Tom Darabaris
Episode 234
24 JULY 2023
He is the Director of Development for Catholic Sports (not affiliated with this podcast), a national young adult sports ministry that is building community for young Catholics, while growing the Church through marriage and conversions. A cradle Catholic, he was the final cut from his high school basketball team, and fell into a party lifestyle. After falling away from the faith in college, he experienced a powerful conversion his junior year. The community of faith he encountered through Catholic Sports in Denver played a pivotal role in his spiritual journey. Today from the national office in Colorado he is helping oversee five sports being played in each of four different states, helping unite and provide fellowship for young adults ages 18-39.
Notable guest quotes:
“My experience in the faith kind of started around a difficult time. My parents got divorced when I was seven years old, and I did basically Sunday school at two different parishes. Thankfully they kept practicing the faith and everything… Basically started learning the faith more later in life.”
“I ran track, I played football for one year, lacrosse, basketball, baseball – my dad was my coach.”
“I absolutely understood that in order to really care about somebody you really need to challenge them and push them. I certainly see parallels with that in the faith.”
“One of the big lessons that I learned… was that it’s not as much about sports and more about recognizing just the person and the dignity of that person and helping them grow.”
“I remember just staring at (the Bible) and had all the thoughts going through my head and just felt God was reaching out in that moment.”
“Thankfully my dad had encouraged me that, I read Psalms and Proverbs and I remember getting to the gospels and specifically getting to the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew’s gospel talking about anxiety… So, I’m really thankful to have encountered God there.”
“Even though… my parents weren’t together, they continued practicing the faith and their perseverance at least made me feel like I could go back home.”
“What I really needed to make an actual full conversion is just encountering real Catholic community.”
“I saw the joy that you see in people that are really living the faith and I saw just really good examples. You need to encounter that. And so much evangelization starts with something really simple.”
“We see the leagues as a way to really just build an authentic community for Catholics that’s just really changing people’s lives.”
“We’re trying to… creating a community where they can encounter the relationship in their life that is going to fulfill them the most, which is the relationship with Jesus Christ.”
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