Episodes

Mark Wegner

SPECIAL EPISODE – An exclusive interview upon his decision to publicly share his story, this conversation contains tears as well as (caution) mention of suicide.
He just finished season number 27 as a Major League Baseball umpire, including having been the crew chief for the Dodgers-Blue Jays World Series, for which he was the home plate umpire for Game 3. As a youth he had played baseball and was on his high school’s team, including winning back-to-back state championships. He umpired in the minor leagues for seven years before being hired full-time in MLB. He has umpired three World Series, five Wild Card series, ten Division Series, five League Championship Series, three World Baseball Classics, and two All-Star Games, including having been the home plate umpire and crew chief of the 2018 All-Star Game. Listen for his amazing testimony about a trip to Lourdes!

Notable guest quotes:

“Cradle Catholic, Mass every Sunday, and we actually, as far back as I can remember, would say a rosary every night as a family.”

“I played baseball my entire life, played in high school. In eighth and ninth grade I hurt my elbow really bad, it was probably the beginning of eighth grade, and I wasn’t able to play baseball, and it was actually … the Tommy John situation… I just threw way too much.”

“I went to Cretin-Derham (Catholic) High School, which has a pretty prolific baseball program. Paul Molitor went there. Joe Mauer went there after me.”

“I get asked a lot, like at umpire clinics or things like that … do you love your job? And I think about that. And I like my job. I’ve always liked it. I’m very blessed in a lot of ways, especially at making a career out of it. But I always wanted to be a dad. (But) I save that word, love, for those kind of things, not my job.”

“I just told God I said, I think this is the right thing to do… And if that wasn’t the right thing to do, to please let me know.”

“I’m not a spotlight guy. So, I might have chosen the wrong profession in that regard. Although we’re best when we stay out of the spotlight. So, I go do the best I can. I feel very blessed to have the job that I have… But you know, when I walk into the stadium, I really don’t feel like I’m any more important than… people that are going to sell food that day, concessions and janitors and things like that. And I just, I certainly try to be very respectful to them.”

“That year, if I thought somebody would pray, I asked them to pray for (my son). And I’m certainly always willing to pray for other people, but man, I just, I asked everybody and anybody that would pray… And ironically, when I would step on the field, I really think it was an answer to prayers, but it was the only time that my mind had to focus on something else because the other 22 or 21 hours of the day was spent trying to figure out how to help him.”

“They used to have a Friday prayer call… And we got on the phone and said a prayer together, which was awesome. And I made it through the game.”

“I remember feeling like this is an invitation. I just had just no doubt in my heart when we were done talking that … this is where God wanted us to go. And I really believe Mary was inviting us that day.”

“I do have a rosary in my pocket (out on the ball field). It is not a good luck charm. I do say it, but it is nice sometimes to reach back when I need and just feel that in my hands. And just as a reminder of who I’m doing this for.”

Jeff Manto

(LISTEN FOR HIS REVERSION STORY NEAR THE END!) He played nine seasons in Major League Baseball, playing for eight teams and being a part of three teams that reached the World Series. He also played in the league in Japan that is the highest level of baseball there. He is a member of eight Halls of Fame and was a manager in the MLB Draft League. After serving as hitting coach and manager for a team in the Philadelphia Phillies system, he went on to become the Pittsburgh Pirates hitting coordinator and then their hitting coach and later became the hitting coach for the Chicago White Sox and after that the minor league hitting coordinator for the Baltimore Orioles. He currently is the head coach of the Conwell-Egan Catholic High School baseball team in Pennsylvania, having been named 2024 Courier Times/Intell Baseball Coach of the Year.

Notable guest quotes:

“All of us went to Catholic school… we were … obviously Catholic all through and through.”

“My mother… she actually literally grew up next – in the church parking lot, what we call it today – she actually grew up in the house next to St. Anne Church.”

“It was just a tremendous, tremendous upbringing for me. Every day we played a different sport. I played three sports in high school. I was selected all-state in three sports – basketball, football, baseball – had offers in three sports.”

“I certainly didn’t think I would play baseball and when Temple offered a full scholarship that’s where I went.”

“I had a guy, a priest, Father Tom Cerrullo, who came to St. Anne parish, and we met each other when I was in seventh grade and he was going to be ordained in a couple of years and we hit it off fairly well. I feel like he would be what had been my mentor at the time (in college). He always kept me close to the cross.”

“The Yankees took a chance that I might sign a contract just because I would be in awe of signing with the Yankees.”

“We want to Athens and ended up in Turkey, (got to) see where Mary was living with the apostles, with John and things like that, and … we had Mass every day, our own little group. We had two priests traveling with us.”

