Cardinal Cupich and Mark Wahlberg Discuss Faith

Cardinal blaze su pitch and Mark Wahlberg [Applause] like I think they watch on that side yes sit here hey guys how are you my sisters huh sure hi how are you well good evening everybody how you doing it's great to be with you and I want to thank Mark for taking time from his busy schedule he does it because you're important and and the it's an interview for us tonight to come together to talk about faith so mark and I visited this afternoon and we had really a great conversation about a number of things and I can tell you he's a very normal person that despite the fact that you know he's in Hollywood and does all of these motion pictures and is an internationally known and so mark why don't you tell us a little bit about the neighborhood you grew up in in Boston what was that like I'm a street kid from Dorchester mass group and st. Greg's in st. William's parish my father was a teamster truck driver my mom worked odd jobs I'm the youngest of nine kids unfortunately well that's a good thing but unfortunately you know why because my parents worked so hard just to provide I had a lot of time to myself and most of that time I spent running around the streets getting a street education I left school at an early age I quit school at 13 I ended up getting into a lot of trouble being incarcerated tried as an adult at 16 17 and that was a big wake-up call for me father so I decided you know what I needed to turn my life around and a lot of people go to God especially when they get in trouble and you know when I heard the jail doors close behind me I started praying right away but I knew that that was just the beginning for me because I knew I really wanted to turn my life around and I made a commitment that at that day but it was still it you know it's still everyday it's a process you know that's why I start my day every day by getting on my hands of my knees and starting a time of prayer and reading and reading Scripture and then and then I feel like I can go out there and conquer the world at least do my job and give cuz I've been blessed so much and I know you know God put me in this position for a reason when you said that there was a moment in which it was kind of a turning point were there people involved that helped you was it something that you came to in prayer what was a transformative moment there was one of those things where I didn't think there was anybody there to help me because I was always looking to the wrong people I was looking up to the wrong people and then once the dust settled and I was able to look clearly and and I was sober for the first time in a while I realized there were so many people around you know my parish priest who have I've known since I was 13 years old for the James flavin who you know has married all my brothers and sisters baptized all of my kids I speak to him on a daily basis you know he was there the members of the boys club people who dedicated their lives to serving you know their communities had been there and were there finally you know and I was able to recognize the people that I should have been looking up to and looking to for inspiration so they were there but of course it was also difficult for me because I still lived in the same neighborhood I still had to go from my house to the train station to go to work and you know I had to pass all my boys on the street you know I couldn't I couldn't run with them anymore and and then you know if I wasn't with him I was against them so I had that to overcome but I was committed to turning my life around and you know the the biggest mistake that I made was quitting school at an early age because I felt like I was at a disadvantage because I didn't have the education to fall back on and even though as I became successful in business I always felt like I still needed to be able to kind of have an education to fall back on because God forbid if something happened and you know Hollywood in the entertainment business is difficult to navigate so I wanted that so I was able to go back and get my diploma at 42 which I think was as big an accomplishment as anything and I can tell you going back and studying even high school on a high school level at 42 it's like starting over you know I was I was kind of looking to my young children 7 8 9 10 for assistance but you know I just kind of hit the books and did the right thing and had people around that could kind of help me out you know one of the things that we see so often in film and in novels is the theme of redemption where people's lives can start all over today I find in talking to young people that one of the real struggles they have is dealing with failure because sometimes failure is a very public and or maybe it's the failure of other people that fail them and so they they really don't know the path to redemption how that where their life can start over what kind of things would you say young folks who who really are feel stuck in their life and would like to to come to a new way or maybe put the past behind them sacramentally or involvement in the church what helps you oh gosh well I I honestly feel like you know and it's been a process because it's it's a it's really a huge part of my life and certainly a big part of my daily routine in how I start my day in reading and praying and kind of focusing on the task at hand but I always feel like if I put my mind to something and I really do the work I can accomplish something and then if things don't turn out because I live in and and and breathe and you know my primary business is based on a lot of failure and success right but it's never for lack of effort and as long as I do everything I can to do my best and I feel pretty pretty darn good about the effort and sometimes I I win succeed and sometimes I don't but I always I always felt like if I didn't do everything I could to prepare and that's when I had regret and that's why I felt disappointed in myself but you know we we we are blessed to be able to have a fresh start every day you know you just got to be able to kind of have confidence in yourself and belief in yourself surrounding yourself with good people you know when I realized that there was a huge community out there of believers and and people that were committed and dedicated to the church and helping other members of the community and really be a support system that was a wonderful thing so I think not being afraid to ask for help and you know in searching seeking out people that can help you but also you know believing in yourself I've seen so many wonderful stories of people