Actor and producer Mark Wahlberg and “The Chosen” star Jonathan Roumie appeared in a 30-second commercial for the Hallow app during the Super Bowl on Sunday, Feb. 11, where they encouraged viewers to pray during the season of the Lent. Hallow co-founder and CEO Alex Jones says the ad led to the app receiving the highest number of downloads it has ever achieved in one minute. 

“It was the most downloads in a single minute we’d ever seen,” Jones told Catholic News Agency. “We’re already ranking ahead of Netflix on the App Store charts and Lent hasn’t even started yet. Glory to God.” 

Mark Wahlberg, Jonathan Roumie Featured in Hallow Super Bowl Ad

Hallow is a Catholic app that facilitates prayer and meditation. On Sunday, the app launched its first ever ad to appear in the Super Bowl. The commercial promotes Hallow’s yearly “Pray40 prayer challenge” to help “Christians around the world draw closer to God during Lent.”

RELATED: ‘Heretical,’ ‘Beautiful,’ ‘Conversation Starters’—Christians React to He Gets Us Super Bowl Ads

A press release announcing the ad said that Hallow was taking advantage of the fact that the Super Bowl occurs relatively late this year and that Lent falls early in the 2024 calendar. 

Ash Wednesday, which will take place on Feb. 14 (also Valentine’s Day), marks the beginning of Lent, a period in the Christian calendar when believers anticipate Jesus’ death and resurrection, often by abstaining from certain foods or habits. Lent ends during Holy Week, the week leading up to Easter Sunday. 

“When we learned about the timing of the Big Game this year, we couldn’t have been more excited to work with Mark and Jonathan to use it as an opportunity to invite millions into prayer,” Jones said.

Mark Wahlberg has starred in numerous films, including “The Departed,” “Ted,” “The Italian Job,” “Shooter,” and two movies in the “Transformers” franchise. One of his recent films was “Father Stu,” a movie based on the true story of a boxer who became a priest.

Jonathan Roumie stars as Jesus in the TV series, “The Chosen,” which on Feb. 1 released the first three episodes of its newest season in theaters. On Feb. 15, those episodes will end their run, and the next three episodes in Season 4 will come out. 

On Feb. 9, people with special needs were honored at Night to Shine events throughout the world. The event, launched a decade ago by the Tim Tebow Foundation, took place at 725 churches in 56 countries, in all 50 U.S. states, and on six continents. The red-carpet, prom-type experience celebrates people with special needs who are age 14 and older.

RELATED: Tim Tebow’s ‘Night To Shine’ Event Honoring Special Needs Community To Meet in Person for First Time Since 2020

Tebow, a former Heisman Trophy winner and pro football player, is an outspoken Christian and active philanthropist. He and his wife, Demi-Leigh Tebow, attended seven 2024 Night to Shine events last week in Central and South America, as well as three events in Ohio on Feb. 9. The couple’s social media accounts are filled with photos of the guests of honor—called Kings and Queens—dancing, smiling, and donning crowns.

Tim Tebow Reflects on 10 Years of ‘Night To Shine’

In a thread posted to X (formerly Twitter), Tebow, 36, described his mission of following Jesus, “our greatest example.” During his earthly ministry, “not only did Jesus show his love for all of humanity,” Tebow said, “but more than 60% of his publicly recorded miracles were for those that were afflicted. A lot of times, the afflicted meant special needs.”

Some people may ask, why do you do all this for Night to Shine? Why go through all this effort for just one night? It’s so much more than one night a year. Please take a few minutes to read and share if you agree ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/n8njkM5rU2

— Tim Tebow (@TimTebow) February 11, 2024

According to Tebow, 16% of the world’s population lives with a special need. And people with disabilities “are still unseen, neglected, and often worse — thought of as insignificant, less than…There are still families who feel forgotten, who are starving for support, and children who are often viewed in their communities as shameful, or even cursed.”

Through God’s grace, Tebow said, Night to Shine has become “a worldwide movement to share the message that every person with special needs inherently deserves to be celebrated, that they’re loved, and that their true identity is a child of God.” With that biblical mindset, he added, “A person can no longer be viewed as nobody.”

