The Mike Church Show Episode 465 Podcast: Mark Wahlberg Confesses Sin of Boogie Nights But Forgives Brokeback Mountain

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Mandeville, LA – The project of Catholic men going public for Virtue and Vocations IN Their Vocations has been a lonely slog but I’d like to welcome actor Mark Wahlberg to the ramparts. According to the Chicago Tribune:

It may have been a critical and commercial hit, but actor Mark Wahlberg says he’s prayed to God for forgiveness for his role in the 1997 movie “Boogie Nights. Standing next to Cardinal Blase Cupich on Friday night in Chicago, Wahlberg, a committed Catholic, told Chicago Inc., “I just always hope that God is a movie fan and also forgiving, because I’ve made some poor choices in my past.” Asked if he’d ever prayed for forgiveness for any movies in particular, he added, “‘Boogie Nights’ is up there at the top of the list. Wahlberg — who famously portrayed porn star Dirk Diggler in that 1970s-set film — was in Chicago to support Cupich’s effort to draw young people into the church.

While I commend Mark’s courage, being lukewarm in the Faith and sharing that with the future (youths) is not likely to improve the plight he correctly has identified.

Back in 2016, Wahlberg made a Facebook video and in it he spoke on the need for Vocations including the Vocation of Fatherhood. That’s a bullseye as far as I’m concerned and if I were Wahlberg, I’d learn the Prayer to St Michael The Archangel in Latin, Beazelbub doesn’t like competition for the “vocations” of deadbeat, agnostic millennial  or “ecumenical worship”.

“My Catholic faith is the anchor that supports everything I do in life. In my daily prayers, I ask for guidance, strength in my vocation as a husband and as a father. I want you to know my support for your work to foster vocations to the priesthood, because I want my children and future generations to have good priests in their lives, just like I had.”

Now before we begin the canonization process we should start praying for Mark to get over his protestant-like belief that The Faith is a menu at Burger King and you can “have it your way”; you can’t. You either embrace with Faith, Hope and Charity The Magisterium and ALL Her moral teachings or your trips to the confessional, if they don’t include heresy belief (homosexual relations much less “weddings” are mortal sins against the teaching of Christ) are incomplete and compound the sin. While I commend Mark’s courage, being lukewarm in the Faith and sharing that with the future (youths) is not likely to improve the plight he correctly has identified.

Wahlberg, who in 2015 enjoyed an audience with Pope Francis, has previously come out in support of gay marriage. “I haven’t spoken with the cardinal or the pope about that… I just think we have a lot more important issues to be worrying about [really, can you name one?]. For me, I’ve got my own issues to deal with. … I go to confession and I want to continue to work hard on myself.”

Still, I’m thankful for Mark’s witness and will pray to Our Lady that he’ll be inspired to the ancient and beautiful tradition of The Latin Mass and the vocational life it will inspire. I’d like to say in my “How I learned to Stop Worrying & Save The Free World”: Mark’s a Catholic and a father first, then he’s an actor.

Christopher Warshauer

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