When Mark Wahlberg's Brother Met Mother Teresa in Prison: A Powerful Catholic Conversion Story
What an incredible story!
On this week’s episode of The Catholic Talk Show, Ryan Scheel, Fr. Rich Pagano, and Ryan DellaCrosse speak with Jim Wahlberg (actor Mark Wahlberg’s brother) about his Catholic conversion story.
In the episode, the guys discuss Wahlberg’s faith journey, including his young family life, his drug and alcohol addiction and how he combats it, how a Catholic prison Chaplin ‘hustled’ him, and how a visit from Mother Teresa in prison changed his life!
Listen to this week’s amazing episode below:
Click here if you cannot see the video above.
St. Teresa of Calcutta’s visit to Jim Wahlberg’s Prison
“I can specifically pick out that day as the turning point in my life,” Wahlberg said of St. Teresa of Calcutta’s visit to his prison. I just remember seeing the kindness and the gentleness of her face.”
“It came time for the Mass we had in her honor, and the cardinal was there. I was part of the procession, and I remember as we processed into the gym, the cardinal had this big, fancy hat on and he had this big, fancy chair.
“And he had a big, fancy chair for Mother Teresa. He beaconed her to come, and she refused to go. Instead, she stayed on the floor with the inmates, on her knees the entire time, until it was time for her to speak.”
“I couldn’t take my eyes off of her,” he continued. “I was looking at the face of Christ. That’s what I was seeing.
“The time came for her to speak, and she spoke words of love and mercy. Everything she said was geared towards us–that we were more than what brought us here. That nothing was too big for God.
“That day absolutely changed my life. I then went to [the priest] and said, ‘Father, I want to know more about God. I want to know more about Jesus Christ.
“The next day, I started preparing to make my Confirmation.”
Praise God! 🙌
St. Teresa of Calcutta, please pray for us! 🙏
[See also: Let’s Walk Down Memory Lane: Things Kids Who Grew Up Catholic Will Remember]
[See also: Are Christians All a Bunch of Hypocrites? What Jesus Says About Hypocrites in the Bible]