Mark Wahlberg has praised the priests he has known, and said he is praying for new vocations to the priesthood in America.

In a Facebook video message to the National Conference of Diocesan Vocation Directors, which is meeting this week, the twice-Oscar-nominated actor said: “I want you to know my support for your work to foster vocations to the priesthood, because I want my children and future generations to have good priests in their lives, just like I had.”

Wahlberg said the Catholic faith was “the anchor that supports everything I do in life”, in his “vocation” as an actor, and as a husband and a father. (He is married to the model Rhea Durham, with whom he has four children.)