Posted on 01/11/2004 5:56:57 AM PST by NYer
Everybody likes Mel Gibson. Hes an award-winning actor, hes box-office gold and he seems like a nice guy. But because of his fame and The Passion, his forthcoming movie about Christ, a lot of his fans would like to be clear on where he stands with respect to the Catholic Church, a Dallas-based author says.
Kevin Orlin Johnson, Ph.D., is an associate of the Canon Law Society of America and a best-selling writer whose book Rosary: Mysteries, Meditations, and the Telling of the Beads includes one of the most graphic accounts of the Crucifixion ever published. Hell definitely see Gibsons film about the sufferings of Christ on the Cross. But Gibsons campaign to build a church in Malibu, California, raises some serious issues about the actors relationship with the Catholic Church.
You cant just build your own church, Johnson says. Parishes are geographical entities, set up by bishops in conformance with the Churchs laws and subject to their authority. There are no free-lance churches in the Catholic Church. You live in a parish, and you go to its church. Every place in California is already part of a parish, which has its own church.
Gibsons parish, then, would be the aptly named Our Lady of Malibu on Winter Canyon Road, Johnson says, looking through a Los Angeles Catholic directory. But, according to The New York Times Magazine, the actors privately funded Church of the Holy Family in Malibu is not affiliated with any diocese. So, according to Church law, its schismatic, not a Catholic church at all.
The Churchs Code of Canon Law defines schism--separation from the Church--as the refusal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him. Gibsons father, Houston, Texas resident Hutton Gibson, is an outspoken critic of the Catholic Church and a vocal adherent of the sedevacantist movement, so called from the Latin phrase meaning empty seat--their claim being that every pope since 1960 has been spurious.
While Gibson himself is said to disagree with his father on many counts, the actor has been quoted often as waxing nostalgic for the Mass said in Latin and the doctrines as they were for almost 2000 years. But, as Johnson explains in his booklet What About the Latin Mass?, the Latin Mass that traditionalists long for is nothing like 2000 years old--the early Mass was often in Greek, and Gibson probably remembers only the Latin Mass that wasnt finalized until 1962. So if he was born in 1956, Johnson says, his Latin Mass is really younger than he is himself. That Latin version is still used in the Church by special permission, and its actively encouraged by authentic Catholic organizations like the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, headquartered in Elmhurst, Pennsylvania.
The difference is that these groups nurture the Latin Mass in full unity with the Catholic Church. Fringe groups who reject Vatican II stand away from the Church and go off on their own, he says. Theyre largely reacting to the sloppy or even destructive way in which Vatican IIs decrees were put into effect here in the United States.
Vatican II--officially the Second Vatican Council--was convened by Pope John XXIII in 1962 and strove to clarify the Churchs activities to better serve the modern world, mandating simplification of the liturgy and the use of the local vernacular languages instead of Latin everywhere.
Of course, you have to use the liturgy as a way to look to the substance of the Faith, Johnson says. You cant just stop at appearances. Vatican II mandated no changes in Church doctrine whatever--the Churchs teachings are the teachings of Christ, he says, and therefore no human agency can add to them or take any away, and the Church never has, although many Catholics still seem to be confused about that point.
Johnson believes that the confusion started when American bishops took Vatican II as an excuse to sweep away any part of the Church that they didnt like personally--not just the Latin of the liturgy but, as weve seen, even the most basic doctrines of human decency. Since 1993, more than 80 percent of the Catholic bishops in the United States have been directly implicated in court cases of priestly pedophilia or in using their positions to shield such activity over the past 40 years or more, according to a study compiled by reporters Brooks Egerton and Reese Dunklin of the Dallas Morning News last year.
That corruption of the clergy makes it hard to find authentic teaching or authentic liturgy in the United States today, Johnson says, but it doesnt mean that people can just run out and start up their own church instead. The new English Mass is perfectly legitimate and a lot closer to the simplicity of early-Christian practice--when Latin itself was the vernacular, the everyday language of the people. And with a little effort, he says, you can get a Latin Mass celebrated regularly at your proper parish, and know that youre doing so in full communion with the Church that really is almost 2000 years old.