“Yes, it was holy. Yes, it was inspiring. Yes, it was everything I thought I’d get out of it prayerfully, but most important, now … I could picture exactly what was happening because now I got more of a history as to what the gospel was speaking, not just read the gospel and figure it out myself. So, now I certainly have a better idea as to what was happening.”

“We spent about a week at the Vatican in Rome.”

“When you go to major cities there is major cathedral, you can find a church, and I made an effort to find a church even in the Major League Draft League towns.”

“Oftentimes I would turn my morning exercise into walking two miles or three miles to church and that would be my exercise physically and spiritually.”

“I felt a calling to get that daily strength and what that Eucharist meant to me is the strength, the bread, the nutrition that I need to show up every day … being a sinner, I need that bread of life.”

“A (baseball) clubhouse is a different dynamic. It’s a sacred place, if you will, for men and people love talking about their religion.”

“We have a rosary every Wednesday in the chapel at school and it’s for the baseball team, but we invite the school, we invite the other athletes. I tell these guys that they got to keep their eyes on the cross.”

Related link:

Manto Player Development Center

(This episode contains a prayer originally excerpted and adapted from Day By Day: The Notre Dame Prayerbook for Students by Thomas McNally, as seen in Play Like A Champion Today’s prayerbook for sports, God, Be In My Sport)

Bill Raftery

An Emmy Award winner who fans know as the lead game analyst for FOX Sports’ college basketball coverage. Before joining FOX Sports, he spent 32 years covering basketball as an analyst on television and radio for CBS, ESPN and CBS Radio. He has covered the sport’s premier events, including the NCAA Tournament, Final Four, the BIG EAST Championship, Big Ten Championship, ACC Championship, SEC Championship and New Jersey Nets telecasts! He began his broadcasting career in 1982 with ESPN, where he served as a game analyst for college basketball through the 2012 season. From 1970-81, he was the head basketball coach at Seton Hall. He served as president of the BIG EAST Coaches Association from 1979-81. Prior to his time at Seton Hall, he coached five years at Fairleigh Dickinson, earning Coach of the Year honors from the New Jersey Basketball Writers Association in his final season with the program. He had played three seasons at LaSalle and following his senior campaign, was drafted by the New York Knicks.

Notable guest quotes:

“My mother went to church every single day of her life until late in her life, before she passed away, and we had to say the rosary every night at supper.”

“As a youngster we moved to Kearney, New Jersey… in that town, which was renowned for soccer, you weren’t considered an athlete if you didn’t play soccer. So, that became part of the three sports I played, which were baseball, basketball, and soccer.”

“I visited a number of colleges, and the only non-Catholic was Maryland. I went down there. The parish priest actually went on the recruiting trip with me.”

“I was a really late, late draft pick and there were only eight teams in the (NBA) and when I got cut, I went to my high school coach’s house with a six pack of beer. He wasn’t home so I left the beer and then went to my house and my mother said, ‘What are you doing home?’ She was from Ireland, so she was very matter of fact and sports wasn’t an end-all. I said, ‘Well, I got cut,’ and she said, ‘Well that’s too bad. Just go get yourself a nice job’.”

“There’s always somebody to provide a lift (to Mass), that helps. One of the gang makes sure that either on Saturday night or Sunday, depends on the game. The weekends I’m with CBS, so it’s nice and easy, we got plenty of people that are willing to drive me and take care of me. And usually there’s one or two on the crew that want to go as well… Or I can get home on a Sunday and go to a five o’clock Mass.”

“You’re who you are and hopefully some of the things you think are important come true; the way you spend time with your team, things that you might do.”

“We always had a priest, chaplain, who did a lot… with any of the kids who felt comfortable, any of them that had any sort of concerns or questions, we made sure we (put) them with, Father Mannion was ours for eleven years and he was a special man. He was also the Lions under Joe Schmidt – chaplain – and up in Buffalo with the Bills with Chuck Knox.”

“I don’t think you’re in (coaching) to have somebody pat you on the back. I think you’re in it to do the best you can and somewhat lead by example.”

“We used to do the usual, the pregame prayer. We’d have service on the weekend and like on a Saturday or Sunday where they all attended pretty much in my days no matter what their religion was.”

Related link:

Bill’s bio on Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame website

Deacon Jim Mullin

He played college football, first at William Penn University and then at Missouri Western State University, including playing in a combined total of three bowl games. After college he played club lacrosse for several years and became an avid cyclist and swimmer and even competed in two short-course triathlons. In high school he was team captain for varsity football and was a three-time Missouri state qualifier in swimming and senior year state qualifier in discus. On the faith side, he is a convert and serves as Deacon and Minister of Evangelization at the Church of the Nativity in Leawood, Kansas, and was recently appointed to the Archdiocese Synodal Team.