who are you know kids up for adoption you know and they have multiple siblings in in the in in the youth services department or within the the the adoption system and they're deciding that they're gonna go and get an education on their own and go and take of their family and you know there's so many good wonderful success stories out there just you have to believe and have faith and know that you can accomplish it and turn your life around you know you mentioned you come from a family of nine children so do i I have five sisters and three brothers and I always found that in the interaction with them we needed to give each other space to grow and space to make mistakes and whether and yet stay together tell me a little bit from your perspective how how family life is important to you in terms of your faith terms of keeping your going keeping you honest how does that work for you well family is the most important thing you know family you know the ones that are always gonna have your back they can always call you out on everything as well I mean you know it's like my yeah my five sisters do all the time I have five brothers and three sisters so you know it's the opposite but but um you know we could always mess with each other but nobody could mess with one and we always had each other's back and it's funny because my mom now who's been through so much is now at this point of her life really feeling like a sense of relief and I'm I'm the youngest I'm 46 and she's fine like oh god I can finally rest my kids are doing really well yeah don't tell me it's gonna take this long to have peace like real peace cuz I got a 14 year old and 11 year old a 9 year old and a 7 year old and I have a 14 year old daughter right now and it is it's the emotions but it's the most important thing and for me especially with my with my children you know I mean goal that I always wanted to accomplish I wanted my kids to have a Catholic education I wanted to have a faith-based education that was deal for me and they're all going to Catholic school but you know sometimes you know we were talking about this earlier sometimes she may say things just to push my buttons about her lack of faith or lack of belief but for me I and I don't make them they go to Mass with school I don't make them go to Mass with me every Sunday but they know that I will not cannot miss no matter what you know I will start my day every single day and quiet for you know a good 25 minutes or so and it's just mandatory it is so hopefully just leading by example and them seeing how important it is and how vital it is to my my my existence then that will that will make them kind of want to wonder why it's so important and kind of seek that kind of spirituality and I think that will give them you know obviously all the tools that they'll need to succeed well one of the things that is behind this reencounter is my firm belief and my clevers firm belief that everybody here has a deep spiritual life and the church needs that your youthfulness is there the Pope this weekend is going to have a message to young people of North America that we're going to tweet out for you in which he says that he is hoping that young people today people your age irrigates the world with your joy and enthusiasm because the world needs it today and not to let anybody ever rob you of your youthfulness there are a lot of people out there who want to take the youthfulness of kids and sell it off in some way and your spiritual life is is too important that's why we are doing all of this here this weekend and and why you're here tonight so thank you all for coming we we have marked some questions that some people say they want to ask and so I think we're going to have father Brad go out and is Adina who you also use the other one the audience here and mark what is your name please Annie and who is your question port okay my question is for mark may hold this they told me not about the mic okay I'm a student and I work and I'm also a performing a comedian and I find it very difficult to make the time to pray to go to Mass every Sunday and mark obviously you're a very busy person how do you make like you said that 25 minutes at the beginning of the day such a priority it's it's an absolute must it is the most important thing you know I will not do anything until I do that but I do I'm a I'm a weird person I'm not I'm not normal in the sense that I am very driven I work hard like I said I always felt like I had to work twice as hard as everybody else and I was willing to work twice as hard as everybody else to find myself in the position that I'm in now and I really feel like I'm just getting started with what I want to want to why I want to accomplish in my career and in business and in my life and what I want to do philanthropic lis so I just I go to bed at 7:30 like this is way past my bedtime only for you good lord you know what I'll stay up night and day you know spreading the word and spreading the message but I do I'll go I'll go to bed early enough so I can get eight hours of sleep I wake up in the dark everybody's sleeping my daughter my youngest is usually sleeping on the side of the bed on the floor and a little sleeping bags I'll pick her up and I'll put her on my side of the bed and then it's one of the few times she's really sweet to me you know she's still half-asleep just telling me she loves me and then and then I just go in and I shut the door and I built my own house and I wanted to build a little chapel prayer room in my house and I just you know I go read and then I go in there and it's it's quiet time and then after that I'll go down and make breakfast and go to the gym and then I usually go into my office and read some more and then I'm preparing with my script and all the stuff that I have to do for the day and then by that time you know it's been two and a half hours and I go wake up the kids and get everybody ready for school when I got my wife and my kids and then I do everything else I've made call to these coasts I'm in LA so I made calls to the East Coast and kind of check in on my various business interests and stuff like that and call my mom that's the first thing that I I do after call my mom I haven't missed a call with her and quite some time but you know she she's amazing you know she did so much and you know for her to have lost my sister passed away the same day that my oldest daughter was born and you know parents burying the children is a very very difficult thing but she's now found more joy and I think is really embrace God's grace in a way that's allowed her to understand that