So where does that leave Gibson? Well, I hope hes Catholic," Johnson says. "Wed love to have him. END
The only question we should be asking is if the movie is appropriate to watch.
The intellectual disingenuousness here is staggering.
You live in a parish, and you go to its church. Every place in California is already part of a parish, which has its own church.
Canon 1248 allows Catholics to attend wherever the Mass is said in a Catholic rite.
Gibson probably remembers only the Latin Mass that wasnt finalized until 1962.
The last revision of the Latin missal was published in 1962. Hardly the same as saying the traditional Mass wasn't finalized in 1962.
mandating simplification of the liturgy and the use of the local vernacular languages instead of Latin everywhere.
The Vatican council didn't mandate the vernacular in any way shape or form. I don't know where he got this.
And with a little effort, he says, you can get a Latin Mass celebrated regularly at your proper parish,
Not likely, many bishops have barred it from their dioceses, and the number of staff who actually know how to say traditional mass is pretty small.
Doc Johnson is clueless, sounds like his PHD was purchased from the back of a matchbook and his associate status with the Canon Law Society is similar to the associate status of the janitors at Walmart.
In researching Mel Gibson's mass attendance, no one resource specifically used the acronym SSPX. USAWeekend writes the following:
"As for his religious beliefs, Gibson, 47, a father of seven, is a member of the conservative traditionalist Catholic movement, which still celebrates mass in Latin. He's also the financial backer of a church called Holy Family, being built near Malibu for a congregation of about 70. "
Do you suppose this is a FSSP congregation? Do they maintain their own churches? According to the FSSP web site:
"The main work of the Fraternity of St. Peter is the operation of pastoral missions throughout the United States and Canada, for it is in the parish that the souls of the laity are formed and nourished in the sacramental and catechetical life of the Church. The Fraternity currently operates apostolates in over twenty North American dioceses."
The fact that they are operating at the diocesan level, would suggest to me that they are working in diocesan churches. Which brings us back to Gibson's construction of a church. Who authorized him to do so? Who will bless it and consecrate the altar? Isn't that normally the function of the bishop?
If Mahoney didn't authorize construction of this chapel, then he's building it extra-ecclesia, that is, without proper authority.
Who will bless it and consecrate the altar? Isn't that normally the function of the bishop?
Yes. If he intends to use it for the SSPX, then an SSPX bishop (Williamson or Fellay) will have to consecrate the building.
Schism Refusal to obey the rightful authority of Divinely constituted hierarchy of the Church. A person who knowingly and obstinately disobeys the hierarchy is called a schismatic. Canon Law #751 says "Schism is the withdrawal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or from communion with the members of the Church subject to him."
I realize that the SSPX prays for the pope at their masses but, according to this definition (from www.ourladyswarriors.org web site), the SSPX is in schism. What am I missing?
You left a few out! Rochester Bishop Clarke comes to mind.
You're still out of step with The Magisterium. If every catholic decided that the Rite they wanted to be offered up in their local parish was .... take your choice - there are many rites recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, weekend services at the diocesan level would turn into pandemonium. What's to prevent me from asking my bishop for permission to have the Ambrosian Rite celebrated at my parish?
After the Consecration, during the "Unde et memores", the Celebrant opens his arms forming a cross signifying that the Holy Sacrifice has been accomplished by the priest "in persona Christi", while the Choir sings the "Benedictus"
If I recall correctly, a church must be authorized and consecrated by the diocesan bishop, whereas a chapel need not be. Does that sound right to you?
Well, a stand-alone chapel still needs to be consecrated, if it is Catholic. I read on this thread that this "chapel" has a "congregation" of 70. Sounds like some kind of independent Catholic group, to me.
Whether or not one likes Mahoney, he is still the ordinary for Los Angeles. If Gibson built this chapel outside of his approval, then it's likely SSPX or even SSPV (though I can't imagine him submitting his movie to the Vatican if he thought the chair of Peter was unoccupied.)
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.