Fr. Mike and Mark Wahlberg on Father Stu | What "Picking Up Your Cross" Looks Like

hey i'm mark wahlberg and this is ascension presents [Music] okay so this is relatively dark i don't know if this is i need to adjust this or not but uh here's where we're at okay here we go we're gonna do something a little bit different uh differently differently today not only is it wednesday of holy week when this video was released it is also the same day that a new movie called father stu is being released in theaters uh starring mark wahlberg and mel gibson i did an interview with him so in the midst of this ascension presents video there's a little interview i got to sit down and talk with mark wahlberg it's the story of a real real life story of a priest from montana his name was stu father stew um his the beginning of his story is uh not like the end of the story a couple of things uh one uh the movie father stu is rated r it's rated r for a real reason because of the anger because of the language full disclosure there are f-bombs in almost every scene i'm not gonna say every every scene but here's the story the context of the story is what mark wahlberg is going to explain is this man stu when he was growing up at one point i think when he was six years old his older brother had inexplicably died into sleep and what they did was it took this family that was already kind of indifferent to god and put them in this path of hatred towards god like they just absolutely violently hated even the idea the concept that there could be a god who allowed his brother and his mom and dad's son to die there's a lot of anger a lot of brokenness and it's not the kind of brokenness that is easily resolved it is a kind of brokenness that is only resolved by grace and and it's just pretty remarkable so here is the interview for lack of a better word uh with mark wahlberg and a conversation i just got to have with him so i hope you enjoy it it's a few minutes long and i'm gonna say something at the end of this interview mark uh thank you for taking this time i know that you have had a really uh i i can't imagine how exhausted you must be with this whole um talking to people answering the same old questions but i was able to see father stew loved it and um the first thing i just one of the things that was so powerful was the relationship between stu and his dad and um i don't know i just wanted to ask you if if there was any any part in that that was clearly you and mel gibson had had a incredible bond but i would say like the bond was you know broken it was wounded but it was strong i don't know if you had any anything you could just tell me about that um yeah well one of the things that really drew me to bill's uh and stu's story was the fact that obviously you know they had lost a younger child uh early on and they didn't really have the skills to cope with that kind of loss as we know parents aren't supposed to bury their children and um and so stu was kind of basically left to his own devices and it wasn't until later on where he was diagnosed with an incurable disease that his father was able to come back and really redeem himself and take care of him in the way that he didn't get to when stu was young i mean he bathed him he clothed him he fed him he did all of those things he had gotten sober uh he got baptized i mean stu really uh worked his magic on his mom and his dad yeah it was it was at the the the conversations if you want to call them conversations you know uh between uh stu and his dad stu and bill um we're really raw and i just i that was one of the pieces of of this movie that when it comes to faith it's not uh it's not a kid's movie right it's not it's not a hallmark christian movie at all no it is a very real raw uh movie about tough grace and tough mercy and i think it couldn't be more necessary than right now because we've all been going through things that we never imagined we'd face in our lifetime which is why we're getting the reaction to the film that we've gotten everybody relates and identifies it with it on a very personal level and the response has just been remarkable and it's also encouraging people um they leave the theater feeling very optimistic uh hopefully a renewed faith and hope and also a reminder to see the good in people and that people are beyond redemption and uh and everybody's challenged by stu to just find their role in god's big picture and do a little bit more be a little bit better yeah that's one of the things that i just that that unconditional love you say tough grace and tough mercy um it's so so real because so uh one one of the things i've found is uh i did this thing last year where i read the bible in a year um like a podcast every day kind of a thing and a bunch of yeah i heard i heard i heard about it yeah it was really it's been it was a great grace but one of the things that people told me was that they didn't realize how broken the story is like they thought oh the bible you know the bible's it's kid's stories and then realizing it as they're being being read to not a little fairy not little fairy tales lots of not at all not at all and so stu's life is just is marked with it's a real person right so even i even like the i like the moment where stu is sitting on uh the bench with carmen um they're having a conversation i mean he's still he's still a guy he still thinks she's this most she's the most beautiful woman that he'd ever met encountered in his life and she's the reason that he is uh and now dedicated to christ i mean she was uh you know the introduction to jesus right and and and also his with his visit for mary you know through me mary to jesus but um yeah we wanted to make something that was real and that people could relate to and that's why stu touched so many people because people knew he was credible all of his real life experience was now being applied to doing his good work and they knew that he had been through all the stuff that he was basically counseling them on and uh who better than somebody with real life experience to kind of help you get through these difficult struggles and to see how stu dealt with adversity and you know if we're all lucky enough to get old we're going to be faced with these things we've all dealt with loss especially now during covet in ways that we didn't think we would yeah that's mentioning that that um that he was so real there was the kind of contrast seminarian with him you know the guy who um yeah at the end you know there's there's i don't want to