Dr Kelly Morrow
Episode 33
16 SEP 2019
Fans taking sports too seriously. Parents being WAY too involved in their son or daughter’s sports. Superstitions that fans carry out. Sports betting. Hear about these and other issues from a professional and spiritual perspective via the Clinical Psychologist at Saint Paul VI Institute in Omaha, Nebraska, where part of her work includes meeting with priests, religious, and lay men & women who are seeking faith-based counseling. With a sports background herself, she also works with seminarians attending the Institute for Priestly Formation and conducts psychological evaluations for individuals interested in entering seminary, the deaconate, or religious communities. She is a member of both the Catholic Psychotherapy Association and the Catholic Medical Association.
Notable guest quotes:
“I come from a mind, body, spirit perspective, and, we know that the evil one loves to take advantage of our weaknesses, but also the situations we find ourselves in. And, when he sees faithful Catholics becoming overly obsessed with what’s happening in a game that’s supposed to be for fun and enrichment and community building, and instead it’s causing division, he’s thrilled. He loves to take advantage of opportunities for pride to rise up to the surface.”
“If we’re aware of our vulnerability for (Satan’s) influence… we can engage the community – here on earth as well as in heaven – the saints and the angels and our fellow Christians to help us to combat that and to reject those temptations to let our emotions go wild whenever we’re watching sports or even playing sports.”
“It’s hard as a parent, or as a fan, to sit on the sidelines because we identify with our loved one who’s playing or the team… We often talk about ‘We’re winning,’ ‘We lost,’ and that identification helps us to feel as though we’re playing in that game. The problem with that from a psychological perspective is that I have no control as a fan over what’s happening on the court or on the field.”
“There actually can be real life consequences to games, and in that, you need to check and say, ‘Okay, is this game becoming the most important thing in my life right now? Is it more important than my loved ones that are here? Is it more important than the reputation I have with these other people that are here? Is it more important than my faith in God’?”
“I think as a Catholic it’s good to just remind our fellow Catholics, ‘Hey, the church does not agree with superstition. And I know you think it’s just for fun, but I want to challenge you to not wear that shirt today’.”
“(my husband) is the calm parent. I’m the one who often times will leave the game and go pray a rosary. And actually, that’s a good stress management technique too, because it puts things back into perspective.”
“I find that if I need to get away to put things back in order and to make sure that God is first and center in my life, a silent retreat is the best way that I’ve found to do that.”
