David Marchese

Yes. Yeah. When I watch videos of you giving talks for crowds, you come out and very often it seems a wave of applause, like really an overwhelming response. And the idea that you're getting that sort of attention from combined with the fact that you're getting it for playing Jesus, strikes me as a potentially psychologically and spiritually combustible situation. Does it feel that way to you?

You're saying essentially that you become a human icon for people. The thing that I don't quite understand is how you separate the idea that, as you said, you're nothing here.

But then also feeling like you've been put here for a reason. You're saying there is something special about you. Those seem to me like somewhat contradictory ideas. How do you reconcile them? And then also, there was never some small part of you that's like, oh, I am special. None of that little sort of ego gratification temptation ever creeps into your head?

So, you know, you go to these events and like you described, thousands of people are cheering or coming up to you. And you also are asked to come and speak at things like the National Eucharistic Congress or you gave a commencement address at the Catholic University of America. You spoke at the March for Life in Washington last year. These sort of demands on your life. time and on your being.

Do you feel like you're being asked to give more than you have to give?

Was there a particularly difficult encounter that comes to mind?

There's a way in which experiences like that call to mind for me a kind of, you could almost call it like a category error about the position that you find yourself in where you're an actor. And because you play this role, you are put into positions that probably an actor shouldn't be in. put into. You know, and it seems like increasingly you are becoming a figure of authority.

When you're asked by people to come talk to groups of Catholics, what do you think they want from you in that setting? And is there a part of you that thinks, this is messed up, I'm an actor. Why ask me? Ask a theologian. Ask a priest.

Oh, I 100% agree with everything you just said. No, but it's true.

Well, not quite true. I mean, talking at the March for Life.

Which I should explain is a pro-life, I'll also call it anti-abortion rally that happens every year in Washington.

Tease that out for me.

Why is abortion the issue where you chose to make your voice public and not other things that are central to Jesus' teachings, like in treatment of the poor, for example?

I realize you just made a comment about trying to find relaxation as a peace of mind. But I have another question about the March for Life.

There's one moment in the speech you gave there where you sort of pivot and say, you know, you know about the world of entertainment. I'm paraphrasing all of this. So if I'm misremembering, just correct me. I'll help you.

Yes, and you're sort of diagnosing the cultural landscape, and you say, you know, there's just sort of an increase in, you know, occult imagery, depictions of witchcraft. And you say some of this is even subliminal, and you know it when you see it. And I don't know exactly what you mean. Can you give me examples of the kind of stuff you're talking about?

You know, it's funny because I said, you know, I don't see it. And of course, you know, it's like, I enjoy the music of Black Sabbath and Judas Priest, you know what I mean?

But to me, you know, that kind of imagery, it feels benign to me. Like... it's on the same level as like science fiction movies or horror films. You know, it's like, this is, this is entertainment.

But do you think the kind of iconography you're talking about is the natural outcome of a corroded culture, or do you think it's the intentional result of darker forces?

if you think about the work you're doing in terms of mission, how much of that mission feels to you evangelical in nature? Like, if somebody watches the show and is merely entertained and nothing more, do you feel that something has been left on the table?