Night to Shine began in 2015 as a way to mark the fifth anniversary of the Tim Tebow Foundation. “And now it’s 10 years later and look at all that God has done through Night to Shine, more than we ever could have thought, dreamed, or imagined,” said Tebow, thanking all the supporters and volunteers who make the events possible.

Night To Shine Has ‘Powerful Ripple Effect’

In an email to his foundation’s supporters, Tebow shared more photos of the 2024 Night to Shine events across the world, plus quotes from family members and volunteers. One family member in Belize described her cousin, who had been abandoned as a child, getting dressed up for the first time to attend Night to Shine. “I thank God for those people,” she said of the event volunteers.

A Connecticut pastor is facing multiple charges after being accused of selling crystal methamphetamine. Rev. Herbert Irving Miller was arrested on Friday (Feb. 9), after police pulled him over for driving a vehicle with a suspended registration.

“Subsequent investigation revealed that Miller was in possession of crystal methamphetamine in both rock form and liquefied into a hypodermic needle prepared for injection,” said Connecticut State Police. 

Miller, 63, was appointed to the United Methodist Church in Woodbury, Connecticut, in July 2023, according to WFSB. The leadership page on the church’s website has since been taken down and all content has been removed from its YouTube page.

Miller is accused of dealing meth out of the parsonage of the church. Police allege that Miller was providing drugs to gay couples in exchange for watching them have sex. 

RELATED: Texas SBC Pastor Aaron Ivey Fired for ‘Clear Pattern of Predatory Manipulation’

ChurchLeaders has reached out to Woodbury United Methodist Church for comment and will update this article in the event of the church’s reply. 

In a statement obtained by Patch, Woodbury United Methodist Church said that “the news of this unfortunate circumstance was met with reflection, shock and deep sadness. The disease of addiction is a problem that affects so many people, families, and communities.”

“To protect the privacy of all concerned and allow a fair and just judicial process to run its course, we cannot out of respect for those who may be harmed and in the interest of doing what’s right, speak to the specifics and circumstances surrounding these allegations,” the statement continued.

“Our prayers are that Herb Miller, those who love and care for him, and all others impacted by substance abuse and addiction receive the care needed to begin recovery and a meaningful healing process,” the church added.

Suspicions of Miller’s alleged illegal activities first arose when neighbors noticed an unusual amount of traffic to the home at odd hours. One neighbor discovered a meth pipe in the street. 

RELATED: Pastor Accused of Defrauding Man With Mental Disabilities of More Than $27,000

According to CT Post, members of the community alerted the Woodbury Resident Troopers office of a “suspicious incident” on Feb. 7. 

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — A recently resurfaced book by the Vatican’s doctrine czar, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, caused a stir in the Catholic world when it described orgasms as a “sublime act of worship of God.” But the book, titled “Mystical Passion: Spirituality and Sensuality” and written in the 1990s, is hardly the first time a Catholic leader — or even a pope — has spoken candidly about sex.

For Pope Pius XII, there was nothing wrong in married couples seeking pleasure during sex, and Pope John Paul II described marital intercourse as the representation of God as love in his 1960 book “Love and Responsibility.” And it was under his pontificate that Fernández, now the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, wrote those now infamous lines elevating the orgasm to a kind of divine adoration.

In his decade as pope, Francis has tried to usher in a more positive, frank approach to the topic of sex in the Catholic Church, urging the institution to reckon with the real-life experiences of faithful today and addressing topics ranging from pornography, abstinence and dating apps to orgasms.

RELATED: Why Porn Kills Sex and Intimacy in Your Marriage

Starting with his 2016 apostolic exhortation “Amoris Laetitia,” or the “Joy of Love,” Francis underlined the importance of sex in marriage. He criticized the church for taking an often abstract and theological approach to sexuality, opting for a more realistic and pastoral acknowledgment of human sexuality. In the document, the pope spoke of sex as not something to be frowned upon or shunned, but as a fundamental aspect of married life, which must be catered to and reflected upon.

With Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday falling on the same day this year — a peculiar collision of passion and penance — it’s worth looking again at the church’s teaching on love and intimacy and the ways Francis has recast those conversations. Here are five of the more emblematic moments when Francis has addressed sex.

1. Sex and food are ‘divine’

In an interview book published in 2020 with the founder of a slow-food movement in Italy, Carlo Petrini, Pope Francis criticized Catholic doctrines that emphasized rigidity and a “bigoted mentality” regarding sex. He said that because food and sex are necessary for human survival, God has made them “beautiful and rich with pleasure.”

“The church has condemned inhuman, crude, vulgar pleasure but it has always accepted a pleasure that is human, sober and moral. Pleasure derives directly from God, it isn’t Catholic or Christian or other, it’s simply divine,” he said.

“The pleasure of eating is necessary so that when we eat we stay healthy, and in the same way sexual pleasure is there to make love more beautiful and to guarantee the continuation of the species,” he added.

2. There are worse sins than having sex outside of marriage

During his return flight from an apostolic visit to Greece in 2021, Pope Francis told journalists that “sins of the flesh are not the most serious” when addressing rumors of indiscretion by French Archbishop Michel Aupetit.

“The gravest sins are those that are more angelic: pride, hatred. These are graver,” he added, stating that everyone is a sinner, including the apostle St. Peter.

3. Porn is a vice that tempts priests and nuns too

Social media and the internet can be powerful tools for lay faithful and clergy to engage with the world and share their faith, but they also hide dangers and perversions, the pope said. During a convention with seminarians in Rome in October 2022, Francis warned specifically about the dangers of pornography.

RELATED: 10 Ways to Increase Intimacy in Marriage

“It is a vice that so many people have. So many laymen, so many laywomen, and also priests and nuns. The devil enters from there. And I’m not just talking about digital pornography like that of child abuse, this is already degeneracy. Dear brothers, pay attention to this,” he said.

(RNS) — When Black Americans leave religion, it’s rarely a clean break.

Take Rogiérs Fibby, a self-described agnostic, atheist and secular humanist who grew up in the Moravian Church. The head of the Washington, D.C., chapter of the Black Secular Collective, Fibby also considers himself “culturally Christian.”

“I know all the lingo, the theologies of different denominations, the theological distinctions, how to move in those different spaces theologically and interpersonally,” he told Religion News Service.

Or take Felicia Murrell, who served in church leadership across a range of denominations for over two decades. Today she thinks of herself as “interspiritual,” but she also told RNS, “Christianity is my mother tongue.”

RELATED: Who Are the ‘Nones’? New Pew Study Debunks Myths About America’s Nonreligious.

Then there’s William Matthews, longtime Bethel Music recording artist who left the church for about six years, starting in 2016. Today he’s the music director at New Abbey, a progressive, LGBTQ-affirming church in Los Angeles where exvangelicals and religious ”nones” regularly attend.

William Matthews. (Courtesy photo)

“We don’t have the privilege to not need God, or some type of God or spirituality,” Matthews, who now identifies as Christian, told RNS about Black Americans. “It’s always been our backs against the world.”

Of the roughly 20% of Black Americans who are religiously unaffiliated — or nones — about one-third believe in the God of the Bible, and over half believe in some other higher power, according to a January Pew study. Eighty-eight percent believe humans have a soul or spirit, 71% think of themselves as spiritual, and by nearly every other religious or spiritual metric — belief in heaven and hell, daily prayer — Black nones come across as more religiously enmeshed than other nonaffiliated groups.

“They are not affiliated with a religion, but that does not mean they don’t have various devotional practices, various spiritual beliefs,” said Kiana Cox, senior researcher on the Race and Ethnicity team at Pew Research Center, who also pointed out that Black Americans generally are more likely to engage in religious practices than other racial groups.

While statistics on unaffiliated Black Americans paint a clear picture of their spiritual nature, the data doesn’t explain why this group seems to retain religious attachments, or what sorts of communities they are embracing beyond the church. As Black nones continue to depart the religious institutions that have historically served as vehicles for social change, the answers to these questions could have broader implications for the future of Black-led activism.

According to some experts, the central role religious groups played in securing civil rights is part of why Black nones retain elements of religiosity.