ALEXANDRIA, Va. — It’s spring training time in the world of baseball.  It’s Lent in the Catholic world. What’s one got to do with the other?

A lot, say some Catholic athletes.

“Baseball coincides with the positive virtues we have in our faith,” former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jeff Suppan told the Register. Suppan, who signed a contract with the Milwaukee Brewers in the off-season, tells youngsters, “If you’re disciplined enough to go to practice, you should be disciplined enough to go to Mass.”

Believing that sports can be a vehicle to spread the message of Jesus, Suppan agreed to be vice-chairman of Catholic Athletes for Christ (CAC). The non-profit was founded two years ago as the first fully Catholic initiative answering Pope John Paul II’s call to evangelize the world of sports. It has already assembled an all-star lineup.

In addition to Suppan, who was voted the Most Valuable Player of the 2006 National League Championship Series, there’s advisory chairman Mike Sweeney, captain of the Kansas City Royals; retired basketball coach Lou Carnesecca; retired Florida Marlins manager Jack McKeon; NFL wide-receiver Chris Horn of the Carolina Panthers and Olympic skier Rebecca Dussault.

The episcopal advisory board includes Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan, Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput, Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn and Military Services Archbishop Edwin O’Brien.

“We’re very consciously and intentionally Catholic,” said Ray McKenna, a former counsel of the General Services Administration who is president and executive director. The group wants to “minister to the needs of the players, to provide them access to the sacraments, especially the holy Eucharist and confession, and access to a priest should they have any needs or spiritual direction,” he said.

Champions of Faith

It also wants to help form Catholic athletes in their faith so they can be in a better position to evangelize others, said Tina Andress, a Spartanburg, S.C., wife and mother who once played pro basketball in Germany and helped found Catholic Athletes for Christ with McKenna.

“Because kids look up to athletes for better or for worse,” McKenna added, Christian Athletes for Christ “gives professional Catholic players a unique opportunity to relate to children and tell them about the importance of recognizing God in their lives.”

Legionary Father Kevin Lixey, head of the Pontifical Council for the Laity’s Section on Church and Sport, knows the results the positive witness of authentic Christian life from an athlete can bring. As a boy, he received an autographed picture of Miami Dolphins’ quarterback Bob Griese from a nun who taught fourth grade.

“As boys, this made us proud to be Catholics, and gave to our faith a certain manliness that attracted us,” he said. “In this same sense, I believe Catholic Athletes for Christ is already reaching fans and youth as role models.”

Catholic Athletes for Christ’s speakers’ bureau already numbers 24 professional athletes and those connected to the world of sports ready to share their faith at every level — from parishes to youth and diocesan conferences to school and church groups.

“We’re also strongly committed to encouraging priestly vocations,” McKenna said. “We want to clearly send out the message that a large number of priests and seminarians are tremendous world-class athletes. We want others to look at these many examples of strong, virile men’s men who are priests and seminarians.”

Another new faith-sports initiative also recognizes the influence sports figures have on young people. Champions of Faith — Baseball Edition is a DVD set to be released in time for Father’s Day.

“It’s a Catholic film like what’s never been done before,” said John Morales, the film’s writer and host of Catholic Exchange Today. Morales brought to it his 20-year background in radio and television.

The film showcases Major League Baseball players and coaches telling about the primary importance faith in God plays in their life and the virtues and spiritual lessons they’ve learned from baseball. The lineup features all-stars and record breakers like Suppan, Sweeney, Mike Piazza, David Eckstein, Ivan Rodriguez, McKeon and Juan Pierre.

Firing Up the Lukewarm

Morales said he wrote the script and read the transcripts in front of the Blessed Sacrament, and every interview began with prayer. He sees Champions of Faith as a way to fulfill Pope John Paul II’s desire to use sports and athletics to spread the Gospel.

“There are 65 million Catholics in this country,” Morales noted, “and so many of them have mistakenly almost elevated sports to religion and worship ESPN. I hope this will point people gently in the right direction and show them where these players say their true strength lies, which is their faith in the Lord Jesus.”

Considering the potential of both these sports-faith initiatives, Father Lixey sees them as “just the beginning of what could be truly momentous for both sport and for youth.”

As Sweeney put it in a recent interview with the Register, “Our goal as Catholic Athletes for Christ is to bring the athletes and the people they influence back to the [Eucharistic] table. It’s more gratifying than hitting a homerun because the salvation of souls is depending on this.”

Staff writer Joseph Pronechen writes from Trumbull, Connecticut.

INFORMATION
Catholicathletesforchrist.com
championsoffaith.com