Posted on 02/20/2004 5:46:17 AM PST by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
"The worldwide Catholic population reached 1.06 billion at the end of 2001, an increase of nearly 1 percent from the previous year.
The number of baptized Catholics in the world had grown from 757 million in 1978 to 1.06 billion at the end of 2001. The greatest growth has been in Africa, where the number of Catholics increased 148 percent since 1978. Significant increases also have occurred in Asia, the Americas and Oceania, while the number of European Catholics has remained about the same over that period."
Please print the decree of excommunication on Free Republic for all to see.
Until you do that, I'll consider Gibson to be a Catholic in full communion with the Roman Pontiff.
So what? Friedman makes it sound like Mel's running a whorehouse or an opium den. It's a CHURCH! Apparently, the church is not "abrogated" by the Big Man in Rome (and I say that in all affection), which I guess means Mel's church is still recognized and in communion with the rest of the RCC.
Also, private chapels have historically been very common for wealthy Catholics to own. There isn't a crime or sin here; the guy wants to worship at the ancient rite of Mass in peace. More power to him.
Thank the Lord that you're not the person who decides who is in communion with Rome, and who isn't.
I'm not the issue here, pal. Gibson is not in union with Rome.
Fine. Go ahead. You're holding a position Gibson himself doesn't hold.
Well, to the modernist mind, the only people who go to hell are traditionalist Catholics. Everyone else is headed for the Pearly Gates.
LOL, but bitterly.
No you didn't. You made a snide remark and I ignored you.
Now that you've asked nicely, my religion is Roman Catholic. In fact, I'm a Roman Catholic deacon.
Yes, but you are acting as his judge. Like I said before, publish the decree of Mel Gibson's excommunication on Free Republic. Until you do, I consider him a Catholic in full communion with the Church.
A man's character is attested to by his enemies as well as his friends.
Did he tell you that when you met him at Kelsey's bar for darts last weekend?
Do you TEACH others that Jesus wasn't NAILED?? What about Doubing Thomas...do you not believe what Thomas said??
A Deacon, huh.
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