Notable guest quotes:

“When something’s important, when God gives you a direction, that’s what’s important. That’s what you stay focused on.”

“Faith is what really got me through playing four years of football.”

“At one time… I realized, I’m not going to the NFL… So, I recognized, I needed to get an education. But I felt like I was still called to use the gifts that God had given me. And sports just really helps us separate the easy life or something that’s more difficult to attain.”

“I had a coach at one time say, you never quit in the middle. You can quit at the end of the season, but you never quit in the middle… It’s a little bit like Ignatian discernment as well. When things aren’t going well, don’t stop what you’re doing, discern.”

“You really connect, especially with cycling and swimming, long distance swimming, it’s a great way for me to really kind of focus on the Lord. Conversations are much deeper. When I’ve got my body distracted doing something for a long period of time and it’s tired, I find that my soul can open up a lot deeper and those are some of the best times of spending time with the Lord and really allowing him to talk.”

“It’s about the character and what we’re teaching those kids, not so much about the sport itself, but really about life and how do you take these lessons into life.”

“Doing what’s right when it’s hard, if I learned anything, that’s exactly what sports is about. It’s not about just winning at all costs.”

“The lesson that I really learned in working with the homeless, it wasn’t the food – we would take them socks or the necessities that they need – it really was in remembering their name, the dignity that they felt being seen as you remembered their name.”

Related link:

Nativity House website

Deacon Jim Mullin

He played college football, first at William Penn University and then at Missouri Western State University, including playing in a combined total of three bowl games. After college he played club lacrosse for several years and became an avid cyclist and swimmer and even competed in two short-course triathlons. In high school he was team captain for varsity football and was a three-time Missouri state qualifier in swimming and senior year state qualifier in discus. On the faith side, he is a convert and serves as Deacon and Minister of Evangelization at the Church of the Nativity in Leawood, Kansas, and was recently appointed to the Archdiocese Synodal Team.

Notable guest quotes:

“My mom and dad helped start the church, but the neighbors, all the people that were there, we did things together as – now seeing what parish life is like – it was very much a parish family. They got together outside of Sunday worship. They did things all the time. We went camping together. We celebrated fourth of July holidays. It was a wonderful group of friends that they had and frankly it was a wonderful environment.”

“We led youth groups… We took some of the young people out skiing. It was actually just a phenomenal church … it’s a very good memory for me.”

“I leaned over to my wife who was really enjoying all the people sharing and I said, ‘I’m gonna get the kids’ – they were in the nursery and I said – ‘I’m gonna get the car. You can stay as long as you want.’ We were actually sitting on the very front (pew), so it wasn’t like I could just sneak out. But I got up and went back, got the kids, and she came out shortly afterwards.”

“It’s a nine-month process? What is this? RCIA, I had no clue what that was. But I agreed, for all the wrong reasons. I just said okay, that’s fine. If that’s what it takes to get into this church, that’s fine.”

“They started talking about the sacraments and they started with baptism and marriage, and I had felt like, wow, God was very, He was real. When our kids got baptized, I felt that God was part of that. I mean a real part of it. And our marriage, I felt God was active in our marriage and so when they started talking about, okay, God is actually really present and He’s doing something in what we call a sacrament, I’m… listening more intently. Then they got to the Eucharist and it just all came back to me, this me getting up because of the communion being canceled.”

“I had a conversation with the head pastor, the monsignor now, and he gave me some really great advice, because I said, ‘You know, I’ve got some questions.’ He says, ‘Jim, you’ve really been given a great gift. Let the Holy Spirit reveal all the answers to these things, in the right time.’ And he did, he has, which is ultimately how I eventually got into the Diaconate.”

“We were going through our first reconciliation and… I get in and I’m with the priest and … I tell him my sins and so he gives me penance and he said, ‘I want you to go open up the hymnal to a page number’ … in my football career, 51 was my number… middle linebacker… Psalm 51 became very close to me. It was what gave me confidence when I was lonely. And so, the priest gives me this penance to open up and read and there it is, create in me oh Lord a clean heart… Psalm 51.”

“It just opened my eyes to the dignity of people and how we’re all related.”

“He said, ‘You know Jim, being a deacon is not preaching or being up at the altar. It’s about service to people. What is your service? What’s God doing with you that’s service oriented’?”

