Episodes

Father Sean Loomis

He is three months shy of the ten-year anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood.  He is Parochial Administrator at Annunciation BVM Parish in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.  Back in his days as a student-athlete he attended Kutztown University on an athletic scholarship and, as a pole vaulter, won the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championship.  In high school he had been an All-State pole vaulting champion when he graduated in 2003.

Notable guest quotes:

“I was baptized Episcopalian, but I wasn’t actually raised in any kind of faith tradition.  So, I have no memory of entering into a church or learning about Christianity or really even about God in general.”

“Most importantly, what set me apart from other people, was this talent I had in track and field, but in particular with pole vaulting.”

“If pole vault is not God, if sports are not the end game, and if there is more about our story and our narrative, especially in the mind of God, then naturally we should expect that none of this is going to fill the void.”

“If my entire identity, if my whole life, is wrapped up in this, then that means two things.  Number one, I’m not going to be happy and I’m going to go through a massive identity crisis sometime in the near future.  But number two, I’m putting my own sense of self worth in the minds of other people because all of this is about comparing myself to others and that’s just never going to satisfy.”

“I looked up to God in the sky and I said, ‘If you are there, I really need help.  I need to know if you are real, if you gave me a purpose, and if you gave me a purpose, what that purpose is’.”

“I transferred universities where I could really full-time step into my identity as a disciple of Jesus Christ.  So, I did that at Franciscan University.”

“I am to find my identity only in the person of Jesus Christ and nowhere else.”

“The God of my faith is truly all powerful and He’s the source for me to understand anything in any moment and to return to at all times.”

“I know that God’s plan is not only about me.  He’s got a plan that includes everybody and wraps everybody into it.”

Joe Condit

He is the founder of the largest Catholic-focused talent agency in the world. The clients he works with are men and women across numerous sports, with him having started the company back in 2006.  He is also the founder of the National Catholic Men’s Conference.  Back in his days as a student athlete he played basketball at La Salle High School in the Greater Catholic League South, which ESPN has called the most competitive high school sports league in the country.  Since his playing days he has done both refereeing and coaching in basketball.  Stay to the end to hear about his connection to a game that is a historic moment in Major League Baseball history.

Notable guest quotes:

“I was blessed to be born to a Catholic family… I was given everything growing up from a faith perspective.”

“I went to a school called St. Gertrude… there we were taught our faith and were very blessed to have gone to that.  It was just an incredible experience growing up, the way that the faith was a big part of our life.  My parents made sure that was the case so when we became older it was ingrained in us.”

“I grew up, was taught how to serve Latin Mass from a very young age, probably first grade… It became a big part of me… It changes you.”

“It was a very well-rounded background in Catholicism that my parents afforded me, which I’ll always be grateful for.”

“I played soccer, baseball, and basketball growing up.  I had a very short stint, not even a full season, in football.”

“That’s God’s work and He works through fools, and I was lucky enough to be one of ‘em.”

“(the work he has done through Catholic Speakers) is more rewarding than anything I’ve ever done secularly… Our mission statement is, ‘Promoting the word of God through those that do it best’.”

“The amount of network of pro athletes that we’ve been able to build over the last 16 years has just been phenomenal.  And I could not be more blessed having people like that in my life to help me sharpen my faith.”

Related links:

Joe’s talent agency
National Men’s Conference website

Dr Pat Castle

He has raced in 25 marathons since 1990. Over a twenty-ONE-year span, he was the fastest person on every base he was stationed — nine assignments — based on the Air Force aerobic fitness test (1.5 miles), and in 2010 he was the Scott Air Force Base Athlete of the Year, chosen out of 3,500 airmen.  From 2007-2009 at the U.S. Air Force Academy, he coached the cadet marathon team and competed.  Previously at the Academy, as a cadet athlete, he coached the squadron boxing and cross-country teams to the Academy championship. Back in his high school days he was captain of the track and cross-country team AND top distance runner. He is the President and Founder of LIFE Runners, the world’s largest Pro-Life team.

Notable guest quotes:

“I did have a traditional Catholic upbringing.  I… graduated from O’Gorman Catholic High School.”

“I just kind of found that I had – ya’ know, the parable of the talents – that I had a talent for distance running.”

“It’s redemptive; I found that there was a lot of character building in the suffering of, most athletes, running is a punishment for their sport or something they have to do to get conditioned.  And so there really is a lot of sacrifice, especially with distance running and I found it to be very spiritual.  I have great prayer time… I found it to be very character building and faith enhancing.”

“And I thought, ‘Geez, that’s what Jesus preached: integrity first, service before self, excellence in all we do.’  And so that really threaded nicely into my heart for serving the Lord.”

