by Archbishop Emeritus Joseph F. Naumann
Growing up in St. Louis in the 1950s and 1960s, every Catholic parish and high school fielded a soccer team. In the 1920s and 1930s, seminarians all played soccer. Why? Because it was an inexpensive sport. All you needed for soccer was a ball and a field.
When these men were ordained priests, in addition to their most important responsibilities — celebrating the Eucharist, preaching the Gospel, being the Lord’s instruments for continuing his ministry of mercy in the confessional, preparing couples for marriage, baptizing children, visiting and anointing the sick, accompanying the dead, consoling their families — they formed soccer teams in every parish. In those days, there was no Missouri state soccer championship because no one else was playing soccer in the state except St. Louis Catholics.
I played on our parish soccer team. It was not my best sport, but I enjoyed it. One year, our associate pastor, Father Ed Fitzgibbons, coached our team. Father Fitz was an all-star player himself. Father coached our team as an act of asceticism — an act of penance! I am certain we helped him earn some time off from purgatory.
My senior year at the seminary high school, the seminary team played Christian Brothers College (CBC) for the high school soccer regional championship. My not making the team contributed to its success. We lost the championship game by one goal. One of the CBC players entered the seminary the next year, becoming one of our classmates. He is a great priest, but we still accuse him of tackling our goalie.
Sports can be a vehicle for developing many virtues, e.g. self-discipline as well as self-sacrifice for the good of the team. Athletics also create an environment to forge lifetime friendships.
For some, sports can become an idol — something we make more important than our relationship with God. On the other hand, St. Paul uses the analogy of sports in many of his epistles. Sports, appropriately understood, can be a beautiful way we honor God, using the physical gifts entrusted to us as a means of honoring the Creator!
It is a blessing for the Kansas City metro area to host a portion of the World Cup — the most followed athletic event worldwide. We have the privilege to welcome soccer fans from all over the world. Let’s show them world-class Kansas City hospitality, especially in our parishes.
It is beautiful to see athletes acknowledge and honor God when they do something well on the athletic field. It is also edifying to see fans moved to prayer at critical moments of the game.
Let us cheer on some of the world’s most gifted athletes and treat their supporters like beloved daughters and sons of God.
