Proud dad Mark Wahlberg celebrates daughter's first communion

Hollywood action star Mark Wahlberg was a beaming dad last Saturday as he celebrated his daughter's first communion. The "Transformers" star proudly shared a family photo that showed 8-year-old Grace Margaret properly dressed for the Christian ceremony.

Mark Wahlberg is a staunch Roman Catholic and passes on the same beliefs to his kids. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

Wahlberg shared the image on Instagram with the caption, "My baby's communion day." Grace is his youngest child with wife of 14 years, Rhea Durham.

The actor known for his tough persona as an action star is a committed Christian. Wahlberg revealed that he embraced Jesus following a string of bad behavior in his youth, when he found himself in jail.

Today, he makes it a point to have a relationship with God and tries to go to mass at least two times on Sundays. He also keeps in touch with his parish priest regularly and sends his children to Catholic schools.

"I start my day, every day, by getting on my hands and my knees and starting a time of prayer and reading, reading Scripture," Wahlberg revealed. "Then I feel like I can go out there and conquer the world or at least do my job and give back because I've been blessed so much."

In 2013, Walhberg said in an interview with Parade that his faith is the most important element of his life, next to his family, and while he doesn't push his beliefs on anyone, he also doesn't hide the fact that he's religious.

Case in point, Wahlberg shared an amusing anecdote in an interview with Kelly Ripa about wanting his children to embrace Christmas for its religious aspect. He thought that he and his wife should not shower them with gifts and that they should simply celebrate the holiday by going to church. His wife, however, shot down the idea because she loves the holidays, gifts and all, and Walhberg had no choice but to make his wife happy.

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