Mark Wahlberg teams up with ‘The Chosen’ actor Jonathan Roumie for Super Bowl ad
Actor, producer and entrepreneur Mark Wahlberg teamed up with actor Jonathan Roumie from "The Chosen" in an effort to influence others to pray more during a Super Bowl LVIII commercial for the Catholic app Hallow.
Fifty-two-year-old Wahlberg and 49-year-old Roumie, who stars as Jesus in "The Chosen," could be seen on millions of television screens across the nation during a 30-second advertisement during the game Sunday.
"God, we take this moment just to give You thanks," Wahlberg said in the ad, which urges viewers to take part in prayer during the Lenten season (Feb. 14-March 28).
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The Hallow app is a platform made to offer prayer on the go and allows users to customize their prayer experiences with a custom-tailored daily prayer routine.
The app allows users to connect with friends and family and design family groups.
"The goal at Hallow has always been to reach out to as many folks as possible, both those who take their faith seriously and especially those who might have fallen away, and invite them deeper into a relationship with God," Alex Jones, Hallow co-founder and CEO, said in a statement about the Super Bowl LVIII ad.
"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."
The app, which was launched in December of 2018, has garnered over 10,000 sessions, including a "Daily Rosary," "Daily Gospel," "Daily Saint," "Novenas," "Examens," "Father Mike Schmitz's Bible in a Year," "The Chosen's Jonathan Roumie's audio Bible" and "Bishop Barron's Sunday Sermons."
The app has also been downloaded roughly 10 million times.
This is not the first time Wahlberg has promoted the app. He detailed on the "Today" show in February 2023 for Ash Wednesday he has found time to "balance" his Catholic faith with his acting career.
On the show, the actor could be seen sporting ashes on his forehead in the shape of a cross to promote his involvement with Hallow.
At the time, Wahlberg shared that he was leading Hallow users through a series of lessons on fasting in the app during the Lenten season.
"There are many different elements to fasting. I think the important thing to understand is first of all, if you have issues with food, there are other things. God knows the things that He wants you to detach from," said Wahlberg.
"We all know those things that make us feel guilty and don't make us feel as good as we should. [The goal is] being able to detach from those things and focus on good habits as opposed to bad habits. … I'm just challenging people to be better versions of themselves."
Nicole Alcindor is a reporter for The Christian Post.
