Mark Wahlberg, Mel Gibson to Star in New Film About Boxer-Turned-Priest Fr. Stuart Long

So often it seems, they say they will make a movie but it doesn't get done... but anyway, it's still something to think about.

Mark Wahlberg, Mel Gibson to Star in New Film About Boxer-Turned-Priest Fr. Stuart Long | (churchpop.com)

Mark Wahlberg and Mel Gibson will star in a movie about Fr. Stuart Long, a late priest of the Diocese of Helena in Montana. Wahlberg will portray Fr. Stu, while Gibson will portray the priest’s father, Bill Long. Wahlberg will partially finance the film.

Fr. Stuart, or “Fr. Stu” as many called him, was a boxer, actor, teacher, and museum manager before he discovering his call to the priesthood.

Upon facing death after hit by a car, Fr. Stu said he had a “religious experience” in the hospital and later converted to Catholicism. He realized his call to the priesthood during his baptism.​

More at link above.

Father Stuart Long only passed on in 2014, so this is all relatively recent.

Although Father Stu studied at a Catholic college, at the time he wasn’t a believer. His indignant attitude toward faith was often a disruption on campus, antagonizing priests and fellow students. Father Stu described himself as the “quintessential anti-Christian” who carried a “huge grudge” as he wasn’t afraid to take his frustration out on others.

After graduation, Father Stu channeled his aggression to plan a career as a prizefighter, but that was nipped in the bud by reconstructive jaw surgery after a fight, so at his mom’s suggestion he moved to Los Angeles intent on breaking into the movies. As Father Stu once described in retrospect (quoting from St. Augustine’s Confessions), “God was working behind the scenes. He was within me but I was outside”.

Though he made some commercials and had a few bit parts, Father Stu became disillusioned with the seedy industry and eventually took a position with the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, where he rose to become manager.

Riding his motorcycle home from the museum one evening, he was struck by a car at freeway speed, then run over by another. The emergency room doctors left little hope for survival. His father and girlfriend were summoned to pay their last respects.

....

His mentor, Father Benedict Groeschel, fostered his devotion to St. Francis, but Stu was too old at that time in his life to join the Franciscan community. So at his spiritual director’s suggestion (and insistence for an orthodox formation) he enrolled at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio.

Boxer, actor, priest - California Catholic Daily (cal-catholic.com)
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So, the article reads Father Benedict Groeschel mentored him....I saw Father Groeschel once, at indeed, a Corpus Christi event at a church, that feast day coming up June 6th, less than a week away. It seems it was farther into the summer. I vaguely remember a procession but I definitely remember the good Father, many of us in the USA are aware of him via EWTN.

Benedict Groeschel - Wikipedia

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