Posted on 01/26/2006 8:52:28 AM PST by laney
Hutton Gibson has been making a three-hour drive each week for the past year from his home in Summersville, W.Va., to rural Westmoreland County, a round trip of more than 300 miles, just to attend Sunday Mass.
Now, the 87-year-old Gibson plans to have his own church in Mt. Pleasant Township.
The church is St. Michael the Archangel Chapel, now located in a ranch-style brick home along Route 982 South between the villages of Lycippus and Weltytown.
Gibson is no ordinary parishioner.
Gibson is the father of actor-director Mel Gibson and a follower of an ultraconservative branch of Catholicism that rejects the liturgical reforms adopted in the early 1960s resulting from the Second Vatican Council -- commonly referred to as Vatican II.
The worldwide movement was started by the late Marcel Lefebvre, a French bishop who broke with the Vatican and began appointing his own bishops and ordaining priests. There are no accurate figures on membership.
St. Michael's pastor is a former diocesan priest, Leonard Bealko, who is not in good standing with the Catholic Diocese of Greensburg, according to Monsignor Lawrence Persico, vicar general of the diocese.
The man behind the new church is Mel Gibson, according to John Maher, of Greensburg, a member of St. Joseph the Protector Chapel on St. Clair Way in Hempfield Township, another Catholic group that holds weekly Masses in Latin.
For several years, Maher and a small group of like-minded people have been gathering for Mass at St. Joseph. When Hutton Gibson moved to West Virginia from Texas, he began coming to Westmoreland County to attend Mass.
The California-based World Faith Foundation purchased the 26-acre Mt. Pleasant Township property for $315,000 last September from Donald and Janet Wagner and is renovating the interior of the house, where Mass is celebrated.
"Hutton talked his son into financing this new church," Maher said. "They're going to build out there. They're remodeling and hope to build. I talked to Hutton quite a bit. I visited with him in his motel room when he came here."
Hutton Gibson said his son is "somewhat connected" with the World Faith Foundation, and that there are a number of other people associated with it. He won't disclose their identities.
According to state records, the foundation was incorporated last May in California by James Hirsen, a lawyer, law professor, television news analyst and former keyboard player for the Temptations musical group. He's also the author of "Hollywood Nation," a book about the radical politics of Hollywood actors. Hirsen did not respond to an interview request.
When Hutton Gibson decided to start his own branch of the church in Westmoreland County, he recruited Bealko to join him, Maher said.
"It was through me that Mel Gibson sponsored Father Bealko," Maher said. "Hutton started coming to Mass." He and his wife "liked Father Bealko. They contacted their son."
Mel Gibson secretly came to Greensburg to attend Mass at St. Joseph Chapel last April, Maher said. He said more than 100 people -- some not even Catholic -- turned out for the Mass when they learned Gibson would attend.
Afterward, Gibson decided to finance the construction of a chapel for St. Michael's, Maher said.
He said shortly after that, the St. Joseph group and Bealko parted ways in what Maher described as a "power struggle." Bealko could not be reached for comment.
Persico said neither St. Joseph nor St. Michael is recognized by the Diocese of Greensburg.
"A Catholic church, to be truly in communion with Rome, must be in communion with the diocesan bishop," Persico said. "I don't know where they get their legal authority. It's not a Roman Catholic church, no matter what they say.
"Union with Rome and the Holy See is very important if you're going to be a Roman Catholic. It's essential."
Hutton Gibson said he despises the casual dress and lack of piety of today's mainstream Catholics.
"The Mass of the church has been held for centuries," he said. "Vatican II just didn't translate it into English. They changed the rite."
>>an ultraconservative branch of Catholicism that rejects the liturgical reforms adopted
Which makes them not Catholic, but apostate...
This has been already posted on FR.
Well I don't know about that...Mass use to be always said in Latin...
Well I did not see it?
Really?
Hmm.. Prior to latin, it was said in Greek, Aramaic, etc.
