The national (Catholic) pastime
-
- March
- 20
It’s almost spring, so Opening Day for baseball can’t be far off. Soon pitchers will be praying for a little extra topspin, hitters for a little less.
A new DVD, the baseball edition of “Champions of Faith,”:http://www.championsoffaith.com/ has just been released, telling the (Catholic) faith stories of some of the diamond’s top stars.
You can learn that Mike Piazza (that’s him) is a devout Catholic who met Pope John Paul II, that Sean Casey reads the Bible every day, that Jack McKeon has a “special devotion to St. Therese of Lisieux and the Blessed Mother,” and that David Eckstein isn’t Jewish (he, too, is Catholic).
The new film comes from Catholic Exchange, whose president, Tom Allen, was distribution executive for The Passion of the Christ.
The producers say:
“Baseball is shown as a powerful metaphor for life that can teach core values such as loyalty, discipline, perseverance, trust, dedication and fair play. Big league ballplayers have long been role models in our society and this first-ever Catholic Exchange documentary strives to affirm people’s love of the sport while inspiring our youth to become champions in the game of life”
Religion has become a big factor in many professional sports. Football players (mostly Protestants from the Bible Belt) form a circle and pray together after each NFL game. Boxers thank Jesus for helping them score a KO.
Baseball has seen a huge influx of players from Latin America, which is almost certainly making the game more Catholic (with some Pentecostals mixed in).
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, March 20th, 2007 at 12:06 pm by Gary Stern.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Print
| 
Email
The world of religion, we don't have to tell you, is vast. The purpose of this blog is for Stern to note, flag and comment on some of the more interesting religious developments on the scene – weighty and quirky, somber and laughable, far away and just down the road. He won't interpret Scripture, take sides in conflicts or judge anyone. But he will take advantage of the journalist's license to observe.
Great boysf9cecee66f7eab41c062a3784ba6dbf2