Posted on 12/13/2004 8:03:34 AM PST by RepCath
"The Passion" made between $394 and $414. No one would quibble over which is which. In other words, that’s a lot of tithes-and-offerings to put in the plate come Sunday morning.
But it won’t be in any Roman Catholic Church offering basket, that’s for certain. Mel, after all, is not aligned with the Vatican. He goes to Mass but it’s not that sanctioned by the Pope.
Mel is what is known as a "traditionalist." That is, he lines up with the "old Catholic way of doing things," hence his not fitting in with the Vatican I and II changes and so forth.
Whatever, Mel claims to be an ardent Christian. He gave his God-given talents to create one of the most impacting movies ever produced. He had Mass celebrated for the crew daily when preparing for the final cut. He prayed earnestly in his own prayer closet.
With that, Mel bucked the secular world and some within Christendom in order to get the Christ message across at the grassroots and beyond — worldwide. That is quite an accompaniment, obviously blessed by the divine approval.
Naturally, Mel sunk a lot of his money into this venture, never knowing if it was going to fly. Calvary doings was not in back then. "The Passion" howevr has certainly put the Calvary sacrifice center stage. But at the start, Mel had no idea if his vision would end up muddied by an uncaring public and hostile press.
(Excerpt) Read more at michnews.com ...
The title of this article and the content of the article itself sure seem to be at cross purposes. From reading the title, I was expecting an anti-Gibson polemic, demanding to know why he hadn't donated every penny to the church or whatever. The article itself, however, quite properly notes that it is Gibson's money to do with as he wishes.
Mel's going to need to keep a few tens of millions to finance his next film.
I'll be happy to help with my few bucks at the box office. In the meantime, I'm sure his credit is good.
Mel bought his own island near fiji (5,000 acres) for $15 million.
I think it's the same one I was looking at. Dang it.
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.