He was raised with a lot of Christian principles and kind of a ‘Bible faith’ that, I think, had a strong impact upon him.” Fr. “From an early age he had a good sense of what was right and what is wrong. Muñoz also spoke about his grandfather’s regret about not having converted to Catholicism earlier, although the priest points out that Wayne had some degree of spirituality even before making that decision.
It was wonderful to see him come to the faith and to leave that witness for our whole family.”įr. He wanted to become baptized and became Catholic. So there’s no question about whether or not he was baptized. “My mom and uncle were there when he came. He explained to CNS that when Wayne was ready to be baptized, Archbishop Marcos Gregorio McGrath (archbishop of Panama, the friend of a friend of Wayne’s) went to see him. Muñoz was 14 years old when Wayne died of cancer. Matthew Muñoz, a Catholic priest of the diocese of Orange, California, one of Wayne’s grandchildren, reveals some details of his grandfather’s spiritual life. His son Patrick has stated that his father wasn’t particularly religious: “Dad wasn’t religious, and not Catholic (we were raised in the Catholic Faith by my mother, Josie).”įr. He was the image of strength and manliness for generations of movie-goers, but he also had moments when his human frailty and mortality was made manifest, such as his heart surgery in 1978, and his prolonged battle with cancer, which began in 1965 and ended with his death in 1979. His friendship with John Ford, who made no mystery of his own profound Catholicism, influenced his life.
His first significant contact with Catholicism was due to his first wife, Josephine Alicia Saenz, who got John Wayne involved in various parish events and who prayed incessantly for his conversion, even after their marriage failed.Īll his wives were Catholic, his seven children went to Catholic schools, and his 21 grandchildren grew up in the faith. Nonetheless, faith always came back to knock on the door of his heart. However, John Wayne soon left religion behind and led a life far from the teachings he’d received: he got married three times, tended to drink too much, and had several lovers (including celebrities Marlene Dietrich and Maureen O’Hara).