you know whether you live 50 years or 150 years it's still a short time and if we have got in our lives and we have we have eternity you know that's that's a wonderful wonderful thing so gives you real hope and joy and the ability to cope and deal with any other problems with stress or illness or things that come your way and rain so Cardinals to pitch so wake up to 3:30 in the morning get up in the morning that's right Cardinal sue pitch we have a question for you over here so what's your name Raul Raul what's your question for Cardinal super well first I want to say marky-mark huge fan of entourage thank you for my question for Cardinal I hope I hope the Lord likes entourage so Cardinal lately in my life I've been faced a lot of difficult decisions and I questioned whether or not I've made the right decision and I kind of follow faith hoping I have but at the same time I've also questioned whether the presence of its gonna get me through some of these decisions so my question to you is when you face difficult decisions how do you know you made the right decision and for instance when you chose to be a priest how do you know that was the right decision for you and furthermore did you question the presence okay well I think you know I I do make a lot of decisions that have impact on a lot of people because we have 2.2 million Catholics here and hundreds of priests 350 parishes to over 200 schools so there is there are a lot of decisions like that there are waiting first of all I depend on a lot of people who know a lot more than I do and I think you have to be able to tell yourself what you don't know and admit it and call on people who know those kinds of things so that helps me informs my decision but with regard to the personal decision about vocation of where my life was going to go and so on I it wasn't to anything necessarily that I had a bolt of lightning about or anything else it was kind of like peeling an onion little by little there's a like meeting a friend over a while over a time you decide that this is the friend that you want to spend your life with much like people fall in love so I I would say give it time but you're never going to have a hundred percent security in your decision when you meet somebody and you're going to this is a person you want to marry I think that you you want to make sure or whatever vocation that you don't put so many demands on the other person that they have to be perfect you know that you have to your little punch list where you have to have everything to do satisfy your your own inquisitiveness about this so you have to trust you have to take a risk loving is a risk and that's okay you shouldn't be afraid to take the risk of love that's the same thing with the vocation the priesthood you had to take the risk but as far as I'm concerned it's worked out okay you know father Kani yeah so yeah I remember when I was fortunate enough to host the festival of families in Philadelphia with the Holy Father can yes and it was it was it was actually had a weird time because you know I was going to church and I'd always kind of sit in the back and I you know mind you I live in LA so I'm in Beverly Hills so people recognized me and you know you'll be in the middle of saying a prayer and all of a sudden something that's happening on the back and they were like hey I got a script for you and I'm like scripture yeah so but then I was like somebody came to speak at the church and they were like you know are you gonna be and they were just speaking to everybody in the church but they were saying you know are you a participant in the church in the community or your spectator and I was like whew I felt like okay yeah I need I'm a bit of a spectator right now I'm coming in I'm getting what I need but I don't think I'm giving back and kind of really you know you know reciprocating the kind of love and the support that I'm getting from the church in the community so I said okay I'm gonna I'm gonna figure out something to do and then literally the next day a guy test from the shoulder says hey you want to be an usher oh no no yes of course I will yeah so I became an usher and then I was like okay well yeah I'm just you know making the collection and I'm like guilting people and my hey I put in a lot of money you better put a lot of money and then it was like well you know I kind of need to do more and then literally two days later guy testimon the show that hey you want to host the festival of family with the Pope and I'm like oh my god that's a big responsibility I'm an actor but I'm not like I go learn my lines and you know I but to be able to kind of have that responsibility I knew there was gonna be a lot of people from all over the world I didn't want like mispronouncing names and embarrassed right Father so what I just said yes and I committed to doing it it was one of you took a risk and it was one of those things where it was it was so fulfilling but getting back to that and knowing the responsibility that you have which is my point and I know it's a long-winded one I apologize but you I I pray for you and I pray for so many people that serve God because have so much responsibility and one of the few things the Holy Father had no idea who I was he knew that there was excitement around me being there but there was nothing like the excitement for him and I seeing people thousands and thousands of people lining the streets from all walks of life just to get a glimpse of him and the one thing that he said to me was to pray for him yeah he's pretty close to God I don't know if he needs prayers for me but I was like no of course he does because my gosh he has so much responsibility right you know and then reading about Mother Teresa and times when she had doubt you know it's difficult but you know the best the best way to remind yourself is you know just to continue to you know to pray and connect and that's that's what sustains me I I know there are a lot of people praying for me and so the first thing I get up do in the morning is when I get up I pray the rosary and the reason I do that is because I know there are a lot of people praying the rosary at that hour in the world and I feel the energy of being connected with all those people and that helps me over here where you oh there you are I want to ask you a question about the comedy too but I later [Applause] this question is for both Cardinals to pitch and for Mark Wahlberg I had to write it down I didn't want to forget forgiveness is such a great gift we can give to others but it requires us to first be able to forgive ourselves for our past