The Catholic Leader - 12 November - Issue 5477

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The Catholic Leader, November 12, 2017
Week 11
CAN you make a difference in
the life of one Catholic who is
no longer involved in the life
of the Church?
All it will take is for you to
ask one question.
The Catholic Leader
AskOne campaign encourages
Catholics who attend Mass to
ask one Catholic they know,
who doesn’t attend Mass, to
start going with them, to pray
with them or to learn more
about the Church.
There are more than five
million Catholics in Australia,
but less than 10 per cent of
people who say they are
Catholic actually attend Mass
regularly. The number of peo-
ple in our churches for Mass
every week is dropping.
Data from the 2016 Census
in Australia shows that while
Catholicism is still the coun-
try’s dominant religion, the
numbers aren’t growing.
More young people are
leaving the Church, while older
Catholics are steadfast.
So what does that mean for
the Church?
Should we sit back and ac-
cept that the Church is getting
smaller?
If we can’t, how can we
bring Catholics back to Mass
on Sundays?
We have to ask them to
come.
All it takes is for you to
AskOne person to come back
to Mass regularly.
AskOne person to pray.
AskOne person to learn
more about the Church.
This is what we’re called to
do as Catholics – to grow the
Kingdom of God. So what can
you do to AskOne?
Pick up The Catholic Leader
newspaper until next weekend
and turn to the AskOne section.
You’ll find inspiring stories
about Catholics who came
back to the Church, reasons
why the Church needs you to
evangelise, and information on
how to gently talk about the
faith with people you meet in
your daily life.
And when you’re ready, take
up the challenge and AskOne.
Can you
change
a life?
HEARING the faith journey of actor
and businessman Mark Wahlberg left an
impression on the hearts of many young
adults at Chicago archdiocese’s first (re)
Encounter event.
“It’s powerful for a celebrity to feel that way about
religion,” Omar Lopez, 21, said.
“For me, when I think about a celebrity, I think
cockiness, selfishness, but to hear an artist say that he
takes time to just pray, that’s an incredible feeling.”
Mr Lopez rushed to the stage at the end of Wahl-
berg’s segment and got to shake the actor’s hand.
“I came to hear him because personally I feel lost
myself,” Mr Lopez said.
“At first I was really sceptical about it. I came here
just to hear different stories and to hear different
aspects of life.”
About 2000 young adults attended (re)Encounter – a
night of music, speakers, faith-sharing and Eucharistic
adoration aimed at energising the faith of young adult
Catholics.
The highlight was a question-and-answer ses-
sion with Mr Wahlberg and Chicago Cardinal Blase
Cupich.
Star of movies such as Transformers: Age of Extinc-
tion and Deepwater Horizon, and producer of the
popular HBO series Entourage, Mr Wahlberg takes his
faith seriously, often attending daily Mass and making
time for quiet prayer each morning.
He emceed the Festival of Families with Pope Francis
during the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia in
2015. His faith wasn’t always important to him.
Youngest in a family of nine children, he dropped
out of school at 13, and served prison time.
At 16, he was charged with attempted murder but he
pleaded guilty to assault.
Today, he said, he was committed to being a good
father and husband and giving his children the Catho-
lic education he didn’t have.
“I’m a street kid from Dorchester, Massachusetts.
Grew up in St Greg’s and St William’s parishes,” he
said.
Because his parents worked a lot, he was often
unsupervised and took to running the streets.
“(I) ended up getting into a lot of trouble, incarcerat-
ed, tried as an adult at 16, 17. That was a big wake-up
call for me,” he said.
“A lot of people go to God, especially when they get
in trouble. When I heard the jail doors close behind
me, I started praying right away.”
It was then that he turned his life around.
“Still, every day it’s a process,” Wahlberg said.
“That’s why I start my day, every day, by getting on
my hands and my knees and starting a time of prayer
and reading, reading Scripture.
“Then I feel like I can go out there and conquer the
world or at least do my job and give back because I’ve
been blessed so much.”
Mr Wahlberg keeps in daily touch with his parish
priest from when he was growing up, Fr Ed Flavin,
who married him and his wife and all of his siblings
and baptised his four children.
When Mr Wahlberg decided to turn his life around,
the priest was one of the people he looked up to.
The 46-year-old said his biggest mistake was quit-
ting school.
Despite having a successful career as an entertainer
and businessman, that haunted him, so he got his GED
(General Educational Development, diploma) at age 42.
Responding to a young adult’s question about mak-
ing time for prayer and Mass in a busy life, the actor
said it was a “must”.
He goes to bed early every night and wakes up before
his family to pray in the chapel he built in his home.
Addressing another audience question about know-
ing when one has made the right decision in life
according to God’s will, Wahlberg shared how he felt
God was calling him to more involvement with his
faith leading up to the World Meeting of Families and
his role as MC at an event featuring the Pope.
“Somebody came to speak at the church ... they
were saying, ‘Are you a participant in the Church and
the community or are you a spectator?’ And I was like,
‘Whoa.’ I felt like, yeah, I’m a bit of a spectator right
now,” Wahlberg said.
“I’m coming and getting what I need, but I’m not
really giving back, you know, reciprocating the kind of
love and support I’m getting.”
That encounter resulted in him saying “yes” to ush-
ering when asked a few days later, and subsequently
saying “yes” to the event with Pope Francis when
asked a few days after that. CNS
Actor’s faith touches youth
THE COMMUNITY LEADER AWARDS 2017
Book tickets today by calling (07) 3324 3555 or head to
Join us on November 15
Life of faith:
Actor Mark Wahl-
berg and Cardi-
nal Blase Cupich
of Chicago
discuss faith and
the life of young
adults during a
re(ENCOUNTER)
event.
Photo: CNS