Celebrity Centre

Church of Scientology Celebrity Centres are Churches of Scientology that are open to the general public but are intended for "artists, politicians, leaders of industry, and sports figures".[2]

Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre International
Formation1969
TypeReligious
Headquarters5930 Franklin Ave, Los Angeles, California, United States
Commanding Officer
Dave Petit[1]
Websitescientology.cc

The Celebrity Centre International was established in Los Angeles, California in 1969 by Yvonne Gillham and Heber Jentzsch in the Château Élysée, a 1920s building that had been built to replicate a 17th century French-Normandy chateau.[3][4][5]

Other Celebrity Centre organizations have since been established around the USA and in Europe.[6] As of 2022, there were ten Celebrity Centres open: Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Nashville and New York in the USA, and Vienna, Düsseldorf, Munich, Florence, and two in Paris in Europe.[7]

Critics of Scientology point to L. Ron Hubbard's launch of "Project Celebrity" in 1955 to recruit celebrities into the church, and that the centres were established as an extension of this initial purpose.[8][9]

"A culture is only as great as its dreams, and its dreams are dreamed by artists."
— L. Ron Hubbard[10]

Though the Church of Scientology denies the existence of a policy to recruit high-ranking celebrities,[11] The New York Times reported, "internal church documents show that their primary purpose is to recruit celebrities and use the celebrities' prestige to help expand Scientology,"[12] and the Los Angeles Times wrote, "The Church of Scientology uses celebrity spokesmen to endorse L. Ron Hubbard's teachings and give Scientology greater acceptability in mainstream America."[13] Mike Argue of the band Chester said, "We made a lot of money for the church", referring to the original Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles which attracted "a boatload of notables" in the 1970s.[14]

Violent incident

On November 23, 2008, Mario Majorski arrived at the Los Angeles Celebrity Centre wielding dual samurai swords and threatening to injure people. Majorski was shot by Celebrity Centre security guards, and was later pronounced dead at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center. Police regard the guards' actions as justifiable. Majorski was a Scientologist in the early 1990s; however, he left the group fifteen years prior to the incident, according to church spokesperson Tommy Davis.[15][16] When he was still a member of the church, Majorski had filed lawsuits, later dismissed, against Louis West, a psychiatrist who was critical of Scientology.[17]

See also

References
  1. Church of Scientology of Orange County hosts a "swinging" wedding, December 21, 2012, The New Santa Ana
  2. Quick Facts : Church of Scientology : Celebrity Centre International
    • Scientology in Popular Culture: Influences and Struggles for Legitimacy by Stephen A. Kent and Susan Raine (2017), Chapter 4, pages 87-88 ISBN 9781440832499
    • Advance! Magazine, Issue 6 (1969) by Church of Scientology. Page 8.
  4. The Chateau Elysee: Scientology's Celebrity Centre Before it Went Clear, April 19, 2013, KCET
  5. Goodyear, Dana (January 14, 2008). "Château Scientology : Inside the Church's Celebrity Centre". Letter from California. The New Yorker. Retrieved January 24, 2008.
  6. Wright, Lawrence (February 14, 2011). "The Apostate : Paul Haggis vs. the Church of Scientology". The New Yorker. Condé Nast Digital. Retrieved February 13, 2011.
  8. William Shaw, What do Tom Cruise and John Travolta know about Scientology that we don't?, The Daily Telegraph, February 15, 2008.
  9. Claire Hoffman and Kim Christensen (Los Angeles Times) Tom Cruise and Scientology, Newsday, December 18, 2005.
  10. Huus, Kari (July 5, 2005). "Scientology's love affair with Hollywood". NBC News. Retrieved January 24, 2008.
  12. Frantz, Douglas (February 13, 1998). "Scientology's Star Roster Enhances Image". The New York Times. Retrieved January 24, 2008.
  13. Sappell, Joel; Welkos, Robert W. (June 25, 1990). "The Courting of Celebrities". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 24, 2008.
  14. Di Matteo, Enzo (January 13, 2000). "Ex-Scientology celebs recall swingin' 70s". Now Magazine. Archived from the original on June 16, 2006. Retrieved January 24, 2008.
  15. Strange, Hannah (November 24, 2008). "Scientology guards kill swordwielding man in LA". The Times. London. Retrieved April 28, 2010.
  16. Ryan, Harriet (December 4, 2008). "Killer of sword-wielding man won't face charges". The Los Angeles Times.
  17. Ryan, Harriet; Wagner, James (November 25, 2008). "Man shot at Scientology site had made threats". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 17, 2015.
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