mistakes how have either of you been able to do that I think I probably have more things to know you've been locked up I might have dodged a couple bullets no you know it's one of those things where I mean you really I just really have to genuinely I feel remorse when I've made mistakes if I could go back and do a lot of things over I would and I know that I can't so I think the way that I can kind of continue to to you know to to give back and to do things for other people and especially for the less fortunate you know because again I've been blessed in so many ways and I think you know obviously with those blessings comes a lot of responsibility and and I I welcome that responsibility I look for ways to give back and influence people and inspire people to come out and do great things but but yes a the hard part is forgiving seven times seventy times with especially people that are close to you that you know you know may have done you wrong but in order to be forgiven you must forgive it's I would say that's sometimes more difficult right when you think about the evil and the things that are happening in the world especially to innocent people women children it's very difficult yeah very difficult but you know I know that that's what you're supposed to do but I also would understand my god being a father and something happening to one of my children would I be so would I be able to forgive never mind being quick to forgive be able to forgive I mean I've you know I hopefully I would never find myself in that position but it it is a challenging thing I think it's a lot easier to ask forgiveness than it is to forgive when when you know I've been dealt with you know serious well and I think you know with regard to forgiving oneself there is a point in which you you've got stop being a perfectionist to the point where you you're unwilling to say that life is a journey and that you Jesus said he just didn't say pick up your cross and follow me he said pick up your cross every day and follow me huh and and so we have to make sure that when we fail we get up again and we heard this for mark today about how he begins his day every day is a fresh moment so that forgiveness of yourself is really your act of faith that got us forgiving you and you can start all over you have to have that otherwise you're going to be stuck and the perfectionism can really be gnawing to one spirit get rid of it if you got in your heart and I think it brings me great comfort when reading you know the word that God came to to help the sinners in the week you know that gives me great comfort and that's all of us knowing as long as I can continue to grow and get stronger and be better and do more to serve great we have one more question oh good mark I was at that festival of families you were inspirational there as you are here at all humanity with what you're talking you accept your challenges in life is really wonderful and keep your faith what is your name sir my name is Joshua from DePaul University you know DePaul Nepal is the largest Catholic University in the United States I may be in the world I I thought it was because people like the name Joshua we got a comedian here mark no he's not the only one there's been meaning to him I don't offer a cardinal Subic mark thank you for being here tonight my questions for both of you and it revolves around suicide and this thought that because you make a mistake or do something wrong somehow that means your life is over ruined what would you say or what advice would you give to anyone that's struggling that forgiveness and redemption are possible well you know I've dealt a lot with attempted suicides and suicides in my pastoral life with people it's very devastating to a family that's left behind when that that does happen but in talking to people who are contemplating it where they think there's really no exit from their their problems you have to give them a pathway and let them know that life is bigger you know that cute little movie they show at Christmastime every year it's a Wonderful Life is it's not too far from the truth in terms of people getting themselves into an emotional setting where their life seems to be collapsed collapsing and they almost wish they were never born well it's that's why it's important to be the Word of God that mark talks about here so important for me to be in to realize that your story is much bigger than just the moment that you have it's part of all that God's doing God needs you and so as you look at your own life in your sense of purpose don't shrink it just upon the failures that you have you're more than your failures you're you're a hot you're a lot more than that the other thing I want to say is there's a high suicide rate among our military men and women our armed forces and so I want you to pray for them they have a lot of pressures in their life whenever I have a chance to have mass and we have the prayers of faithful I always include whenever I can a prayer for our military men and women because a sacrifice we don't we don't take notice of the fact that they're in very dangerous places fighting each and every day and they're not on the radar screen so keep them in your prayers and make sure when you see somebody who serves in the military say thanks absolutely very well said father well thank you Mark for being a part of this it's it's great that you took time with us these young people I know are very grateful - oh thank you guys I'm fired up you know it's so it's so nice to be in the presence of so many people that love the Lauren you just feel the love in the room and it's it's infectious and you know if we would continue to go out there and inspire others and invite others into this wonderful world a community that we have in Christ it's a beautiful beautiful thing and it's a beautiful feeling and and to take a cue from what Mark said earlier don't be just a spectator get involved participate and you know what there isn't anything you can't accomplish with hard work and the Lord behind you Wow if I can trust me I should be a lot of places and I should not be here so if trust me God is God is so good thank you Father good thank you thank you thank our no stupid Mark Wahlberg everyone [Applause] Thank You sisters thank you sister

Channel: CatholicChicago

Views: 84,026

Keywords: Chicago (City/Town/Village), Roman Catholic Archdiocese Of Chicago (Religious Jurisdiction), Archbishop (Religious Leadership Role), Pope Francis (Religious Leader), Religion (TV Genre)

Id: SPL17aLylGg

Length: 28min 2sec (1682 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 23 2017