Let's see: the rejection of liturgical reforms adopted by Protestants constitutes apostacy? That would make Pope Leo XIII an "apostate" by your useage of the word, because he proclaimed the Anglican orders invalid, along with the new rite of liturgy that they were using, which, by the way, is more "traditional" than the Novus Ordo liturgy.
In case you don't quite get the connection, I'll explain it. The Novus Ordo liturgy (in various permutations of its never-ending morphology) is used by some Protestant religious assemblies because it contains nothing that offends their sensibilities. Therefore it is, in fact, "adopted" by some Protestants. It is not offensive to their ears. It is, however, offensive to the pious ears of traditional Catholics, and, I submit to you, it would have been offensive to the pious ears of any saint on the traditional Catholic calendar.
One saint that didn't quite make that calendar was Padre Pio, because he died after the calendar was abandoned by the harbingers of the "liturgical reforms adopted." But in case you didn't know, Padre Pio found the Novus Ordo not only offensive to pious ears, but repulsive and nauseating. He was given a special "dispensation" (illicit and insulting to him) to offer only the Traditional Latin Mass, which he loved, while other priests in his company were ordered to use the New Rite (an illicit and insulting order for them as well).
Therefore, you would make not only Pope Leo XIII "apostate," but you would St. Padre Pio, as well.
Shame on you!
If you say that you should post a link.
I'd go the original thread and read the comments.
Your response is silly.
So, you are not willing to engage in an intelligible discussion, and that's why you say my challenge is "silly?"
You are supposed to be old enough to converse here. You had better go get permission from your legal guardian.
Unnecessarily strident in tone, eh? I'll have to think about that one. I was merely using my God-given instinct for rhetorical precision. I am not very talented, but I don't want to blow anyone off with too much strident-ness. Hmm...
As for "silly," I fail to see any hint of that. Could you tell me in what way, exactly, my post was "silly?" Is making a comparison between two similar situations separated by merely one century all it takes to make it silly? Or, is the technique of calling to attention the fact that there are saints who defended the traditional Church in the face of popular defection of the Faith somehow not to be considered when we contemplate our present situation? I have a lot more saints to choose from. Is the evidence too compelling?
I'm trying not to be too "strident." Is it working?
Way to go bosco
Hey, Rose, do you think I'm unnecessarily strident? I chew Trident gum sometimes while walking. Is that being "strident?" I don't recall being accused of that before. Maybe that's a compliment. Maybe I'm improving?
Have you heard about the new release from Kate O'Beirne? It's called Women Who Make the World Worse: And How Their Radical Feminist Assault Is Ruining Our Schools, Families, Military, and Sports. Amazon is said to have pulled out more than half of the negative reviews they had posted, and the book's rating went up to 4 stars. They might be trying to get in on the rapidly increasing sales. Denis Prager interviewed her yesterday and she was very educational for him, which he was not unwilling to acknowledge on the air. This book might be significant in the arena of exposing Feminism for its self-contradictions and pretension.
Bosco,nope I don't think you're "strident" at all..as a mattter of fact,I looked it up;
Strident-Harsh-sounding-creeking ,shrill
But chewing the trident gum while walking made my day!LOL that was a good one!
Nope haven't heard about the "lady' but no loss there- way tooo many strident things to be said ..on liberal gals!
Keep up that gum chewing! LOL I think I'll try it!
I saw her on EWTN about three weeks ago, and had to get her book.
I'm about a 1/3 of the way through , and it is awesome. She is hits home runs right and left, and highly recommend it to anyone (male or female) who wants to get the truth about radical feminism and it's destruction to our society.
And here, in case you run out. I hope you like "Tridentberry" :)
You made me feel good. Just this afternoon I ordered my copy on Amazon/Borders because I had to get another book there too, and the shipping could then be free. They let you see a few pages, and it looks to good to pass up. Now hearing your approval, I'm looking forward to its arrival.
And thanks for the gum. It just hit me: if I chew Dentyne and Trident at the same time, does that make me TriDent-yne? Or, can I just chew three pieces of Dentyne at once to be tri-Dentyne?
Just thought you might know.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.