Last week it was reported that Mel Gibson scolded his flock at the Holy Family Church in Agoura, just north of Malibu.

The article was originated from Radar Online – which claimed their source was in the church and witnessed the event.

Monsters and Critics’ Los Angeles office is located five minutes from the Holy Family Church, in Malibu Canyon, and we were contacted directly by a parishioner who wished to speak out anonymously.

She gave us this statement:

I have read several of these articles about Mel Gibson’s supposed ‘crazed rant.’

I am a long time parishioner at Mel’s Holy Family Chapel and I was there on Sunday when this happened. I don’t know who the source was for this, but I have an idea, since there was a lady there that day who was not a parishioner and obviously was there just for Mel… who, after mass, he asked her to leave… so I suspect this lady was upset and decided to completely exaggerate his announcement to make him look crazy. But I could be wrong about that, perhaps it was someone else… I don’t know.

What I do know is this:

The source is quoted as saying, ‘It was a crazed rant. He paced back and forth, furiously telling the congregation including two priests and a visiting bishop, that he would not stand by and be judged and scrutinized.’

“He tried to intimidate the parishioners by staring at everyone with his angry eyes.”

First of all, it was not ‘crazed.’ He calmly walked up to the altar after mass finished and simply asked for everyone not to gossip about his personal affairs. He did not ‘pace back and forth’, he calmly stood in one spot; He did not ‘furiously tell the congregation’ etc. He was a little frustrated maybe, as would be understandable, but definitely not ‘furious’ and did not stare at everyone with ‘angry eyes.’

And the two priests and bishop had already processed out to the back room (the sacristy) by the time he made his announcement.

Neither did he threaten to ’shut down’ the church if people kept gossiping about him. What he did say, is that if he continues to see gossip about him in the media… that is, information that could only come from people who are at the church… he would make the church ‘by invitation only’ – not ’shut it down.’

This is also understandable since we constantly get people coming to the church simply to try to talk to Mel about business matters or to gain information to gossip about or anything other than simply coming to worship God. It is his place after all, and it is only through his generosity that he allows us all to attend mass there.

And about ‘Mel hasn’t been practicing what he preaches’ .. gossip is also viewed as a serious sin in the Church.

So if this source considers him or herself as a Catholic, he/she is not exercising their faith either, and neither is anyone else who considers themselves Catholic… so it is a completely acceptable thing to ask parishioners not to gossip.

The bottom line is, whoever the source was they completely exaggerated the situation and turned into something it was not.

Source: Monster and Critics

Amen to that.