Episodes

2nd Global Congress on Sport and Christianity Takeaways

To borrow a football term, an audible is called at the last-minute when the scheduled guest doesn’t show up, utilizing this episode instead to share some insights brought back from the 2nd Global Congress on Sport and Christianity.  The conference took place in late October in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and this installment of CSR cites content from that event that underscore the longstanding relationship between sports and faith.

Notable quotes:

Author Gary Thomas (opening keynote) said that, “We treat our bodies as instruments instead of ornaments.”

Anthony Maranise, a Benedictine Oblate and an educator, author, and chaplain, noted that in the Rule of Saint Benedict there are three references in the prologue to running, references to strength, battle, and grappling – what we might consider wrestling – in chapter one, and, a reference to a summit and climbing in chapter seven.

Maranise cited his somewhat “radical claim of the day,” saying that, “Sportspersons have lifestyles more akin to monastics than any other demographic.”

Maranise also said that, “God’s presence is inseparable from the whole of life, including sports.”

Fr. Frank, a PhD at La Salle University, noted that in 2016 the Vatican sponsored an international conference called, “Sports at the Service of Humanity,” followed by two national gatherings in the United States.

Fr. Frank also reported that at the beginning of this year, “Athletica Vaticana” debuted – the Vatican track team, consisting of priests, sisters, pharmacy workers, and members of the Swiss Guard, and an official member of the Italian Track association.

Fr. Frank added that just six years ago, Pope Francis addressed the International Olympic Committee delegates, saying, “Sports promote human and religious values which form the foundation of a just and fraternal society.”

Pope Francis, in an address to mark the 70^th Anniversary of the Italian Sports Center on June 7, 2014, said, “Challenge yourself in the quest for good, in both Church and society, without fear, with courage and enthusiasm. Get involved with others and with God; Don’t settle for a mediocre ‘tie,’ give it your best, spend your life on what really matters and lasts forever.”

Gordon College professor named Valerie Gin detailed a study, and then cited a publication based on a project called ReadySetGo.  In that publication they cite the book of Hebrews, which says, “let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith.”

The ReadySetGo project’s publication also cites 1 Corinthians chapter 9, verses 22-26, which might be the most blatant reference to sports in the Bible.  It says, “To the weak I became weak, to win over the weak.  I have become all things to all, to save at least some.  All this I do for the sake of the gospel, so that I too may have a share in it.  Do you not know that the runners in the stadium all run in the race, but only one wins the prize?  Run so as to win.  Every athlete exercises discipline in every way.  They do it to win a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one.  Thus I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight as if I were shadowboxing.”

Related links:

Vatican’s Sport and Culture page

ReadySetGo project

ReadySetGo (free) downloadable publication

Mark Blaise

Since June 2017 he has been the program’s second head men’s lacrosse coach at Benedictine College, a Catholic institution in Kansas, where he graduated from in 2013.  As an undergrad he was a co-founder of the Men’s Lacrosse Club team there.  He also has been an assistant coach at Rockhurst University AND was the head coach for the boys lacrosse team at St. Thomas Aquinas, a Catholic high school in Overland Park, Kansas.  This past April he was named the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year.

Notable guest quotes:

“It was definitely a message that my parents really took home and my grandparents really took home that at the end of the day your faith is more about what you’re doing on the inside, and I do think that there’s some problems with that… It used to be that we kind of held that within our own circle but as we’ve all gotten older and grown into our faith, I would definitely say that we’ve tried to bring the faith to more different people.”

“Being that light of the good that the church does into people’s lives, and telling people why you’re happy and why you’re driven and why you’re successful at what you’re trying to do is because of your foundation in Christ, I think, is one of the greatest witnesses that you can give.”

“Typically where I’ve seen the most amount of people fall away from the faith is when they’re transitioning from a relationship with God that’s not very complicated, it’s simple, and then once you become an adult it’s a lot more complicated and if we’re not continuing to invest in our relationship and continuing to try to communicate with God, we’re not going to have that relationship if we don’t put effort and communicate with God.”

“So often I think that people stop going to church and basically fall away from the church and say, ‘Well, I don’t feel God’s presence in my life.’  And typically, it’s because they’re not open to it and they’re not trying to have that communication.  If you stop talking to God and then say, ‘I don’t have a relationship with Him,’ that’s your fault as well.”

“Monks are normal people and they still follow sports and they still have interests outside of just work-pray.”

“One of the things that I always strive for is to be great in everything that you do… just not settling… If you’re settling, you’re never going to get to greatness.”

(on retreats) “If the adults aren’t putting themselves in those vulnerable situations that we’re asking our kids to put themselves into, how can we ask them and how do we understand what they’re getting out of it?”

“A lot of the things that we’re doing, full team, are trying to be inclusive and trying to show people that the Word of God is a way of life and that way of life is far better than any other way of life.”