Related link:

Deacon Jim’s parish

Sam Lagana

He is an established voice-over and on-air and venue announcer/sportscasting talent who is known for his voice presence at Los Angeles Rams football games since 2016. He traveled the nation and world as the on-site voice of AVP Beach Volleyball for most of the 1980s and 90s. Additionally, he announced tennis, volleyball, and roller hockey at The Forum in L.A. He has provided his voice for many commercials over 30 years and announced USC, Pepperdine, and CSUN collegiate basketball and Avengers Arena Football at Staples Center in the 80s, 90s, and 2000’s. He serves on the Boards of the John R. Wooden Award Foundation, the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission, and West Coast Sports Associates. He was the recipient of the 2025 Humanitarian Award from Catholic Charities.

Notable guest quotes:

“My father was raised in the Catholic tradition, my mother immigrated to it, and they raised us in a traditional Catholic environment at Corpus Christi Parish in Pacific Palisades… I was an altar server.”

“I don’t know how competitive I play, but the reality is I am competing today at my age in volleyball, in softball, in basketball.”

“I thought that I would be the next great multi-sport athlete until my back told me that was not going to be the case. In junior high I got hurt and I found out that I had … an extra lumbar in my lower vertebra and my … muscular skeletal system was not growing at the same pace as my body.”

“I was … going up for a rebound in basketball and I got low bridged in practice and I couldn’t move on the court when I was trying to get up and so that’s when they actually really identified my physical issue and they wanted me to stop playing.”

“There was another young woman who was on the girls’ basketball team and on the golf team and she was keeping the book and so I sat between them to announce these games and … she now is the governor of the Los Angeles Lakers, Jeanie Buss. That’s how I wound up getting into announcing.”

“I had served at Pepperdine (University) for nearly 20 years, which is a Christian institution and, interestingly, a significant number amount of the students are of the Catholic tradition.”

“Bringing people together in community is something that I believe in; togetherness, relationship, those are elements that I speak to quite often – faith, family, and friends.”

“I start my prayer always with thanks, giving thanks to the Lord… but then it’s also for me to ask how I can share goodness and happiness with other people.”

“Maybe even that’s how I picked up some of my announcing was doing readings, and the first reading I ever did has stayed with me and that is Corinthians thirteen… and in almost all my speaking engagements I continue to use this, and I have for most of my life.”

“The first day when I took on the leadership of CEO and president of Notre Dame High School… Mr. (Vin) Scully called me to congratulate me and chat with me.”

Marissa Muoio

She coached for the New Jersey Pride softball organization and served as a private catching coach. In addition, she has coached bowling and volleyball. She had been the assistant varsity softball coach at Mount Saint Dominic Academy and played softball at Seton Hall University. As a student-athlete at Mount Saint Dominic Academy she had played volleyball, basketball, and softball. Presently she is the Director of Strategic Initiatives and Leadership at Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, a preschool to Grade 12 private school in Princeton, New Jersey designed just for girls.

Notable guest quotes:

“My family, really our Catholic faith is just critical to our family structure. My grandfather was a deacon in the Franciscan Order.”

“It’s very much a part of who I am. And my faith is critical and core to my own being.”

“Those are some of my most special memories that we had together, is time where he really would review scripture with me, sometimes read it aloud to me and then help me break it down alongside him, and share what message that he wanted his parishioners to walk away with.”

“Just getting to see women in professional sports at that age was a huge difference maker in my own path and career and passion for athletics.”

“I think again about that servant leadership mindset. What does it mean to lead quietly, to lead a life of faith, that, I think, just in your being and your presence alone is where people recognize or can see how your faith is your core.”

“I have one study… coming out later this year. I’m working with Dr. Monica Kowalski at the University of Notre Dame and that study was designed throughout our Sacred Heart Network. So, we had over 250 adolescent female participants looking at a research question around purpose and spirituality. So, we’re excited to share those findings later this year.”

“That’s where I was able to intertwine a lot of my faith… In that belief that we are going to, if we are working hard, we’re working to the best of our ability, we’re carrying ourselves with good character and integrity, that things will fall into the place that God has a place for us.”

“It’s something that I think we do really well is being present to how our spirituality really guides our students and our coaches. And it’s again, I come back to being, because I think that for so many it’s the love of Christ is shared through action and through our presence with one another.”

“One of my favorite priests is Father Richard Rohr. I’m a fan of the mystics and I do expose students to his daily meditations.”

Related link:

Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart website

(This episode contains a prayer attributed to legendary Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne, as seen in Play Like A Champion Today’s prayerbook for sports, God, Be In My Sport)