Mel Gibson on the Church's Deep Sickness

From nofacemask blog.

Hollywood legend actor Mel Gibson released a 5-minute video on Friday September 10, 2021 in support of the 'Coalition for Canceled Priests,' ( canceledpriests.org ) who were holding a rally in Chicago with Fr. James Altman.

Gibson remarked that "a very deep sickness afflicts the church" and that it's "a grave injustice" and a "form of white martyrdom" when a priest is cancelled, which Gibson points out "is nothing new."

"Who's persecuting them? Well their own bishops," he said.

"If one of their priests utters something that resembles Orthodoxy, then they spring into action, reprimand him, bully him, and they do their best to cancel him. And succeed. They drum him out of the service, ya know. Off he goes. I'm really sorry about that. Its a grave injustice and a kind of white martyrdom."

Gibson noted that he is a sinful man, "I'm as venal as any other man," but that he can recognize the difference between a shepherd and a hireling.

Gibson noted that these bishops are "an insipid bunch" and asked "And my question is like, who's hiring them? I don't think it's Jesus. Is it Francis? Who's hiring Francis? Is it, is it pachamama? I mean I think you need to look at the whole institution."

He then goes on to discuss His Excellency Cardinal Vigano, Vatican II, and the Latin Mass, which he noted "can not be abrogated."

Gibson added "I remember when I directed the passion I went to the USCCB to get support for the film and those those men couldn't get away from me fast enough. And all but a few of them turned their back on me. It was pretty telling about who they were."

Gibson concluded that he will financially support the Coalition for Canceled Priests and that "The gates of hell will not prevail against" the church.

Watch the video here:

Mel Gibson Endorses Coalition for Canceled Priests from Coalition for Canceled Priests on Vimeo.

The Passion of The Christ Analysis

Mel Gibson and Jim Caviezel in THE PASSION...

This is a long post. You can save it as a PDF and print  it out for study. Use the green PRINT PDF tool in the right column, just below the fold.

THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST (2004)

Director: MEL GIBSON
Writers: BENEDICT FITZGERALD, MEL GIBSON
Stars: JIM CAVIEZEL, MONICA BELLUCCI, MAIA MORGENSTERN



CHARACTER TRAITS

In my Moral Premise Secrets of Successful Screenplay workshops I illustrate five (5) key traits of protagonists found in successful stories. In brief, the protagonist must: (1) be IMPERFECT, (2) STRIVE TO CHANGE, (3) pursue an OUTER, VISIBLE GOAL, (4) be impeded in reaching that goal by a PSYCHOLOGICAL NEED, which has (5) created INSURMOUNTABLE PHYSICAL OBSTACLES.

THE "PERFECT" PROTAGONIST

Regarding the first trait, I warn writers not to write stories about perfect protagonists, because audiences can't identify with perfection. Audiences subliminally know: (a) they are personally far from perfect and (b) everyone has a weakness or vice. It's also (c) hard to root for the perfect to be better, although (d) audiences will root for characters who fall into bad circumstances beyond their control, or who don't deserve ill treatment heaped on them.

By definition, protagonists typically struggle with some vice or weakness, and through the circumstances of Act 2, transform that vice/weakness into a virtue/strength, return from their Special World of Act 2 with the discovered elixir in hand, and save their village from annihilation. Ironically, the "perfect" protagonist, is perfect only because in Act 1 she is imperfect, and by the end of Act 3 is a little less imperfect.

Finally, because the audience was on the sidelines cheering-on the protagonist throughout the struggle, the audience is made part of the journey...and they too are transformed. Such is the magic, the miracle, and the great attraction of a story well-told.

HEROES ARE NOT PROTAGONISTS

There are, however, successful movies (and novels) about near perfect protagonists.