GREENWOOD – Paul West was a teacher and principal at St. Francis School in Greenwood, Mississippi from July 1993 until October 1998. The Diocese of Jackson cooperated fully in the State of Mississippi’s recent criminal conviction of Paul West, including providing background testimony at his trial on the diocese’s list of clergy who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors. The list was first provided to the Attorney General in 2002 and then updated and released publicly in March of 2019.
The diocese reported the initial allegation against Paul West to the Department of Human Services and the Greenwood Police Department in 1998 and reported the subsequent allegations to the Leflore County District Attorney in 2018. West was removed from ministry after the original 1998 complaint.
The Diocese of Jackson is committed to protecting children. Sexual misconduct by church personnel violates human dignity and the mission of the church. The diocese has dedicated substantial time and resources to ensure that children being served by the church are not at risk of sexual abuse by church personnel. The spiritual well-being of all victims, their families, and others in the community is of particular concern to the church.
Over the past thirty years, the Diocese of Jackson has developed and implemented a safe environment program. The diocese has publicized standards of conduct for its priests and deacons as well as diocesan employees, volunteers, and any other church personnel in positions of trust who have regular contact with children and young people. Beginning in 1986, the diocese implemented a written policy and procedure regarding reporting and handling of sexual misconduct claims. The policy was updated in 1994 with the addition of a Diocesan Fitness Review Committee and again in 2002 so that it would reflect the mandates of the Bishops’ Charter.
Anyone who has been a victim of abuse or exploitation by clergy, religious or lay church personnel and has not yet reported it is encouraged to do so. The Victim Assistance Coordinator, Erika Rojas, is available to assist in making a report. The contact number for the Victim Assistance Coordinator is (601) 326-3736.
OUNCE OF PREVENTION By Reba J. McMellon, M.S., LPC The number one reason adult survivors don’t tell their parents about being sexually abused is they didn’t want to make the situation worse. They fear the parent wouldn’t be able to handle the information in a healthy way.
Opening a conversation doesn’t have to be awkward and heavy. Ask your adolescent and adult children what their views are on the recent #metoo movement and the #timesup movement. Then, listen, listen, listen.
Reba J. McMellon, M.S.,LPC
Different generations define sexual assault differently. What was shrugged off in the 1970’s may not be considered something to ignore now. Ask your kids what they consider unwelcomed flirtation and unwelcomed physical touch. Listen to their definitions of sexual assault and sexual misconduct. Define as a family what is considered criminal versus what is considered inappropriate. Then discuss how to handle both.
Always include both male and females in these conversations. Males are even less likely to report sexual abuse than females. Open the dialogue. Reduce the stigma, at least in your own home.
Families are as sick as their secrets and as healthy as their dialogue. Let your children know you can handle what they have to say. You can listen. You can respond in a firm and rational way. If not, they are not likely to come to you with a report of abuse. If you find that this is a subject you simply cannot breech with your children, talk with someone about why. Unresolved issues of a parent’s own sexual abuse can lead to the cycle continuing because it has become a taboo subject.
It is not uncommon for the same family member or community person that abused the parent to also abuse their child. The damage will have lifelong consequences by never reporting or revealing the assault. Abuse can become a multigenerational issue that leads to increasingly severe mental health damage. However, there is a wide range of what is considered a reportable offense. It’s a new era. Sexual misconduct is in the media and out in the open more than ever.
These tips are for parents of adolescent and adult children. – Open a discussion with your adolescent and adult children. Ask them to teach you what they know about the #metoo movement. In a discussion with my own son, I stated there were things we just learned to put up with, the “lighter” offenses. He said his generation doesn’t think you should have had to; therefore, we have the #timesup movement. Made sense. I liked it. I learned something.
– Be open and be honest with your children.
– People can’t recover from what has not been uncovered.
– The difference between a victim and a survivor is a victim still has an open wound, a survivor has healed and carries the scar. No shame in carrying a scar-Jesus didn’t hide his and neither should we. Scars show trauma has healed.
