Listen to this article now
QUINCY -- Jim Wahlberg, filmmaker and brother of Mark and Donnie, once considered robbing Mother Teresa.
Wahlberg was incarcerated at MCI Concord in 1988 after robbing the home of a Boston police officer, his second prison sentence. He said he didn't want to leave after his first sentence because he had no plan for life as a free man.
During his second sentence, Wahlberg befriended prison chaplain Father Jim Freitas. He said he couldn't believe Father Freitas saw good in him, since Wahlberg could not see the good in himself or anyone else.
At one point, he asked Father Freitas to bring a New Kids on the Block cassette tape into the prison. When Father Freitas did so, the first thing Wahlberg said his first thought was what else he could manipulate the priest into doing for him.
"My constant thought when I interacted with people was, 'What can I get from them?'" Wahlberg recalled.
He said he didn't know who Mother Teresa was before she came to MCI Concord. A "teeny little thing" wearing a worn, moth-eaten sweater and "sandals that look like they're 200 years old," he said he thought when he saw her.
He said her pockets were filled with donations for the Missionaries of Charity, and he considered stealing the money.
"I want to admit to you right now, today, that I spent a little more time than I should have staring at that money," he said. "I was criminally minded for sure."
Mother Teresa's appearance at the prison included a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Bernard Law. Cardinal Law invited Mother Teresa to sit beside him on the altar, but she declined, Wahlberg said. Instead, she knelt and prayed alongside the inmates.
"I looked over, and as I was looking at her face, I kind of felt like I was looking at the face of God, because I had no understanding of God or faith or of Jesus," Wahlberg said. "I didn't know anything, but I knew that this woman was special."
He said that while people might think of the Wahlbergs as "this great Catholic family," they were "culturally Catholic at best." Jim's parents sent him to Mass at St. Gregory the Great Parish in Dorchester. But, instead of going, he said he would hang out in the park or steal from the man selling newspapers outside the church and would bring home a parish bulletin to "prove" he was there. He said Mother Teresa's words changed all of that.
"She told me that Jesus loved me and that he died for me," he said. "Memory is a funny thing, man, but it was like the other 800 people weren't there anymore, and she was talking to me, specifically telling me, 'Jim, Jesus loves you and he died for you, and that you're more than the crimes that you committed. You are a child of God.'"
The morning after Mass, Wahlberg approached Father Freitas.
"I need to know more about this Jesus that she's talking about," he said.
Wahlberg now makes Catholic documentaries through his company Wahl St. Productions. His latest, "Carlo Acutis: Roadmap to Reality," premieres April 27, the day of Blessed Carlo's canonization.
Wahlberg shared his story March 22 at the Boston Marriott Quincy, where almost 600 people attended the first Catholic Men's Conference held in the Archdiocese of Boston in 15 years.
"For the first time back after 15 years, we are thrilled," conference organizer Mark Carey told The Pilot on March 24. "There were times that I was looking amongst the crowd and felt emotional that this many men came back together to experience what God has for them."
The purpose of the conference was to get men more involved in their faith and their families' faith.
Wahlberg said that even after his conversion in prison, he would drop his wife and children off at Mass without going himself. He said it took a men's retreat for him to rediscover his faith. Now living in Florida, he said he sees women and children in the pews at his local parishes, but not many men.
"It's our responsibility to get our families to Heaven," he said. "It's our responsibility as the heads of our households, the spiritual leaders of our family."
The all-day event featured confession, vendors, music and talks by Deacon Larry Oney, a deacon in the Archdiocese of New Orleans and president of Hope and Purpose Ministries; Dan Donaldson, vice president of the Catholic Men's Leadership Alliance; Chris Stefanick, founder and president of Real Life Catholic; Father Larry Richards, founder of the Reason for Our Hope Foundation; and Mother Olga of the Sacred Heart.
The conference concluded with a Vigil Mass celebrated by Archbishop Richard G. Henning.
"Your presence here today is an expression of friendship, even for men that you may have only met today," Archbishop Henning said in his homily. "You made a choice to come here today, and your choice, hopefully, has brought fruit to you, maybe new insight, maybe a deepening of your relationship with God, but your very presence here becomes a gift of support and encouragement to everyone around you."
He said that all the men at the conference likely feel the "agony" of loved ones drifting away from the faith, but that in recent years, Mass attendance and Catholic school enrollment are rising. He said he suspects the COVID-19 pandemic, which "unveiled the emptiness of the culture around" young people, is partly to blame.
"It's a wonder to behold, but it makes what I'm saying to you, again, all the more important," he said, "because if we're going to have these young people now with those profound questions, with that true longing, who know now the culture is not speaking to my heart, there's something I want to know, that we need to be living that truth ourselves."
The conference's theme was "A Man After God's Own Heart," referencing the description of King David in 1 Samuel 13:14.
"To be a man after God's own heart, that doesn't mean you have to be perfect," Mother Olga of the Sacred Heart said in her remarks. "None of us is perfect on this side of heaven."
She said she was proud of all of the men who came to the conference.
"You came here not because you desire fellowship of your brothers who are in faith, not because speaker so-and-so," she said. "You came here because you are seeking to become a man after God's own heart. You are seeking to change more of your life. You are seeking to be a better man, a better husband, a better father."
She said that the men at the conference each have a "spiritual GPS," and attending the conference was a way to remind that GPS of the right direction.
"Take to heart everything that you have received today," she said, "even if your life is not perfect, even if you have a lot of challenges, let us begin with baby steps, just like that toddler who never stops trying to walk. Let's not give up on ourselves or with each other. Let us together do something beautiful for God that we all will make it to be saints."
Carey said that after the conference, he received emails from men saying it was one of the best days of their lives. He said he is "still flying a bit high" from the experience and seeing all the young men in attendance gives him hope for the future of the archdiocese.
"I think men are looking for a relationship with other men and don't know how to reach out and ask for it," he said. "So, the conference was a way to bring men together, to give them the tools that they need to live a good Catholic life."
Planning has already begun for next year's conference, which will be held in a larger venue, Carey said.
"I feel extremely blessed and grateful that it was such a success," Carey said.