Rome partially because of the abandonment of the Tridentine liturgy.
Newsmax.

The actor does not hide his disdain for the Catholic Church. In a January 2003 interview with Time, he condemns Vatican II, saying it “corrupted the institution of the church. Look at the main fruits: dwindling numbers and pedophilia." The 40-year gap between the colloquium and the current scandal is conveniently not addressed
American Daily.

Gibson is not in union with Rome, though he will not come out and say so.

[Lurker]

Before long they'll be calling it a 'compound' and the FBI will burn the place to the ground.

L

[MamaTexan]

Gibson has also put up $5.1 million so far to run his own personal church near Malibu.

And if the church was the Celebration of the Divinity of Celebrity Belly-Button Lint, they'd be kissing his butt.

It's amazing how the media crucifies people that don't share their ideology!

[sinkspur]

Change Direction - Vatican II was an attempt to make more palatable. It failed miserably. People want to know there is one core on which to depend, Vatican II took that away from them as well.

That's your opinion. IMO, Vatican II was necessary to remove the "fortress mentality" that surrounded the Church prior to 1962.

[jtminton]

Gibson's chapel is not in union with the Catholic Church and Rome

I think the most important thing is that Gibson's chapel needs to be in union with God and the Bible. If it is, then there is no problem.

[ZULU]

Vatican II did almost as much to fracture the Catholic Church as the Reformation did. It led to large numbers of Catholics leaving the Church, and encouraged radicalism in countries like the U.S. where rogue priests and bishops took it as a signal to allow them to tread the paths of heresy.

A Church is more than a belief system. Its also a continuity of traditions and various symbolic trappings. Vatican II eviscerated all these from the Catholic Church and Catholics even today are impacted by it.

The church needed to update its image. Treating other Christians and Jews like second class human beings was one of the things which needed to go. 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.

I still feel a little unconfortable about Gibson and his feelings towards non-Catholic Christians and Jews. I keep vacillating between thinking he is being unjustly tarred and feathered, and believeing he is a closet anti-Semite.

I imagine time will eventually reveal where he really stands.

Modern day Prostant Churches are not immune from religious revisionism. While the Catholic Church has problems resulting from the points enumerated above, many main stream Protestant Churches have also strayed into the uncharted waters of heresy.

The "Good News" Bibles are atrocious. The "Good News" wording can't compare with the majesty of the King James Bible, and it seems to me that great liberties have been taken with these revised versions with respect to actual content. Sure, the wording in King James is archaic. but its still ENGLISH. If you're too lazy to take the time to check out the meanings of the few archaic terms which can't be inferred from context, you're probably too lazy to care much about your beliefs one way or the other.

The Catholic CHurch has been plagued by homosexual paedophilic priests. Some Protestant Churches actually have ordained these creatures, and performed "marriages" between them. A lot of Protestant Churches have strayed from using the Bible as the primary source of their faith - one of the main inducements for the Reformation in the first place.

Organized Christian Religions are in a sad state and the impending threat of Islam and Islamofacism, along with the atheization of American society bodes ill for the Christian faith.

[hobbes1]

Gibson's chapel is not in union with the Catholic Church and Rome.
Do you have evidence of this?

He's wrong. The practice is frowned upon, but hardly outlawed. See 36.

[sinkspur]

Better to be a schismatic, than a heretic.

So, you, too, have left the bark of Peter?

An SSPX Mass is valid, though it is illicit to attend one, when an Indult or Novus Ordo Mass is available.

Gibson, apparently in a cynical ploy, used the Pope to try to get an endorsement for his movie.

The Pope leads an institution that Gibson no longer believes in.

[Pyro7480]

Traditionalist Catholic PING!

[Jimmy Valentine's brother]

Gibson's chapel has 70 members and attendance is by invitation only.

And the basis for that statement as fact is?
Just inquiring.

I agree with GraniteStateConservative, one is almost forced to see what the noise is all about. The only reason I rented Barbershop was to see why the "black leadership" was up in arms.

[sinkspur]

He's wrong. The practice is frowned upon, but hardly outlawed. See 36

Gibson's chapel is not in union with Rome.

That is a fact.

[Pyro7480]

This is all so typical of you. You are so caught up in your traditionalist-bashing that you are blind to the other aspects of this story.

[leprechaun9]

My question was directed at the MEMBERS of the Catholic Church. I know the official position of the Church, but I also know that there are many "practicing" Catholics who support abortion!

The public voting records of elected officials show that many who consider themselves "Catholic" vote to support ABORTION! The Catholic Church has remained very muted since Roe v. Wade and it is only in the last year that SOME of the Catholic heirarchy are beginning to speak out against these public officials.

Here in NJ, there is a Roman Catholic Church that is NOT part of an Archdiocese. It is run by a priest who has maintained the Holy sacrifice of the Mass (i.e., Latin) and the practices that existed prior to VCII, ie., receiving Holy Communion in one form, kneeling at the Communion rail to receive, the covering of statues and cruxifixes during Lent, etc. This priest received a proclamation from the Pope for his dedicated life to the priesthood.

[sinkspur]

You are so caught up in your traditionalist-bashing that you are blind to the other aspects of this story.

I don't care about other aspects of this story. Gibson is not in union with Rome, nor is his chapel.

The evidence is overwhelming.

[TradicalRC]

Gee, isn't FOX considered "conservative"?
Hint: neo-conservatism is neither.

[hobbes1]

It is considered an INTERNAL matter of the Catholic Church.

Internal....

That is a fairly clear, and simple declarative.....

[Pyro7480]

Thanks for admitting this flat-out. Is Mel going to hell for not being in union with Rome?