– If child abuse prevention is a subject you simply cannot talk about with your children, talk with someone about your own experiences. We must break the cycle.
– If not now, when. If you keep putting off these discussions, they will never happen.
Adult survivors of sexual abuse are as high as 20% of the general population. Be mindful how you discuss child sexual abuse when in the general public, you are likely to be within ear shot of someone who has suffered and survived one of the most devastating offenses to ones mental, social, sexual and spiritual development.
“To help heal the world, start with your own family.” – St. Mother Teresa
(Reba J. McMellon, M.S. is a licensed professional counselor with 35 years of experience. She continues to work in the field of mental health as a consultant and is available for public speaking. Reba can be reached at rebaj@bellsouth.net.)
COLUMBUS – On Friday, March 25, students at Annunciation school joined Pope Francis, Bishop Joseph Kopacz, and other Bishops around the world in praying the Rosary for peace and an end to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Katie Fenstermacher)
HOLLY SPRINGS – Anita Temple assists in judging science fair projects at Holy Family School. (Photo by Phyllis Parker)
JACKSON – St. Richard student, Ruby Hospodor serves up the ball during a volleyball match on April 7 against First Presbetarian Day School. (Photo by Tereza Ma)
JACKSON – Students Brennyn Bolden and Cassie Anderson from St. Joseph Catholic School in Madison head out of the Cathedral of St. Peter after the Consecration of Russia, Ukraine and the Diocese of Jackson to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on Friday, March 25. (Photo by Tereza Ma)
Student life at Catholic schools
MERIDIAN – Miss Mississippi, Holly Brand spoke to the fourth, fifth and sixth graders at St Patrick School on Monday, March 28.
Fifth grader, Bryson Walk presents his reading fair project to judges. Anne Larkin Vollor looks on. (Photos by Emily Thompson)
NATCHEZ – PreK-3 teachers, Paige Iseminger and Hailey Tosspon with assistants Dana Dupre and Jody Upton, took their students outside for their prayers for peace time for Ukraine and Russia.
NATCHEZ – Pleasant Acre Day School requested assistance on replenishing their supply of Mardi Gras beads and Cathedral Green Wave families were happy to help. Pictured is Torri Webber’s first grade class assisting with loading up beads to be delivered to the day school. (Photos by Cara Moody)
MADISON – Fifth and sixth grade students at St. Anthony directed aplay. Pictured are Kee Curro, Arie Strong, Lily Kate Lloyd and Maddie Morris. (Photos by Katie Signa)
By Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz, D.D. Welcome back to the beauty and joy of our Chrism Mass to celebrate our unity as the People of God in the Diocese of Jackson, to celebrate the renewal of the priesthood, and the blessing and consecration of the holy oils, all under the loving gaze of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the church at Holy Mass. This is our custom, and we are joyful to reclaim it after three years. It’s been that expanse of time since the Cathedral brimmed with the faithful, yearning to gather once again in the fullness of our Catholic faith. On this day the Scripture is fulfilled in our hearing because the Spirit of the Lord is upon us in whom we have been anointed through faith and Baptism.
Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz
The Gospel of St. Luke is the centerpiece of God’s Word for this Liturgical year. Likewise, Luke’s Good News is the cornerstone for our process of synodality which has touched every corner of our diocese over the past several months. The traditional Gospel passage for the Chrism Mass, Jesus’ inaugural address, is also the inspired Word for our regional gatherings, because the anointing of the Spirit of the Lord is the engine that drives renewal and a Year of Favor, liturgically and pastorally, a gift that the world is incapable of giving nor sustaining.