[This episode contains a prayer by Oldenburg Academy of the Immaculate Conception (Oldenburg, IN) Athletic Director Tim Boyle, as seen in Play Like A Champion Today’s prayerbook for sports, God, Be In My Sport]

Haley Scott DeMaria

In college she was left paralyzed with a broken back after a bus accident involving her swim team from the University of Notre Dame, with two teammates having been killed instantly.  After five back operations and being told she wouldn’t walk, not to mention swim again, miraculously, she returned to competitive swimming for Notre Dame 21 months after the bus accident and her injury.  Her 2008 book, What Though The Odds, details what she went through and her “journey of faith and triumph.”  She later became Assistant Swim Coach at Xavier College Prep, the all-girls Catholic high school in Phoenix that she had attended.  She also talks here about two pilgrimages this and two years ago that she says reignited her faith and commitment to service.

Notable guest quotes:

“I refer to myself as a Christian mutt because I dabbled in a lot of different aspects of the Christian religion.  And I knew that faith was important.  I knew that prayer was important.  But I didn’t necessarily find a spiritual home.”

“I had my athletic life and then, of course, I had this spiritual life that were very separate as a child and, it’s really just when they come together eventually through life that we reach our full potential.”

“I went to an all-girls Catholic high school because they had the best swim team in the state of Arizona at the time.  And I went to the University of Notre Dame because I really wanted to swim for the coach at the time… So it had very little to do with the fact that they were both Catholic schools, but in hindsight those were two phenomenal institutions that gave me so much more than just an academic education.”

“…the tone that we’re all called to do as Christians, which is to ‘love one another as I have loved you’.”

“Our bus flipped off the side of the road.  It literally did a flip turn, in swimming terms, we flipped upside down and ended up facing the opposite direction…  And I landed on the top of my spine and shattered three vertebrae.”

“I have always believed truly and know – because I felt it – that it was not my faith that got me through this, but it was the faith of everyone around me.”

“It really is a testament to the faith environment where we were.”

“The beauty of my story is that it was awful and life is still beautiful.”

“I think when we can pray together, and we can share our journey and our hardships, it makes us all feel just a little less alone.”

Related link:

Haley’s book website

Jacob Flores

He was with the NFL’s Green Bay Packers and Buffalo Bills and, more recently, the Atlanta Legends of the Alliance of American Football.  He had played college football at Dartmouth, and has now transitioned into the corporate world and life off the playing field.  He also talks about what he’s doing at his parish as well as in the community.

Notable guest quotes:

“I’ve got three little brothers… and… I’ve got an older sister, so, we’ve got a big athletic family, big Catholic family.”

“I chose religion (as a college major) because it was super important to me and I thought it would kind of teach me to defend my faith a little bit, so, it was one of the best decisions I made.”

“I think a lot of times you can use those four years (of college) to develop some other great friends who are close to Christ.”

“Anyone that went to church who believed in some of the core tenets of Christ in the Bible, that’s kind of what we focused the Bible study around.”

“In college when you’re away from your parents and your high school friends you have to find that group of people who are going to strengthen you and challenge you when you need to be challenged.”

“I think it’s really hard to live a life as a follower of Christ without other people.  I don’t think you’re meant to do it alone… Even Jesus had twelve disciples because He saw what that strength in numbers does.”

“At the end of the day… wins and losses are great and all that, but… when we’re talking about eternity I think that’s a little more important than did we win the game on Friday night.”

“I think we’re all given talents from God and I think for whatever reason mine was snapping a football and just being big and moving people and that’s what He gave me so I put in the hard work and developed it to the furthest that I could.”

“I remember when I got the call from the (Green Bay) Packers I had just gotten out of Mass, actually, which was pretty cool and I knew, like, okay, this is what I need to be doing.  This is where I need to be.”

“Football is kind of on the periphery and your core is your faith and your beliefs.”

Clay Dimick

A current member of the Charlotte Independence, which plays in the USL Championship, the largest pro soccer league in North America. He had played collegiately at Belmont Abbey, a Catholic school in North Carolina.  He loves the game of soccer, but he is on fire for his faith, having become Catholic approximately 15 months ago.

Notable guest quotes:

“I was born in Texas to two birth parents who were too young at the time, but, praise God they made the right decision and gave me up to adoption to wonderful parents.”

“Throughout the recruiting process I could tell how honest of a coach Coach Keating was compared to other coaches nowadays, they really only care about winning and how you perform, but I could tell there was more to him and more to the program… I felt like I could grow as a person and as a player.”

“As I became a junior and senior in college I had begun to hang out with Coach Keating and his family a bit more, and him and I developed a good relationship and I spent more time with his family going to Mass with them and just seeing how awesome the Catholic faith could be.”

“The one thing that kept intriguing me is how reverent and how quiet and how peaceful it was during Mass.  I had no idea what was going on.  I had no idea why everyone was kneeling.  But I did know that there was peace in there.”

