Peter Piscitello
Episode 381
25 MAY 2026
He competed in baseball and swimming in high school. To keep active while attending Benedictine College, he started running, which has turned into a lifelong pursuit, gradually moving from 5Ks to half marathons and having now completed five marathons, with his last being the 2025 Chicago Marathon last fall. Along the way he officiated soccer games for several years. He has worked in development and business operations in college athletics and has also worked within the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas. Present day he is the Director of Operations for Play Like A Champion Today.
Notable guest quotes:
“I was born into the faith really, received the sacraments, and growing up, we were kind of, I guess, your regular Sunday Mass goers… was involved in youth group as I became a teenager and all those kind of good things. It was a part of our life.”
“I was involved in every sport I could possibly get my hands on, whether that was the little YMCA basketball league as a six-year-old, probably, and eventually got into school sports. I always loved being involved in something every season.”
“I think it’s so important about things like Catholic education and just really the formation as a child.”
“Unfortunately, the faith just wasn’t the most important thing, it wasn’t my priority. And so that was kind of where I went astray for a period of time.”
“(Benedictine College is) really a phenomenal place that absolutely had a huge impact in my life.”
“It really just helped me to think, see things more clearly, get my priorities in order, and really understand what was important in life and dive into, really in a full way, the fullness of Catholic living.”
“I think this is something that’s important in sort of the Catholic part of my story. I realized that it’s important to take care of and steward the gift God gave you, the body God gave you.”
“I think there are some really strong spiritual elements in running in particular, and in sort of endurance sports that really tie back in nicely to what the faith journey’s all about.”
“It was amazing. And as someone who had never been to Italy, let alone Rome and the Vatican, to get to go and actually participate in a summit, in an event there, was kind of beyond my wildest dreams and … shake hands with Pope Francis and be a part of all that.”
“(It was) just a beautiful, beautiful opportunity to see what people are doing, not just in the church, but around the world, to help provide opportunities to participate in sports and to really spread love and goodwill and the message of the gospel through sport across the world.”
“Just the act of using a gift or a talent God has given us, whether you’re eight or ten or 20 or 60, is an ability to glorify God.”
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