As we gather in Eucharistic unity and solidarity, it is important for us to know and cherish that one of the dominant themes and hopes expressed throughout the diocese in the synod process is a deep-rooted desire for healing and unity. On the one hand, this yearning identifies the loss, pain, and broken relationships from the pandemic’s impact. Beyond this brokenness, the cry of the human spirit for healing and unity, the fruit of the Holy Spirit’s Anointing, also arises from the divisions that plague our church and society, the violence and killings in our communities, the wars that assault the dignity of the human person made in God’s image and likeness, the pain of the victims of sexual abuse, those who still languish and long for healing, and the hurts and struggles that burden the faithful who are in need of reconciliation.
This pervasive woundedness is the bad fruit of sin, original and personal, in the church, in family life, and in the world. Pope Francis is wise when he observes that the church at its core is a field hospital, providing healing and hope for humanity, spiritually and physically.
We grieve these assaults against God’s gift of life, but we do so with hope because of the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ in his life-giving death and resurrection. He died to set free those oppressed by sin and injustice, and we have the power and means to do so.
We are an Emmaus people whom the Lord accompanies on the road to redirect our path when we are lost; he remains with us in the Eucharist, in the breaking of the bread through the shedding of his blood on the Cross.
We have the Anointing of the Spirit of the Lord for the blessing and consecration of our Holy Oils, circulating far and wide a season of refreshment and a Year of Favor from the Lord. It is the church as the Good Samaritan pouring in oil and wine, walking the extra mile, and not counting the cost, in order to accomplish the Lord’s mission to foster enduring and eternal freedom, to be a light in the darkness, and to be the Good News of healing and unity It is a mighty task, and in moments of grace, we know that there is no better way to live.
In the midst of God’s dream for humanity, and in the heart of the church is the priest who is Minister of the Word, the Good News of Jesus Christ, Steward of the Sacred Mysteries, the Sacraments and Servant-Leader. Priests with all of the baptized, in good times and in bad, rejoice and struggle, give thanks and ask forgiveness, and seek community and friendship with the Lord, with brother priests, and with the people of God.
In recent times especially, I am grateful to God for the generosity and perseverance of our priests who are walking the extra mile in service to the Lord and God’s people, and in many instances for their esprit de corps as they rally around each other in fraternal support. I thank many throughout our diocese who care for and pray for the priest in their midst. In particular, I give a shout-out to our retired priests who continue to bear the heat of the day, so to speak, stretching themselves in service to the Lord and to the People of God. Thank you! You are an inspiration!
The Chrism Mass celebrates the conviction every year that working in the Lord’s vineyard is the responsibility of all the baptized. The synod process brought home this standard time and again. At the Easter Vigil and on Easter Sunday, the renewal of the promises of Baptism throughout the universal church recommits all of us to the Lord Jesus’ mission and vision first proclaimed in the Synagogue at Nazareth and sealed in his death and resurrection.
But on this day in the Diocese of Jackson, in a focused and intentional way, the church calls upon the faithful to invoke the Spirit of God to bless our priests who renew their vows to the Lord, their unity with me, their bishop, and their commitment to the Body of Christ. Uniquely, they were anointed, configured to Christ the High Priest, and set apart to serve the deepest yearnings of the faithful for healing and unity. They need your prayers to support their best intentions in order to live their vocations, faithfully and fruitfully, as ministers of God’s Word, stewards of God’s mysteries, and servant-leaders. Thank you for your faith, hope, and love.
Por Obispo Joseph R. Kopacz, D.D. Bienvenidos de nuevo a la alegría y belleza de nuestra Misa Crismal para celebrar nuestra unidad como Pueblo de Dios en la Diócesis de Jackson, para celebrar la renovación del sacerdocio y la bendición y consagración de los santos óleos, todo bajo la mirada amorosa del Espíritu Santo en el corazón de la iglesia en la Santa Misa. Esta es nuestra costumbre y estamos gozosos de recuperarla después de tres años. Este lapso ha pasado, desde que la Catedral rebosaba de fieles, anhelando reunirnos una vez más en la plenitud de nuestra fe católica. En este día oímos como se cumple la Escritura, porque el Espíritu del Señor está sobre nosotros en quien hemos sido ungidos por la fe y el Bautismo.