“I label that redemptive suffering.  It’s not suffering just for suffering’s sake.  It’s not suffering for just, ‘Oh, let me see if I can get one more second off my personal best.’  It’s suffering for redemption, that you are making this holy.  That you are tying prayer intentions to that suffering and just offering it up.”

“We were prayerful… we prayed before our events.”

“What is inspiration?  It’s in spirit, in holy spirit.  It’s powerful when you tap into the real meaning of being INspired in spirit.”

“The values of the LIFE Runners ministry that I lead, our apostolate is God first, life always, teammates forever.”

“I had two audible encounters with (St. Padre Pio).  I finished the race.  And, of course, I’m sure listeners are wondering, ‘Wow, did you see him?’  Did not (see) – heard him!”

“All things holy involve encouragement.  You think about it, any miracles, any holy encounter, it’s encouraging.  People are encouraged when they’re in spirit, when they’re with God.”

Related link:

LIFE Runners website

(The closing prayer at the end of this episode is the LIFE Runners creed that the guest mentions.)

Michael McGlinn

Having received countless scholarship offers, he was an offensive lineman for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the first part of the 1990s and played in all four major bowl games in four consecutive years; the Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Cotton Bowl, and Fiesta Bowl, and he is a part of the Catholic Athletes for Christ speakers bureau.  Today, he gives concerts all over the world and also makes short films that explore much of the thematic content in his music in order to reveal an intimate look at the Merciful Face of Christ and the faithful become confident in God.  He is the founder of Sistine Films, a production company that specializes in emotionally impactful story-based content that reveal the true face and heart behind leaders and their organizations.

Notable guest quotes:

“I went to an all-guys Jesuit high school… The Catholic faith was always part of the culture in our home.  I sang and was an altar server.”

“I had a priest in the family, my uncle… he was a beloved priest of the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas, for 54 years… I have fond memories growing up with family Masses.”

“I had a Division I scholarship to every major university with the exception of Florida State because they recruited all their linemen in state… I was blessed with a lot of honors… I was a USA Today All-American.”

“Our Lord knew what he was doing when He set up the whole context of a Confession.”

“Some other things developed that year that ultimately led me to pick up the holy rosary and I never let go and that’s when the rest of my career at Notre Dame really started to take off.”

“I’m a young man at college and I’m picking up a rosary and I’m praying a decade every night and I’m beginning to pray and this manifests in me starting to return back to the holy Mass on my own volition, not when we would go as a team – which, we always had Mass.”

“I was so starved for God, and our Lady really helped reveal that starvation to me and helped me orient back to Him.”

“I was… going to Daily Mass… I was praying all the (Luminous) Mysteries every single day as well, and I was also doing 30 minutes of Adoration in front of the Blessed Sacrament every day.”

“I really believe that our Lady walked me to her Son.  Her Son walked me to His heart.”

“Adoration itself isn’t just time before the tabernacle or the monstrance, it’s a way of life.”

“Everyday when I film or work I always consecrate that project to our Blessed Mother.  I always ask for her intercession and assistance.”

Related link:

Website Michael mentioned to watch some of his work (“short films, documentaries, talks by priests”)

Darrel Chaney

He was chosen in the second round of the Major League Baseball amateur draft by the Cincinnati Reds and went on to play eleven seasons, appearing in over 900 regular season games with the Reds and the Atlanta Braves combined. He played an additional 19 games in the playoffs, including going to three World Series, winning one. After his playing career in the big leagues, he was part of the broadcast team for Atlanta Braves games on both television and radio. Back in his days as a student-athlete he also starred in football, and even went on to play professional slow pitch softball after his time in MLB. He is a past Chairman of the Board of the Major League Alumni Marketing and his story was told in a book called, “Welcome to the Big Leagues… Every Man’s Journey to Significance.”

Notable guest quotes:

“We were raised Catholic.  They could afford to put me and my brother and my sister through Catholic grade school, so, it was Mass every morning before school started.”

“I’m a cradle Catholic, still going to Mass, every day, every Sunday.”

“We were undefeated state champions my senior year in football, and I was named Parade magazine’s All-American number one quarterback in the country.”

“As I look back on it, I was pretty blessed in that area because there’s millions – millions – of kids all around the world that would’ve traded places with me to be a Major League Baseball player, not alone to play in the major leagues but have the good Lord put me on one of the greatest, if arguably not the greatest team of the ten years there in the ‘70s, the Big Red Machine.”

“He wanted to write this book about me after we had spent a number of years together doing one-on-one discipleships.”

“When I was first up in the big leagues, one of the opportunities that was presented to me… was… baseball chapel leader.”

“We would have a priest sometimes; we’d have a minister come and talk to us for about 20 minutes and then we’d go out and play the game.”