spoil anything but this this revelation of again more father stuff where it comes to you know stu being willing to kind of in some ways fight against his father and this other seminarian being unwilling to do this um was that that and then stu even having it out even stu having it out by god and refusing yes um you know couldn't it it's remarkable and uh you know i remember the archbishop uh archbishop thomas when he saw the film he was really appreciative that that was there as well uh and seeing how difficult it is for lots of people you know it just seemed like every time stu was broken um as you keep saying in the movie he kept bringing him closer to christ um i just what was it in i mean that that's just that's the gospel in so many ways that's the mystery of redemptive suffering in so many ways that's gonna start a bit of a movement i think you know because people are all they're going through it and if they find comfort in that wow that's a very powerful thing you know to be able to embrace it in the way that he did i mean he handled it obviously with with with dignity seems like the most essential thing there is trust like i mean this is that's why i keep going back to that i started out with talking about noticing the father relationship between uh stu and bill and even this other priest or other seminarian and his father and just and here's god the father where it's in the midst of suffering how do i still trust god like because it's it's tough but it's as you said tough grace i just want to let you know that um i am praying for you praying for your family and thank you so much for for doing this work and also thank you so much for taking this time with me i really appreciate it thank you father i really appreciate it god bless you you bet you too so one of the things that you might have noticed from that interview i am not good at it but if you caught this that was basically me saying hey mark wahlberg here's what i noticed in the movie right one of the things that is comes back is it remember he said tough mercy and tough grace something you if you get the chance to go to this movie again it's not for children just like the bible is not for children the bible is stories about real life and real brokenness and real pain and real suffering you know god actually enters into real brokenness and real pain and real suffering in in a tr in a real in a real way that it doesn't it's not easily resolvable in fact when stu comes to know who god is it doesn't take away all his problems in fact that's when he realizes that he is going to die from this disease but here's an interesting thing and this is the thing for all of us especially here during this holy week is the role of suffering in our lives as mark wahlberg points out it was in in in the movie it was in father stu's suffering that he allowed the lord to get closer and closer and closer to him again this is not a a candy sugar-coated version of christianity this is this is the gospel in the most clear way you could possibly possibly really understand the gospel living pertaining and impacting our lives right now because jesus on the cross he didn't come to take away our suffering he came to transform our suffering he didn't come to remove pain and death he came to redeem pain and death and this is so important because there is this false version of christianity out there that says that when you come to know jesus he takes all your crosses what is the actual vision of christianity is jesus says if you want to be my disciple you want to follow after me you want to belong to me you have to deny yourself take up your cross and follow after me where does where does his path lead it leads all the way to golgotha it leads all the way to the crucifixion it leads all the way to the cross and then it goes through the cross to a place of resurrection to a place of true redemption but again jesus didn't come to take away our pain he came to transform our pain he didn't come to remove our suffering he came to redeem our suffering and this is so important because the the critical thing is i'll talk about this tomorrow night at the at the holy massive holy thursday if you want to kind of join us please go to your parishes and join in the prayer but i'll mention this tomorrow night at the holy thursday mass is the thing that transforms stu's life is the thing that transforms every one of our lives and that is at the beginning of the movie here is god i do not trust you in fact i hate you by the end stu got to the point where he knew who god was no matter what would happen to him he could say god i know who you are and i trust you even though you're not you're not removing my pain even though you're not taking away my suffering you have redeemed my pain you have transformed my suffering and no matter what happens to me i know that i can trust you this is the switch this is the transformation that god wants in every one of our hearts because this is the message of the gospel jesus didn't come to take away our crosses he came to transform our crosses so so that our lives don't end in death but pass through death into new life and we will always we will always uh be willing to question god's role god's action in our lives until we get to that place that father stew got to where we say okay god no matter what happens to me i am going to trust you no matter what happens to me i'm let you i'm going to let you get close to me in my wounds in my suffering in my pain and literally even in my death so do i recommend this movie i think it's really really good not for children not for kids just let you know that um and not for the faint of heart just like the gospel is not for the faint of heart but it is for those who have broken hearts which is for people like you and for people like me anyways for all the citizens presents my name's father mike god bless and happy holy week [Music] you

Channel: Ascension Presents

Views: 534,994

Keywords: father stu official trailer, father stu movie, mark wahlberg interview, father stu mark wahlberg, mark wahlberg father stu, mark wahlberg, father stu trailer mark wahlberg, mark wahlberg new movie, ascension, ascension press, ascension presents, father mike, catholic advice, catholic inspiration, fr. mike schmitz, fr. Mike schmidt, father mike schmitz, fr. Mike advice, fr. Mike videos, fr mike schmitz, catholic teaching on suffering, catholic movies to watch, father stu

Id: _d5ojokuy9U

Length: 11min 44sec (704 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 13 2022