“When he began using Biblical references and scripture to prove that Jesus is truly in the Eucharist, Jesus is truly at Mass.  When you go to Adoration Jesus is there – body, blood, soul, and divinity, He’s there in the Eucharist.”

“I’ve had some pro-life talks with some of the guys and it helps me grow in that sense as well, to be bold with my faith and to stand up for what I know is true and what I know is right.”

“Especially in the career that I’m in sometimes things don’t go your way and even in life things don’t go your way but we serve a God who is good all the time and His plans always are good for us.”

“One of the little things that I try to do is, when I sign an autograph, just draw a little cross, a little crucifix, and see if somebody notices one day.”

“When we started dating, I did tell her that the most important thing to me is the Catholic faith and my relationship with the Lord.”

(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)

Related link:

Clay’s Charlotte Independence bio page

Fr John Perdue – The Flying Fathers

The Flying Fathers were a hockey team of Catholic priests originally started back in the early 1960s. There is optimism of-late for the team’s resurrection, according to Father John Perdue, Director of Vocations for the Diocese of Peterborough in Ontario, Canada.  He not only is playing for the team but leading their return.  He talks about it during this conversation that was recorded while he was in Rome for the canonization of the five newest saints.

Notable guest quotes:

“So he sits down and explains with him that he’s been sensing this call and that he’s gonna go and become a priest.”

“Part of why I’ve been willing to invest time and energy in being a part of (bringing back the Flying Fathers) because I see the great value it has to sort of humanize the priest.”

“If young men can see guys like priests kind of having fun, engaging in sport, it makes them kind of think, ‘Hey, I could see myself doing that.  I see a similarity between them and myself.’  And certainly will open hearts and minds to vocations, I think.”

“For those of us who live in the faith… we have the most fun, when you’re living in the fullness of the joy of the gospel.”

“I see the need for generous young men to lay down their lives in service of the gospel and if sport can be a bridge to have young men see priests as humans who do good for society through these games and laugh and are normal guys, by all means the vocational aspect is sort of a third, ya’ know there’s the charity, there’s the joy, and there’s the vocational aspect.”

“So, spiritually speaking, I’m offering Mass with the Pope, the successor of St. Peter, I’m making Christ present on the altar alongside Peter.  It was very moving to do that, just to stop and just think about what I’ve just done, where I am.  And it’s kind of a little overwhelming.”

“The Flying Fathers were granted an audience with (Pope) Paul VI.  They had risen to enough acclaim and had done, I guess, enough for charity that they met Paul VI.”

“The only directive that our Lord ever gave about vocations, was, ‘Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest that He might send laborers into His harvest’.”

Related link:

Video about the Flying Fathers

Bear Woznick

He is a champion of numerous surfing events.  He is also a licensed scuba diver and licensed private pilot.  Plus, he is a skydiver and has rappelled off mountains.  He has even been a mentor on the adventure reality show “Clean Break” on the FOX network, as well as been a guest star and stuntman on “Hawaii 5-0.”  He also has been seen on EWTN television and heard on EWTN Radio and has led pilgrimages to places such as Greece and Israel.  Plus, he wrote two books, including one called, Deep Adventure: The Way of Heroic Virtue.  He also is a Benedictine Oblate to the Mary Spouse of the Holy Spirit Monastery in Hawaii.  He is also an inductee in the Sports Faith Hall of Fame.

Notable guest quotes:

“Every Catholic is an evangelist.  We’re all called to be evangelists.”

“You cannot be a wimp and love Jesus.  Every single disciple – all but one of them – were martyred.  So, through history there’s nothing more heroic than being a Christian.”

“The most radical thing you can do in life is abandon yourself to the wild adventure of God’s Will.”

“There’s nothing more exciting or thrilling or wild than listening in the morning, tuning into the Lord maybe through the Liturgy of the Hours or the Mass, praying the rosary, and then seeing God open doors and close doors and seeing walls fall down as you pursue His Will.”

“In college, I began to really hunger for God.  It was like, ‘God, if you’re there, you’re kind of like a real remote father who maybe sends child support checks, but I would like to know you and be in a personal relationship with you’.”

“This is a total abandonment to God’s Will.  It’s not just a little optional extra you add on to the rest of your life.”

“The Lord miraculously healed my back and now I’m a world champion tandem surfer.”

“I’m so grateful, not just for the depth of teaching, but for the sacraments.”

“I love the Benedictine life, and I love the Liturgy of the Hours, living the Liturgy of the Hours through the day, and understanding detachment and not focusing on the things of this world but just desiring God.”

“That’s my great weapon when I pray, intercessory prayer.”

Related link:

Bear’s website

(This episode contains a prayer by Fr. Brian Cavanaugh, T.O.R., as seen in Play Like A Champion Today’s prayerbook for sports, God, Be In My Sport)