“My life mattered not because of what my manager said, my teammates said, my parents said, my friends in the neighborhood, [but] my life mattered because God says it matters.  He tells us I don’t know how many times in the Bible.”

“I went back to my room and in between these two queen size beds in the Chase Park Plaza Hotel, I broke down onto my knees and just started crying, saying, ‘Lord, help me here’.”

“I had my faith in Jesus Christ to fall back on and when my playing career ended, I had the church to fall back on.  So, as time went by I got heavily involved in the Catholic church.”

“At the end of the day the bottom line is, if you don’t have faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you’ve got a long way to go… I don’t know how people who don’t know Christ get through it.”

“I’m not afraid to tell people my story about my conversion, about my faith in Christ, and my work in the Catholic church.”

Related link:

Darrel’s official website

(This episode contains a prayer by Fort Worth Christian Football League parent Linda Fleshman, as seen in Play Like A Champion Today’s prayerbook for sports, God, Be In My Sport)

Zoltan Mesko

He was selected in the fifth round of the National Football League Draft in 2010 and went on to a pro career with the New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Cincinnati Bengals, including playing in a Super Bowl. He had played his college football at the University of Michigan after having become one of the best high school football kickers in the nation, excelling both as a punter and placekicker. For his first season in the NFL, he set a rookie record for net punting yard average. Off the field, he started a Foundation, which he talks about during this interview.

Notable guest quotes:

“My story starts on the Eastern Bloc behind the Iron Curtain.  I was born… before communism was overthrown in Romania, so we had a dictator, so… life was very hard… There was bullets literally flying through our apartment building… on Christmas Eve.”

“I feel very, very fortunate and blessed to have my dad just on a whim having applied for that green card lottery.”

“But I did find an organization on campus called Athletes In Action that somehow helped me set an anchor to what really started to matter and I think that was sort of a catalyst of a transformation.”

“I used prayer and God as a rabbit’s foot to the means to an end of football.”

“I still remember being at St. Elizabeth’s Church… in Cleveland, praying that my weight would go up.”

“Even into my first, second, third year with the Patriots, lo and behold I was praying for a good average or a good performance.”

“I really, I didn’t like the fact that I was using my faith as a rabbit’s foot.  And I felt a little helpless.”

“(Catholic journalist) Trent Beattie was kind enough to share a book with me about St. Ignatius of Loyola.  And I read his book and I was really surprised by what the definition of a saint was.”

“It’s okay to not be perfect and maybe be made perfect through prayer and God – the forgiveness of that.”

“Now that I look back on this plan that I feel like God has for all of us and for myself as I look back at the timeline, there is not a single piece that I would change about it.”

“I actually did the reading for our (Patriots’ team) Mass on Saturday nights… and then I also partook in the kind of non-denominational version of the Bible study led by teammates and sometimes a chaplain as well.”

(This episode contains a prayer originally from prayers-and-poetry.blogspot.com, as seen in Play Like A Champion Today’s prayerbook for sports, God, Be In My Sport)

Casey Martin

He has had a long and highly decorated career in professional rodeo, including numerous appearances in the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo and multiple top five finishes in the world standings.  A longtime steer wrestler, he first joined the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association in 2002 and over his career he has competed seemingly all across the country.  He attended McNeese State University in Louisiana and back in his days as an amateur had qualified for College National Finals Rodeo in 2002-03 and had qualified for the National High School Finals Rodeo in 1998-99.

Notable guest quotes:

“My mom and dad were true, devout Catholics.  They both had made a Cursillo early in life.”

“We grew up back and forth to the Cursillo center, church every Sunday, every… holy day of obligation, first Fridays, prayed rosaries every day – we had a family rosary just about every day anyway, very seldom did we miss (that) I can remember – they sent us all through Catholic school from kindergarten to eighth grade.”

“I never got real far away from the faith, I guess.”

“I made my Cursillo and that was about the time I met my wife… For a long time there I kinda regretted making it at a young age.”

“Years down the road I go back – they have a Cursillo renewal – so I go back to it and I hadn’t forgotten anything!”

“I always went back to the rosary… I’d always… say a rosary… kinda know when I was missing something and know I needed more.”

“You spend a lot of time driving when you rodeo… my favorite part to drive was the nighttime shift, nobody was on the road and I got time to myself, so I always had time to think and to pray and to be by myself, so that was more of my time with God.”

“That was the A.C.T.S. retreat, which is an acronym for Adoration, Community, Theology, and Service… the biggest thing I got out of the retreat was the brotherhood… It was a really life-changing, really important part of my life.”

“That’s my favorite time of the week.  Now my holy hour every week is Monday morning from 1 to 2… I feel like Mondays are my best days of the week.  Maybe because I get to get up in the middle of the night and go spend an hour with Jesus.”