By Way of Shia LeBeouf
Celebrity Conversations and the Life Monastic
A Guest Column by Noah David Elkins
I was wondering how Shia LaBeouf was doing when the news dropped that he had been confirmed in the Catholic Church.
In terms of a timeline, this all began in 2014 when he was filming the WWII film Fury. In Fury, LaBeouf played a devout Christian tank gunner who was always quoting scripture. I recall hearing that the role had an immense impact on him; rumors circulated that he had even become a Christian. But like so many other celebrity conversions, that was the last we heard of it… until around a year ago.
While working on Abel Ferrara’s biopic Padre Pio—and apparently, while becoming totally overwhelmed with the 20th century Italian Saint—LaBeouf plunged into the Scriptures. He even immersed himself in the kind of monastic community (by way of Franciscan Mission Santa Inés in California) Padre Pio had been part of.
Suspecting that his conversion story would go out with a whimper, just as so many other celebrity conversion stories tend to, I found myself hoping that this might be different—not only because of LaBeouf’s interview with Bishop Robert Barron, but also because of the type of Christianity he converted into.
Low Bars Make Poor Guardrails
There’s a common, unspoken belief among evangelical Christians in the West—lowering standards and expectations makes outsiders more likely to come in. While that may be true, it’s also true that low bars make for poor guardrails.
The undefined boundaries of much of evangelical Christianity often create the environment for a kind of flashbang conversion, in which people have a very real sense of God’s grace. But the danger with that is straightforward enough. After entering the Christian fold, many converts are left with no structure to guide them and no one to tell them what to do.
This can work for people who were brought up in a Christian home or in a predominantly Christian culture, but we’re now entering a world in which people have no idea what Christians ought to be doing after their conversions. They have few examples, and because leaders are often so focused on making converts, newcomers run the risk of getting stranded in a state of perpetual spiritual infancy.
I believe this is part of why we’ve seen so many celebrities convert to evangelical Christianity just to fizzle out months or years later. The lower the bar for entry, the easier it is to fall over the guardrails once you’re inside.
With this in mind, Shia LaBeouf’s choice of catholic confirmation—at a mass presided over by Capuchin Franciscan friars nonetheless—is a telling one.
Prayer, Work… and Special Forces
If life is a roller coaster, many of us need something to tell us to keep our arms and legs inside at all times. Depending on the ride, we might need one of those support bars that flip down over our heads. With that in mind, consider monasticism—and think of monks and nuns as elite guardians, committed to protecting the Christian life.
Or even Special Forces.
Whether in community or in isolation, they give up worldly possessions and dedicate themselves to prayer and work—with specific times for sleep, prayer, and work throughout each day. This work and prayer core of the monastic life dates back to St. Benedict, who established twelve monasteries in the 6th century. Following that tradition, Monasteries are self-sufficient, which means there is plenty of work to do. Throughout the workday, ringing church bells literally redeem the time by gathering everyone for prayer. Typically using some iteration of a cycle called the daily office, monastics gather anywhere from two to seven times a day to pray.
Today, and with monasticism being something of a hot topic since the publication of Rod Dreher’s The Benedict Option back in 2017, this practice isn’t exclusive to monks.
Many lay Christians practice the daily office as well, such as Christians within Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Anglicanism and Lutheranism. They practice it in their churches or even in their own homes. But monasteries are special in that they build an entire community around this practice.
To that end, Monastic life has a high bar.
For some, this may seem like a cage, and for many it would be. But monasticism also tends to draw in those who have lived messy and even immoral lives. Buttressed by vows and the accountability of communal living, the structure gives them a way to reset their minds and habits toward Christ. And many, though they don’t become monks themselves, many learn the habits of the monastery and bring those habits into their own lives.
It looks like Shia LaBeouf is one such person.
To those who don’t like structure, order, or being told what to do, this kind of structure can feel like a straight-jacket. But to someone like LaBeouf, and like so many men who have become seasick from the culture’s chaotic ebbs and flows, there’s a clear, even liberating comfort in being told exactly what one needs to do. This could be why Shia LaBeouf fell in love with monasticism through his work for the film Padre Pio. In a subsequent interview, he went so far as to say that he prefers the Latin Mass, because the English services make him feel like “someone is trying to sell me a car.”
How’s that for a high bar?
Sailing Through a Storm
If anything, LaBeouf’s conversion is a sign of the times we’re living through. This rediscovery of monastic practice has come not a moment too soon. With young men yearning for structure and purpose, an ordered life of prayer is one bulwark against Western Christianity’s cultural decline.
More pointedly, I don’t blame some people for asking if LaBeouf’s conversation has merit. But in this case, the proof is in the pudding. Listen to his interview with Bishop Robert Barron, or any of the other videos where he talks about his conversion. Then ask yourself if he sounds like other, flashier celebrity converts—like Justin Bieber, or Kanye West, or Chris Pratt—when they talk about their faith. I don’t say that to judge them or to put them down, but simply to make an observation.
Sure, perhaps, if the church is more culturally relevant we will see more converts, but what exactly will they be converting to?
Perhaps lowering the bar can work when everything is smooth-sailing. But when the culture becomes a hurricane, higher guardrails like work, prayer, and church tradition can keep us from going overboard.