Obispo Joseph R. Kopacz
El Evangelio de San Lucas es la pieza central de la Palabra de Dios para este año litúrgico. Asimismo, la Buena Nueva del evangelio de Lucas es la piedra angular de nuestro proceso de sinodalidad que ha tocado todos los rincones de nuestra diócesis en los últimos meses. El pasaje evangélico tradicional de la Misa Crismal, el discurso inaugural de Jesús, es también Palabra inspirada para nuestros encuentros regionales, porque la unción del Espíritu del Señor es el motor que impulsa, litúrgica y pastoralmente, la renovación y un Año de Favor, un don que el mundo no es capaz de dar ni sostener. Al reunirnos en unidad y solidaridad eucarística, es importante que sepamos y apreciemos que uno de los temas y esperanzas dominantes expresados en toda la diócesis en el proceso del Sínodo es un deseo profundamente arraigado de sanación y unidad. Por un lado, este anhelo identifica la pérdida, el dolor y las relaciones rotas por el impacto de la pandemia. Más allá de este quebrantamiento, el grito del espíritu humano por la sanación y la unidad, fruto de la Unción del Espíritu Santo, surge también de las divisiones que plagan nuestra iglesia y sociedad, la violencia y los asesinatos en nuestras comunidades, las guerras que atentan contra la dignidad de la persona humana hecha a imagen y semejanza de Dios, el dolor de las víctimas de abusos sexuales, las que todavía languidecen y anhelan la curación, y las penas y luchas que agobian a los fieles que necesitan reconciliación.
Esta herida generalizada es el mal fruto del pecado, original y personal, en la iglesia, en la vida familiar y en el mundo. El Papa Francisco es sabio cuando observa que la Iglesia en su esencia es un hospital de campaña, que brinda sanación y esperanza a la humanidad, espiritual y físicamente.
Sufrimos estos ataques contra el don de la vida de Dios, pero lo hacemos con esperanza debido a la victoria de nuestro Señor Jesucristo en su muerte y resurrección que da vida. Él murió para liberar a los oprimidos por el pecado y la injusticia, y tenemos el poder y los medios para hacerlo.
Somos un pueblo Emaús al que el Señor acompaña en el camino para reconducir nuestro camino cuando estamos perdidos; permanece con nosotros en la Eucaristía, en la fracción del pan por el derramamiento de su sangre en la Cruz.
Tenemos la Unción del Espíritu del Señor para la bendición y consagración de nuestros Santos Óleos, circulando por todas partes una temporada de refrigerio y un Año de Favor del Señor. Es la Iglesia como el Buen Samaritano vertiendo aceite y vino, caminando la milla extra, y sin calcular el costo, para cumplir la misión del Señor de fomentar la libertad duradera y eterna, ser una luz en la oscuridad y ser la buena noticia de la sanación y la unidad Es una tarea poderosa, y en los momentos de gracia, sabemos que no hay mejor manera de vivir.
En medio del sueño de Dios para la humanidad, y en el corazón de la Iglesia, está el sacerdote que es Ministro de la Palabra, de la Buena Noticia de Jesucristo, Administrador de los Sagrados Misterios, de los Sacramentos y Siervo-Líder. Los sacerdotes, como todos los bautizados, en las buenas y en las malas se alegran y luchan, dan gracias y piden perdón, buscan la comunidad y la amistad con el Señor con sus hermanos sacerdotes y con el pueblo de Dios.
Especialmente, en tiempos recientes, estoy agradecido a Dios por la generosidad y la perseverancia de nuestros sacerdotes que caminan la milla extra en el servicio al Señor y al pueblo de Dios, y en muchos casos por su esprit de corps (cuerpo de espíritu) mientras se unen unos a otros en apoyo fraternal. Agradezco a muchos en nuestra diócesis que cuidan y oran por los sacerdotes. En particular, hoy saludo a nuestros sacerdotes jubilados, que continúan soportando el calor del día, por así decirlo, esforzándose al servicio del Señor y del Pueblo de Dios. ¡Gracias! ¡Ustedes son una inspiración!
