Father Stuart Long — the late Catholic priest recently portrayed in a film starring actor Mark Wahlberg — is one of seven contenders for a prominent Catholic prize called the Lumen Christi Award.
The Montana boxer-turned-priest noted for his dramatic conversion is the only finalist not living today. Father Stu’s influence was described in a news release revealing the finalists as “legendary.”
The press statement said that even though Father Stu was given a terminal disease diagnosis around the time of his ordination in 2007, he continued to serve as a priest despite being confined to a wheelchair.
People who “radiate and show the light of Christ present in the communities they serve” are recognised with the Lumen Christi Award, given by the papal organisation Catholic Extension.
The charitable organisation, which has its headquarters in Chicago, was founded in 1905 and describes its mission as “working in solidarity with people in America’s poorest areas to build up dynamic and transforming Catholic religious communities.”
The press statement highlighted the priest’s influence even after his passing.
According to the statement, “many instances of his effect have emerged since his departure, including marriages repaired, wayward lives changed, and young people choosing vocations.” The biographical movie “Father Stu” is now being shown around the country to convey his incredible tale.
The Wahlberg-starring film, which hit cinemas earlier this year, tells the tale of a priest who passed away in 2014 at the age of 50 due to a rare degenerative muscular illness.
Father Stu was called to the priesthood at a later age. He explored jobs in boxing, acting, teaching, and even museum administration before to his ordination. He was also renowned for his frank and even gruff personality.
His Catholic lover and an almost deadly motorbike accident led him to convert to Catholicism despite the fact that he was raised in an atheist household. At the time of his baptism, he made the decision to enrol in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults and felt called to become a priest.
According to Catholic Extension, Father Stu declared after his ordination that he accepted his cross after learning about his illness towards the conclusion of his seminary training.
He continued, “I come before you as a shattered man. “I’m going to die from this sickness, barring a miracle, but I bear it for the cross of Christ, and we may all carry our crosses,” the speaker said.
Even after his passing, tales of his testimony continue. Catholic Extension said that at his last Mass at Carroll College in the Diocese of Helena, altar servers raised Father Stu’s arms to deliver the host since he was no longer able to do it on his own. One of those servers just lately enlisted in the clergy.
Father Stu continued to offer Mass, hear confessions, and help those in need even after he moved into a nursing facility in 2010. According to Catholic Extension, three of the staff members there underwent conversion.
Another tale from Catholic Extension tells of the day Father Stu prayed for a mother whose unborn child had been informed it would perish. Everyone was shocked when she gave birth to a healthy kid, with the exception of Father Stu, who was chosen to be the child’s godfather.
Father Stu was given a “rare posthumous nomination,” according to Catholic Extension’s vice president of missions Joe Boland.
According to Boland, “Any current and future award money would aid Catholic ministries and initiatives in Montana that Fr. Stu was involved with and continue to run today,” such as funding for the education of seminarians or assistance for the underprivileged and families.
Gregory Crapo of the de l’Epee Deaf Center in Biloxi, Mississippi, Father Simon Peter Engurait and Karen David of Louisiana, who oversaw relief efforts after Hurricane Ida in 2021, Sister Mary Lisa Renfer of Tennessee, whose mobile clinic serves low-income patients, Francis Leblanc of Louisiana, who encourages young Black Catholics to embrace their faith and ministers through music, and Deacon Casey Walker of California round out the other six finalists for the award.
“Extension dioceses,” or U.S. Catholic dioceses that are remote or underfunded and receive financing from Catholic Extension, submitted 40 nominees for the 45th annual Lumen Christi Award.
Father Stu, who was nominated by the diocese of Helena, Montana, is one of the prize contenders who has a personal connection to Catholic Extension. The Catholic non-profit funded his seminary study, and Catholic Extension helped him serve at two parishes.
According to Catholic Extension, the seven prize finalists will each receive $10,000 to assist and advance their activities.
One of them will be chosen as the Lumen Christi Award winner and earn a grant of $25,000 in addition to a separate payment of $25,000 for the diocese that nominated them.
The winner of the 2022–2023 prize will be revealed in the September issue of Extension magazine.
Each contender will get $10,000 to help their ministry since they are all deserving beneficiaries, Boland told CNA.
He added that recipients “bear the light of Christ in their communities, as well as ignite the light of Christ in the hearts of others around them, and finally they help show others where the light of Christ has always been present in their midst, even in the most difficult places and circumstances of life.”