By Matt Abbott
Op/Ed
Catholic Online

Not surprisingly, the Anti-Defamation League (www.adl.org) has responded to Mel Gibson’s recent DUI arrest.

Readers might remember that the ADL was quite vocal in its criticism of Gibson for his 2004 blockbuster "The Passion of the Christ."

Here’s what ADL national director Abraham Foxman had to say regarding Gibson’s arrest:

"Mel Gibson's apology is unremorseful and insufficient. It's not a proper apology because it does not go to the essence of his bigotry and his anti-Semitism.

"His tirade finally reveals his true self and shows that his protestations during the debate over his film ‘The Passion of the Christ,’ that he is such a tolerant, loving person, were a sham. It may well be that the bigotry has been passed from the father to the son. It is unfortunate that it took an excess of booze and an encounter with a police officer to reveal what was really in his heart and mind.

“We would hope that Hollywood now would realize the bigot in their midst and that they will distance themselves from this anti-Semite."

The ADL, in my view, has no moral right to cast stones at Gibson, considering the organization has no problem with abortion-on-demand. In 2000, the ADL issued a press release in which “they cheered the Supreme Court decision barring a partial-birth abortion ban in Nebraska and admitted that the ADL had ‘filed an amicus curiae or 'friend of the court' brief which said the Nebraska law unconstitutionally interfered in matters of individual choice,’” according to a story from Catholic World News (www.cwnews.com).

Also from the CWN story:

While the [ADL] claims it is only seeking to identify ‘anti-abortion groups that advocate violence,’ the group's pro-abortion advocacy and attempts to associate the shooting of abortionists with peaceful pro-life groups such as Human Life International contradicts their reassurances. An ADL press release from October 30, 1998 identified Human Life International among ‘anti-abortion extremists’ and derided any pro-life group comparing the slaughter of the unborn to the Nazi Holocaust.

I asked Father Tom Euteneuer, president of Human Life International (www.hli.org), to respond to Foxman’s statement on the Gibson arrest. Father Euteneuer’s response is as follows:

"Mr. Foxman claims that Mel Gibson did not give a ‘proper apology.’ Can this man ever be satisfied? Gibson said that he disgraced himself and his family by his behavior and apologized for his anti-Semitic remarks which, by his admission, he spoke in an altered state and does not believe to be true. And that’s not enough? According to Catholic principles Mel exhibited all the elements of a proper reconciliation: contrition with a firm purpose of amendment, confession and (he is in the process of doing) penance. The greatest penance is that this all came out in the public forum: Foxman and the ADL should get off his back."

Related link:

www.catholic.org/featured/headline.php?ID=725

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