La Misa Crismal, cada año, celebra la convicción que trabajar en la Viña del Señor es responsabilidad de todos los bautizados. El proceso del Sínodo trajo, una y otra vez, a casa este estándar. En la Vigilia Pascual y el Domingo de Pascua, la renovación de las promesas del Bautismo en toda la iglesia universal nos vuelve a comprometer a todos con la misión y la visión del Señor Jesús, proclamadas por primera vez en la Sinagoga de Nazaret y selladas en su muerte y resurrección.
Pero en este día en la Diócesis de Jackson, de manera enfocada e intencional, la Iglesia llama a los fieles a invocar el Espíritu de Dios para bendecir a nuestros sacerdotes que renuevan sus votos al Señor, su unidad conmigo, su obispo y su compromiso con el Cuerpo de Cristo. Excepcionalmente, fueron ungidos y apartados y configurados para Cristo, el Sumo Sacerdote, para servir los anhelos más profundos de los fieles por la sanación y la unidad. Los sacerdotes necesitan sus oraciones para apoyar sus mejores intenciones a fin de vivir sus vocaciones, fiel y fructíferamente, como ministros de la Palabra de Dios, administradores de los misterios de Dios y siervos líderes. Gracias por su fe, esperanza y amor.
By Junno Arocho VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis once again pleaded for an end to the bloodshed and violence in Ukraine after images of innocent civilians apparently executed in Bucha sparked outrage and horror around the world.
“The recent news of the war in Ukraine, instead of bringing relief and hope, attest to new atrocities, such as the massacre of Bucha,” the pope said April 6 before concluding his weekly general audience.
The world is witnessing “ever-more horrendous acts of cruelty done against civilians, unarmed women and children, whose innocent blood cries out to heaven and implores, ‘End this war. Silence the weapons. Stop sowing death and destruction,’” he said.
Pope Francis meets Ukrainian refugees during his general audience in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican April 6, 2022. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)
Videos and photographs released April 3, after Russian troops retreated from Bucha and other towns, showed dead bodies in the streets and in the yards of homes. Many appeared to have been shot in the head, execution style, and the hands of many of the corpses were bound.
Although Russia dismissed the accusations of war crimes as “fake news,” evidence of mass executions sparked outrage, prompting several countries to expel Russian diplomats from their lands and leading to renewed calls for tougher actions against Russia.
After leading pilgrims in a silent prayer for the country, Pope Francis held up a Ukrainian flag that was sent to him “from that tormented city of Bucha.”
The pope then invited to the stage several Ukrainian children who recently arrived in Italy and asked the crowd to “greet them and pray together with them.”
The children, accompanied by two women, went up to the pope. One young boy held a hand-made poster of the Ukrainian flag, with a smaller Italian flag in the center and outlines of small hands. The pilgrims present at the audience hall applauded loudly as the pope welcomed the children, with one shouting, “Slava Ukraini” (“Glory to Ukraine”).”
Gently rolling up the Ukrainian flag, the pope reverently kissed it before handing out chocolate Easter eggs to the children, prompting one of the women, holding a baby in her arms, to wipe away tears from her eyes.
“These children were forced to flee and come to a foreign land. This is one of the fruits of war,” Pope Francis said. “Let us not forget them and let us not forget the Ukrainian people.”
IN EXILE By Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI They shall look upon the one whom they have pierced! A phrase that names the voice that’s left behind on Good Friday.
In 1981, an anonymous young girl was brutally raped and murdered by the military at an obscure location in El Salvador, fittingly called La Cruz (the Cross). Her story was reported by a journalist named Mark Danner. In his account of this, Danner describes how after a particular massacre some soldiers shared how one of their victims haunted them and how they could not get her out of their minds long after her death.
