People Magazine has a good overview of how Catholic law might apply to Mel Gibson’s sticky religious situation. The thing is, Mel Gibson isn’t your standard Roman Catholic church-goer. He founded a Traditionalist Catholic church. The Traditionalist Catholics split from the Vatican and don’t recognize any changes in Catholicism after 1962, which was when Vatican II stepped in and made reforms. In turn, the Vatican doesn’t recognize Traditionalist Catholicism as part of the Catholic Church.

Yesterday we reported that Mel made an awkward angry speech on the stage at his church on Sunday, telling parishioners not to gossip about him. Mel has publicly acknowledged that he’s having a baby with his 39 year-old mistress, Russian singer Oksana Grigorieva. He’s been married for 28 years to his wife, Robyn, with whom he has seven children. The two only filed for divorce in April, but Mel claims they’ve been separated for three years. Under Traditionalist Catholic doctrine, Mel is still committing adultery and should not even be taking Communion. People explains this well, but does not mention if Mel has been seen taking Communion or not.

What’s more is that People sort-of confirms what we mentioned yesterday – that Traditionalists don’t grant annulments at all and that Mel can’t get re-married to Oksana in his own church.

PEOPLE turned to experts in traditionalist Catholicism, the breakaway group from mainstream Roman Catholicism to which Gibson, 53, has long adhered:

Can Gibson take Communion? A traditionalist Catholic who is married to one woman but is conducting a romance with another is considered an adulterer, and in violation of one of the Ten Commandments. Until he turns away from that violation by ending the offending activity, and confessing his sin, he would remain ineligible for Communion.

“It would be heartbreaking for Gibson,” says a traditionalist Catholic priest who has celebrated Mass at Gibson’s chapel but prefers not to be named. “We have sympathy for a person in that situation.”

Can Gibson annul his marriage? The Catholic Church grants many annulments. Previously, an annulment was allowed when a marriage was not consummated, when it was forced on one of the parties or when the vows were judged illegitimate for reasons such as mental illness. Today, church tribunals are more lenient and help find ways to keep divorced Catholics hoping to remarry in the fold. But Gibson, who was married in the mainstream Catholic church, has another problem to contend with. He would have to apply to an authority, the Vatican, that doesn’t recognize his own congregation. That would make for an awkward request, experts say, but the official church might still decide to consider it.

Can Gibson re-marry in a non-Catholic church? Perhaps, but his own congregation would not likely recognize it as legitimate

Can Gibson marry a non-Catholic? Yes. Before he married, he would need a dispensation from a Catholic bishop to marry someone outside his church. These are often granted.

Can the child of an unmarried couple be baptized in the traditionalist Catholic Church? A child is not considered at fault for the circumstances of his or her birth. The child could be baptized and brought up in the church.

[From People]

The reality of the situation for Mel sounds worse that I was imagining. Of course the congregation is going to talk about him. These are people who are so hardcore they think the current Catholic church is too liberal. I wonder how many “adulterers” Gibson judged before he ended up in that same situation. It looks like he doesn’t have a lot of options. He can break with his church and pick one that’s more tolerant, break with his girlfriend, or continue going to a church that strongly condemns his actions and considers him ineligible to receive Communion. He’s not going to change anyone’s mind by bitching and complaining about it. The people who go to his church are obviously set in their beliefs and purposely chose a church that doesn’t give people much leeway. Mel went that route too, and he’s feeling the consequences of veering so far from what he once believed was the only right way.

Mel and Oksana are shown on 4/28/09. Credit: WENN.com