Fox’s Roger Friedman has it in for Mel Gibson it seems. He’s writing again about him, but none of the arrows actually strike home. For one thing, building your own private church is not in and of itself a nefarious act. That he spent $5 million building a church is a far better use funds than buying another $5 million vacation home like many of his Hollywood colleagues regularly do.
As for the interview with El Pais magazine that supposedly shows his schismatic roots, I don’t find his comments to be any worse than that of many Traditionalist-leaning Catholics (all in full communion with the Church) who bemoan the effects of Vatican II on the Church and the lack of good governance by many bishops. Note that Friedman attributes other people’s description of certain Traditionalist Catholics to all Traditionalist Catholics. In other words, he overgeneralizes. He quotes the interview:
“For 1,950 years [the church] does one thing and then in the ‘60s, all of a sudden they turn everything inside out and begin to do strange things that go against the rules,” he told El Pais.
“Everything that had been heresy is no longer heresy, according to the [new] rules. We [Catholics] are being cheated… The church has stopped being critical. It has relaxed. I don’t believe them, and I have no intention of following their trends.
“It’s the church that has abandoned me, not me who has abandoned it,” he said.
I’ve heard similar sentiments from lots of people, including some people in my own comments boxes, so that isn’t a de facto admission of rejection of the Church and descent into schism. Sorry, but Friedman is reaching again.
[Thanks to Dan B for providing the link in the comments below.]