They had plundered a village and raped many of the women. One of these was a young girl, an evangelical Christian, whom they had raped many times in a single afternoon and tortured. However, throughout it all, this young girl, clinging to her belief in Christ, had sung hymns. The soldiers who had violated and eventually executed her were haunted by that. Here are Danner’s words:
Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI
“She kept right on singing, too, even after they had done what had to be done and shot her in the chest. She had lain there on La Cruz with the blood flowing from her chest and had kept on singing – a bit weaker than before, but still singing. And the soldiers, stupefied, had watched and pointed. Then they had grown tired of the game and shot her again, and she sang still, and their wonder began to turn to fear – until finally they had unsheathed their machetes and hacked her neck, and at last the singing had stopped.” (The Massacre at El Mozote, N.Y., Vintage Books, 1994, pp. 78-79.)
They shall look upon her whom they have pierced! Notice the feminine pronoun here because in this instance the one who is looked upon after being pierced is a woman. Dying such a violent, unjust, and humiliating death with faith in her heart and on her lips makes her the crucified Christ, and not just because she (like all Christians) is a member of the Body of Christ. Rather because at this moment, in this manner of death, with this kind of faith overt in her person, like Jesus, she is leaving behind a voice that cannot be silenced and which will haunt those who have done violence to her and all the rest of us who hear about it.
What haunted those soldiers? The haunting here is not that of some wounded spirit that now seeks retribution by frightening us and forever unsettling our dreams. Nor is it the haunting we feel in bitter regret, when we recognize a huge, unredeemable mistake which had we foreseen the consequences of, we would never have made. Rather, this is the voice that haunts us whenever we silence, violate, or kill innocence. It’s a voice which we then know can never be silenced and which irrespective of the immediate emotions it evokes in us, we realize we can never be free from, and which paradoxically invites us not to fear and self-hatred but to what it embodies.
Gil Bailie, who makes this story a corner-piece in his monumental book on the cross and non-violence, notes not just the remarkable similarity between her manner of death and Jesus’, but also the fact that, in both cases, part of the resurrection is that their voices live on.
In Jesus’ case, nobody witnessing his humiliating death on a lonely hillside, with his followers absent, would have predicted that this would be the most remembered death in history. The same is true for this young girl. Her rape and murder occurred in a very remote place and all of those who might have wanted to immortalize her story were also killed. Yet her voice survives, and will no doubt continue to grow in history long after all those who violated her are forgotten. A death of this kind morally scars the conscience and leaves behind a permanent echo that nobody can ever silence.
When we parse out all that’s contained in that echo, when we take a reflective look at Jesus on the cross or at the death of this young evangelical, we cannot but feel a wound at a gut level. To gaze upon the one whom we have pierced, Jesus or any innocent victim, is to know (in a way that undercuts all culpable and invincible ignorance) that the voice of self-interest, injustice, violence, brutality, and rape will ultimately be silenced in favor of the voice of innocence, graciousness and gentleness. Yes, faith is true.
A critic reviewing Danner’s book in the New York Times tells how, after reading this story, he kept “straining hopelessly to hear the sound of that singing.”
In our churches on Good Friday, we read aloud the Gospel account of Jesus’ death. Listening to that story, like the soldiers who brutally murdered an innocent young, faith-filled woman, we are made to look upon the one whom we have pierced. We need to strain to hear more consciously the sound of that singing.
(Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser is a theologian, teacher and award-winning author. He can be contacted through his website www.ronrolheiser.com.)
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.
Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.
The Holy Spirit, traditionally depicted as a dove, is pictured in a stained-glass window at St. John Vianney Church in Lithia Springs, Ga. This Pentecost more than ever we are called to express our firm faith in the Holy Spirit as renewer, who promised more than once, “I make all things new.” (CNS photo/Michael Alexander, Georgia Bulletin) See FAITH-ALIVE 23 April 30, 2020.
O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful. Grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations,
Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.
STEWARDSHIP PATHS By Julia Williams
JACKSON – The month of April is dedicated to the Third Person in the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. Every time we recite the Nicene Creed, we worship the Holy Spirit as God.
