Mark Wahlberg Hopes Father Stu Changes People: ‘I Prayed for it – a Lot’
Written by G Njuguna on April 15, 2022
Six years ago, actor Mark Wahlberg was enjoying dinner with two priests when one of them told him a true story he couldn’t get out of his mind.
It was about a young boxer who grew up in a troubled home and – after nearly dying in an accident – converted to Catholicism to become a priest. Wahlberg was determined to see the story be made into a movie, and this weekend, that film hits the big screen. Called Father Stu (R), it tells the true story of Father Stuart Long, who died in 2014.
“This is a movie about redemption, and no person is beyond redemption, as long as they’re willing to repent, and they have good intentions in their heart, and they want to make a change,” he told CP. “I’m just glad that I was able to get it made, I’m glad that it’s resonating with everybody because everybody can identify with his story in some sort of way.
“We’re all dealing with loss, uncertainty, lack of faith, hope, just questions of why things happen,” he added. “To be able to see somebody handle it with such grace in some of the most difficult and trying times after being through so much, it gives people a lot of hope.”
In the film, Father Stu was faced with much resistance from his family as well as those from the Catholic Church, but he never gave up fighting for what he felt called by God to do, which was to become a priest. Wahlberg said he identified with the fight that was in his character.
Father Stu is out and is being shown exclusively in theatres right now.
