Is Mel Building A Cult Compound???

What exactly is Mel Gibson building in the hills above Malibu?

These pictures show the ongoing construction of Mel's Church of the Holy Family on a huge super secure property in Agoura Hills. But this isn't some small little family chapel in the country.

Check out some of the deets:

• 17 acres of land
• nearly 10,000 square-foot church
• residential facilities on church grounds could potentially accommodate parishioners
• 24-hour guards and video surveillance
• funded by Gibson's A.P. Reilly Foundation with an endowment of $42 million!!!

The nearly 10,000 square foot church and adjacent chapel will be the home base for Mel's church which practices an ultra-conservative form of Catholicism. Known as traditionalist Catholics, church members attend mass conducted in Latin and deny the Pope's legitimacy as the leader of the Catholic religion.

While the church reportedly has only about 70 members, the expanded facility could accommodate several hundred. Reached via a long winding driveway, complete with 24 hour guards and video surveillance, the compound also includes housing.

The Spanish style buildings are reportedly meant to resemble a California mission. It is believed that missionaries once considered building on the site.

It's not clear just how much all this cost, but it's being paid for by the A.P Reilly Foundation, which Mel Gibson funds entirely. (A.P Reilly is Gibson's late mother) According to the Foundation's 2007 tax returns, it has more than $42 million dollars in assets.

A call to the Foundation got us nowhere ... the receptionist claims no one in the Foundation's office "knows anything about Mel Gibson's church."

And oddly enough, the Church of the Holy Family doesn't seem to be listed ...