By Michaela Gordoni
Actors Kevin James and Siobhan Fallon Hogan recently recalled the faithfulness of their fellow actor and comedian, the late Chris Farley.
“We used to live in the same neighborhood, so we’d go to Mass together,” Hogan recalled. “You know, SNL is so nocturnal. You’d go to the party and didn’t get home till, like, five in the morning and then we’d go to mass at night, Sunday night.”
She mimicked how Farley would cross himself and pray, looking up at heaven.
He’d say, “So sorry! I’m so sorry!’” and tell her, ‘No Siobahn, it’s bad.’”
“But he was so faithful,” Hogan said.
She recalled Farley sharing “The Clown Prayer” with her that he read before all of his auditions.
It reads:
As I stumble through this life,
help me to create more laughter than tears,
dispense more happiness than gloom,
Related: What Chris Farley’s Brother Misses Most About the Late Comedian
spread more cheer than despair.
Never let me become so indifferent,
that I will fail to see the wonders in the eyes of a child,
or the twinkle in the eyes of the aged.
Never let me forget that my total effort is to cheer people,
make them happy, and forget momentarily,
all the unpleasantness in their lives.
And in my final moment,
may I hear You whisper:
‘When you made My people smile,
you made Me smile.’
After Hogan told James that she’d give him a copy of the prayer, she recalled Farley’s memorial service.
Rather than one of his famous friends speaking, there was a “shut-in” — a parishioner who is unable to attend regular Mass or other church services due to illness, injury, old age, or physical disability, who Farley would go see.
James never got to meet Farley, but he always wanted to know what he was like and how he managed his difficulties.
“He was such an example or me,” James said, “and I would talk to [Adam] Sandler…because you could see the struggle, and I’m struggling with all the stuff, and then he was going through it and the fact that he was still going to Mass…”
“Oh, he was so faithful,” Hogan interjected.
Hogan said of her own Catholic convictions, “It’s cost me a fortune. But, that being said, I wouldn’t be able to sit with myself.”
Farley, an SNL regular, was addicted to alcohol, drugs and food and had been in and out of rehab over a dozen times throughout his life. He died at the age of 33 from an overdose of cocaine and morphine.
“Chris played Russian roulette with drugs and alcohol, and it caught up with him,” Jillian Seely, a close friend of Farley’s, told PEOPLE. “He wanted more than anything to be sober, but his addictions overtook him.”
It’s clear that even though Farley had deep struggles, he never wanted to be far from God.
Read Next: Siobhan Fallon Hogan Credits God for New Movie
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