Standing before all of Hollywood at last night’s Academy Awards, confronted by an inquisitorial teddy bear, Mark Wahlberg refused to deny his Lord and savior:
Ted: “You’ve got a ‘berg’ on the end of your name. Are you Jewish?”
Mark Wahlberg: “No, I’m Catholic.”
Ted: “Wrong answer. Try again.”
Give that man a Laetare Medal! (Though the Times of Israel, which deemed the segment vaguely anti-semitic, might object.)
The Boogie Nights star also has drawn criticism in the past due to reports (which he contests) that he turned down a role in Brokeback Mountain on advice of his priest.
February 25th, 2013 | 11:35 am
Who would imagine that the National Enquirer got it wrong? Wahlberg made it clear in an interview that he didn’t turn down Brokeback Mountain. Ang Lee didn’t offer him the part.
February 25th, 2013 | 11:58 am
His confession of being Catholic should not necessarily incline us to conclude he is a Christian, confessing Christ as Lord and Savior. Same goes if he said he was Baptist, Episcopalian, or Lutheran. I know plenty of people who would say they are Catholic or Baptist, etc., but their lives do not reflect the life and love of the Savior.
But, I sure do hope he does know the risen Redeemer and King.
February 25th, 2013 | 1:57 pm
Wahlberg has professed his faith publicly in the past, including the fact that he is a daily communicant, in a 60 Minutes segment three years ago: http://catholicvote.org/discuss/index.php?p=11847
February 25th, 2013 | 2:29 pm
What JT Caldwell said.
February 25th, 2013 | 3:04 pm
@JT Caldwell:
You should read the beginning of CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity, particularly his treatment of the definition of “Christian.” If anything, I think it’s far more appropriate to speculate that Mr. Wahlberg is a “poor Christian” rather than make the claim that he is “not a Christian.” For myself, I won’t attempt to do either– aside from the occasional interview and his filmography (which, admittedly, contains some credits that I would think a Christian would’ve turned down in the first place), I do not know the man and will not make an attempt to judge his standing.
February 25th, 2013 | 4:46 pm
Interesting that there are some folk who just seem to know who is Christian and who isn’t. As a sinner I am not a “good Christian”. I’m a bad one. As are all the Christians I know. We have all sinned and fallen. That fact seems to be lost on some of the people in this tread. Oh, and By The Way I am a NALC pastor. As such I am more aware of my sinful state than many.
February 25th, 2013 | 4:51 pm
Hard to balance anyone being a person of faith with being part of the offensive, unfunny bit that Wahlberg participated in last night
February 25th, 2013 | 4:52 pm
Why not refer to him as the star of Invincible instead of Boogie Nights? The former is a great showcase for underplayed acting, on the part of Wahlberg and Greg Kinnear.
More than most actors, Wahlberg seems to have restricted his public life to acting, and is mostly mum on personal matters. I doubt anyone here knows enough about him to judge his current position on the “salvation scale.”
February 25th, 2013 | 4:53 pm
(Though the Times of Israel, which deemed the segment vaguely anti-semitic, might object.)
Edict of Boonton 501- Talking stuffed animals are hereby exempted from all conventions of decent society.
You are, of course, free to decline to obey this edict. However the rule is you must obey at least one of my 501 edicts and #501 is the only one you may know ahead of time.
February 25th, 2013 | 5:12 pm
Can’t we hear what he said? “No, I’m not Jewish, I’m Catholic.” The conception of Catholicism as an ethnic identity is either despicable or ridiculous. I refrain from listing the most obvious figures that exclusive disjunction leaves out.
February 25th, 2013 | 7:59 pm
Well, it’s truly amazing to me the amount of people who call themselves ‘Christian’ have such an incredibly unchristian form of critisism. Does ‘holier than thou’ ring a bell? All are sinners and all need to keep their critisism to themselves, especially when they have no real clue to someone’s devotional life. Let me ask the criticizers; what do you watch on your televisions in the privacy of your own home? What goes throug hyour own mind when you see someone of the opposite sex? How often do you make confession and/or partake of the Eucharist?
February 25th, 2013 | 8:47 pm
I have noticed before that some conservative Catholics take pride in noting Wahlberg’s apparent seriousness with which he takes his faith. However, it appears the guy took 8 years to marry his wife, having 3 of his kids in that period. I would also say that the movies he appears in are not exactly full of good moral example, or uplifting, or something I would expect a serious Catholic to be involved in.
