Rob Schneider on his Catholic conversion, life of faith

Project on the Shroud of Turin in the works as actor and comedian talks faith journey

Published: January 26, 2024

By Katie Yoder
OSV News

OSV News photo/courtesy Rob Schneider

Actor and comedian Rob Schneider, in an undated courtesy photo, spoke with Our Sunday Visitor about his 2023 conversion to Catholicism.

OSV News photo/courtesy Rob Schneider

Actor and comedian Rob Schneider, in an undated courtesy photo, spoke with Our Sunday Visitor about his 2023 conversion to Catholicism.

In 2023, actor and comedian Rob Schneider celebrated his first Christmas as a Catholic.

"I think the reason the Catholic Church works for me is it's closest to the actual words of Jesus Christ," the 60-year-old told the Our Sunday Visitor newspaper from Arizona. (Both the Our Sunday Visitor newspaper and the OSV News wire service are owned by the OSV publishing company.)

Schneider spoke about his newfound faith after revealing that he converted to Catholicism in a social media post Oct. 31. The actor rose to fame as a cast member and writer for NBC's "Saturday Night Live," and is perhaps best known for starring in films including "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo" in 1999, "The Hot Chick" in 2002 and "The Benchwarmers" in 2006.

He chatted with Our Sunday Visitor after also starring in a new children's series called "Chip Chilla" and while working on a project about the Shroud of Turin, believed to be Jesus Christ's burial cloth.

Many things, Schneider said, led to his conversion, in particular, his family priest in Phoenix taking him to see Father Chad Ripperger, whom he called "an amazing priest."

"We got to hear him speak for two hours, and it was really powerful," Schneider said of the theologian and exorcist based in Colorado. He called Father Ripperger's words reassuring.

"At the same time, it was 'prepare yourself and be vigilant, but not fearful,'" he remembered. "His message at the end was, 'Jesus already won. This is just a mop-up mission' — and I love that. I think it's true."

While speaking about his conversion, Schneider revealed that he has been working for several years on a script about the Shroud of Turin, a cloth located in Turin, Italy, believed to have wrapped Christ's crucified body and to bear his photographic-negative image.

"It's real," Schneider said. "People try to dismiss it as a medieval relic, but it's impossible. They can't say how — what was done — and how it was done in a (photo) negative."

"If it was a medieval thing," he added, "someone would've had to think 500 years later there would be this invention of the photograph to get that negative to a positive."

"Everything described in the Bible, including there were blood samples that they found on the cloth, everything in there is from exactly what the sacrifice of Jesus Christ — and what the cloth really is, is a receipt," he said. "The receipt of what Christ paid for all of us, the greatest gift ever to mankind."

"I think I just want to be open to the truth and wherever it can bring you," Schneider added.

He hoped that he could make the movie not only because it is inspiring, but also because it could bring other people to the faith.

"Whatever God's calling is for me, I would be honored, and it would be the only gift that I could possibly give back besides raising my kids in the faith," he said.

He felt the world going to a darker place, Schneider said, pointing to how places like liquor stores and strip clubs remained open during the COVID-19 pandemic while church doors were shuttered.

"I think there's been a real attack on Christianity, a concerted, aggressive attack, especially in the Catholic Church," he said.

In the midst of it all, Schneider spoke about finding and embracing the Catholic faith. "Jesus Christ only lets you wander so far," he said. "I have young children, and I want (them) to have a nice foundation and a beautiful way of seeing the world."