Gibson put up the money at the request of his father, Hutton Gibson, 87, who has been driving three hours each week from his Summersville, W.Va., home because there was no church of his liking near his home, the Pittsburgh Tribune reported Wednesday.
St. Michael the Archangel Chapel is being built in Pennsylvania's Mt. Pleasant Township. The church is part of a Catholic movement that rejects Vatican II -- the liturgical reforms adopted in the early 1960s.
The Gibsons have chosen as their church leader a former priest who is no longer in good standing with the Catholic Diocese of Greensburg, Pa., the newspaper said.
The Rev. Lawrence Persico, vicar general of the Diocese of Greenburg, told the Tribune the Gibsons' church would not be recognized as Roman Catholic.
"A Catholic church, to be truly in communion with Rome, must be in communion with the diocesan bishop," Persico said. "I don't know where they get their legal authority. It's not a Roman Catholic church, no matter what they say.
"Union with Rome and the Holy See is very important if you're going to be a Roman Catholic. It's essential."
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