Helping dad build a chapel:

The man behind the new church is Mel Gibson, according to John Maher, of Greensburg, a member of St. Joseph the Protector Chapel on St. Clair Way in Hempfield Township, another Catholic group that holds weekly Masses in Latin.

For several years, Maher and a small group of like-minded people have been gathering for Mass at St. Joseph. When Hutton Gibson moved to West Virginia from Texas, he began coming to Westmoreland County to attend Mass.

The California-based World Faith Foundation purchased the 26-acre Mt. Pleasant Township property for $315,000 last September from Donald and Janet Wagner and is renovating the interior of the house, where Mass is celebrated.

"Hutton talked his son into financing this new church," Maher said. "They’re going to build out there. They’re remodeling and hope to build. I talked to Hutton quite a bit. I visited with him in his motel room when he came here."