• The love of the Father for the Son is total. God the Father empties Himself completely, holding nothing back from the Son.
• The love of the Son for the Father is total. God the Son empties Himself completely, holding nothing back from the Father.
• The love of the Father for the Son and the Son for the Father is the Holy Spirit. The love that is the exchange of Persons between Father and Son is the Life that is the Spirit, with no beginning and no end.
Stewardship is a conversion journey of receiving God’s love and returning love to Him. A conversion requires prayer, reflection, and time to allow God to show us who we are and the person of love that we can become.
The apostle Jude reminds us to make every prayer in the Holy Spirit; asking that He be showered upon us. The Holy Spirit is always there and “helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.” (Romans 8:26-27) In your daily prayers, invite the Holy Spirit into your stewardship journey, asking for guidance on how you can share your gifts in love of God and neighbor.
There are many variations of prayers available, but the prayer below is a very popular and powerful prayer.
Together in our journey of stewardship, may God bless us and may we respond as faithful disciples – faithful stewards.
“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and God will establish your plans” Proverbs 16:3
(To subscribe to the monthly Stewardship PATHS newsletter, scan the QR code. Excerpts: bigcatholics.blogspot.com)
By John Mulderig NEW YORK (CNS) – Positive priest characters are certainly a rarity in contemporary films. So Catholics will welcome the uplifting fact-based biography “Father Stu” (Columbia).
While deeply moving, however, this dramatization of the life of Stuart Long (Mark Wahlberg) is also hard-edged, particularly in terms of its dialogue.
Yet that’s part of the point. The movie is fundamentally about God’s ability to use seemingly unpromising people to do his will, in this case a once-boozy ex-boxer.
With the continuance of his somewhat successful career in the ring rendered too dangerous by a medical condition, Stuart moves to Los Angeles and tries to reinvent himself as a Hollywood star. Instead, he winds up as a directionless supermarket clerk.
Mark Wahlberg stars in a scene from the movie “Father Stu.” The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association rating is R – restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. (CNS photo/Sony Pictures)
But things begin to turn around for him when he falls at first sight for Carmen (Teresa Ruiz), a devout CCD teacher. Determined to win her over, he goes through the motions of becoming a Catholic, though an awkward confession and other interactions show that he has yet to be won over in reality. All that changes after a motorcycle accident and a close brush with death during which he experiences the presence of the Virgin Mary. The result is not only a genuine conversion but a prayer-inspired realization that God is calling him to the priesthood.
Predictably, the news of this radical change in direction proves crushing to Carmen. It’s also a source of consternation to his emotionally abusive father, Bill (Mel Gibson), an implacable atheist, and his caring but equally unbelieving mother, Kathleen (Jacki Weaver).
A tribute to a future cleric who showed dogged determination and grit in the face of a series of apparently insurmountable obstacles, writer-director Rosalind Ross’s profile also showcases Stuart’s unconventional but effective approach to preaching the Gospel. And Wahlberg brings his striking, memorable character vividly to life, skillfully portraying Stuart’s odd combination of crudity and idealism.
Grown viewers will easily get past the earthy language with which the script is filled to appreciate the picture’s faith-inspiring core. But the persistent vulgarity, while justified in context, may prove more problematic for younger movie fans who might otherwise benefit from this portrait of a vocation.
Still, at least some parents may feel that the credibility lent to Stuart’s struggles by the saltiness of his starting point outweighs what would normally be objectionable elements of speech and behavior. If the outcome of that calculation were either increased zeal or, in particular, openness to journeying down the path Stuart himself followed, his hard-won spiritual triumph might be replicated in real life.
The film contains some physical violence, a bloody accident, offscreen premarital sexual activity, about a half-dozen uses of profanity, several milder oaths and pervasive rough and crude language. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III – adults. The Motion Picture Association rating is R – restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
(Mulderig is on the staff of Catholic News Service)