The nature of his faith therefore remains something of a puzzle, and he is hardly the example that conservative Catholics [who, I guess, are mainly responding to someone who represents a (literally!) "muscular" version of the faith] seem to think that he is.
February 25th, 2013 | 8:48 pm
@JL Liedl
Please re-read my initial post. I did not say Mr. Wahlberg is or is not a Christian. I only said we should not assume he is based on his confession. I hope that he is a follower of Jesus.
I love C.S. Lewis, but I love the Bible more as my guide in life.
February 25th, 2013 | 9:17 pm
“I love C.S. Lewis, but I love the Bible more as my guide in life.”
As we say in the Returning Catholics ministry, our Lord made it simple about who “can” and “can’t” be a Catholic or Christian in Matthew: “It is not the will of your Heavenly Father that one of these little ones should be lost.”
Regarding Mark Wahlberg’s past and present life, by the comments of some on this page they’d also have a hard time accepting St. Paul as the real thing. That pesky piece of wood in the eye again…
February 25th, 2013 | 9:19 pm
@Jt Caldwell
If you read the Bible you should consider the words of our Lord: “The measure with which you measure will be measured back to you.” Mark Wahlberg did nothing but profess his faith and rather than be thankful that someone is willing to witness to his faith in Christ you use it as an opportunity to question whether he even has faith. NO ONE has lived a life worthy of being called a Christian – not me, not you. It’s true that just because someone is Catholic doesn’t necessarily mean they do a very good job at following the Lord, but the same could be said about those who read the Bible. Try assuming the best of people rather than the worst.
February 25th, 2013 | 9:27 pm
Isn’t Ted the real focus? He is obviously the only one of the evening not pretending to be something he is not. All dressed up on the outside, he is the only one revealing what’s actually going on in his little bear-heart. That probably makes him a lesson for all we card-carrying Christians.
February 25th, 2013 | 10:13 pm
“I love C.S. Lewis, but I love the Bible more as my guide in life.” but I love Jesus, the Eternal Word even more as my guide in life. Mt. 16:18
February 26th, 2013 | 2:44 am
I see Mark has explained his l-l-l-long delay in marriage in the Catholic Herald as follows:
“Although Rhea and he have been in a committed relationship since 2001, it was only in August 2009 that they made their wedding vows at the church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills. The reason for this, he says, was not lack of the will but simple logistics.
“Rhea grew up Baptist but she wanted to be baptised and confirmed as Catholic before we got married, which took some time. Also, we wanted to get married here in California but we wanted Fr Flavin from Boston to do it, so we had to work out that timing. Then there were my movie commitments. Then Rhea got pregnant and she didn’t want to do it when she was bigger so we had to wait till the dress fitted again… it was a number of factors really.” ”
OK, he’s not the first Mass going Catholic to have been living in a de facto relationship before getting married. But really: he’s a walking advertisement for the Catholic laity who now thinks the Church’s traditional teaching about sexual relationships outside of marriage is sort of an optional extra.
February 26th, 2013 | 8:18 am
I submit that those of us so quick to cast the first stone are failing to be good Christians, ourselves.
February 26th, 2013 | 10:16 am
Steve from Brisbane – read his info on-line. He came to his faith after living a less-than-pure life and expresses his regrets.
Can’t someone come to faith from a place of sin without having his faith questioned?
February 26th, 2013 | 1:18 pm
St. Augustine, Thomas Merton??
February 26th, 2013 | 7:48 pm
“Can’t someone come to faith from a place of sin without having his faith questioned?”
I’d like to think that St. Paul might be welcome in
the Church today.
February 26th, 2013 | 10:13 pm
Therese Z: there is every indication in the article that by the time he met his wife to be, he was already practising his faith.
I see no expression of regret at all in the interview regarding having 3 children before his wife could organise her baptism, fit into her wedding dress, and he could fit it in between movies.
Look, I’ll admit he says many fine things about responsibility as a parent and husband, and he may be a far better man than me for his good works.
But there is no doubt at all that the Catholic Church has been undergoing a long running crisis in terms of its authority on teaching about matters sexual.
It appears to me that he embodies this, and as such, I don’t understand why conservative Catholics are impressed that he is “out” about his religion.
February 27th, 2013 | 2:34 pm
I think JT was making the very simple point (which has scriptural precedence) that a profession does not a true believer make, not that Wahlberg’s profession was necessarily to be doubted.
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