Bill Long said he and his late wife, Kathleen Long, hadn’t raised their children in any religious tradition. Both were later inspired by Long to join the Catholic Church.
He described his son as funny and “the life of the party.” But he also was determined, always focused on what he wanted to be doing.
With a similar sense of humor, Bill Long recalled how his son had had a flash of inspiration when he was baptized that he would become a priest. The monsignor assured him many men who are baptized come away with the same idea and told him, in Bill Long’s words, “Don’t worry. It’ll go away.”
It didn’t.
The movie rang true for Tolleson, too. He recognized a bit of himself and others in the composite characters who are Long’s friends in the movie.
He also recognized the “great storyteller” he had known in the Diocese of Helena.
Long always encouraged and challenged him, Tolleson told Religion News Service. He inspired everyone who heard his story — and still does.
“Stu Long was a guy who had great joy, great sense of humor, determination, energy from places I don’t know where he got it, and he did it all in the midst of suffering without complaining, knowing that God was increasing his ministry through that suffering, and it was a powerful thing,” Tolleson said.
Stuart Long (Mark Wahlberg) in Columbia Pictures’ “Father Stu.” Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures
Long also had an “adventurous” streak that once, on a whim, took the two priests across the Canadian border to grab a beer together — only to learn they were in a dry part of Canada and didn’t have the passports they needed to reenter the United States. Luckily, he said, the border guard recognized Long as “the guy from the church” he had heard speak.
Long sped away from the border, calling over his shoulder, in Tolleson’s words, “See you at Mass on Sunday!”
Wahlberg, who also produced “Father Stu,” said he saw the parallels between Long’s journey to faith and his own — “in his childhood and his upbringing and all those things, all the obstacles that he faced and things that he had to overcome.” The actor recalled the family priest who was there for him when he had his own brushes with the law — when he was “13 years old, standing on a street corner at 2 o’clock in the morning with a beer in my hand.”
“I had lots of troubled times, and once I started focusing on my faith, good things started to happen,” he said.
Bringing Long’s story to the big screen reaffirmed his faith and his commitment to serving God, Wahlberg said, describing the movie — which he financed himself — as his “love letter to God.”