The Catholic Telegraph September 2022

MAGAZINE

191st year | issue 9

bringing faith into the home

september 2022 | sports | 1

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EDI TOR’S N OTE

Called to Something Bigger As a tall third grader, I was immediately tapped to play our basketball team’s center position (as the team’s tallest person often is). This meant that I had to make the opening jump ball, which placed me in the very center of the action, and I had to fight other tall girls for rebounds. It was intimidating to my then-timid personality, but my team and coach counted on me. Most importantly, they called on me to do something outside of my natural comfort zone.

The lesson that began those many years ago in third grade basketball became a template for my life. People saw something in me, asked me to step up to the plate, believed I could do it—and so, I did it; often when I didn’t fully believe in myself.

The same experience unfolded in my oldest daughter’s life during fifth grade last year. Volleyball wasn’t popular in our home state, but she wanted to try it here, and thus came to the sport late as a new player. Her first game was a disaster. She went into sensory overload, and I think we both wondered what we had gotten her into—but I didn’t let it show. Running to her on the sideline, I pulled her out of the gym, ran to the store for ear plugs and urged her to go back in. She didn’t want to play, but her coach and teammates insisted she could, so she continued.

The whole volleyball season was rough; she felt inadequate next to seasoned players and doubted her ability. But before the season’s last game, I sat her down and told her that I admired how much she practiced in the backyard and I knew she could do it. In a total mom move, I even offered to get her a Frappuccino after the game if she just went for it and put it all on the line without reserve.

asked me what changed (and promised future frappes for that kind of playing). I had encouraged my daughter to trust herself and step up to what she was called to do—and she finally realized she could. Her coach and team wholeheartedly supported her, and she finally cast aside the imposter syndrome.

And it’s not just people who ask. God has asked, and continues to ask, the same from all of us, over and over again. When we were discerning the move 850 miles from Shreveport to Cincinnati to launch The Catholic Telegraph magazine, my dear friend mailed me a card that said, “Be strong. Be brave.

Be fearless. You are never alone. - Josh. 1:9” It’s a tall order, isn’t it, the task of being strong, brave and fearless in the face of the unknown? Or in fighting off imposter syndrome when God calls us to do big things for which we don’t feel qualified or good enough. But from my experience, it’s a little bit easier when you have a coach who believes in you, a team who cheers for you and you know that God is calling you to something bigger.

Lo and behold, she was amazing! Every parent in the stands

cteditorial@catholicaoc.org

THE CATHOLIC TELEGRAPH 191st Year No. 9 • September 2022 513-263-6635 • thecatholictelegraph.com

PUBLISHER Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Jessica Rinaudo

MEDIA SALES Deacon Graham Galloway

GRAPHIC DESIGN Emma Cassani

PHOTOGRAPHY Margaret Swensen

DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT Dominick Albano

NEW MEDIA EDITOR Greg Hartman

SOCIAL MEDIA Katherine Geiger

100 East Eighth St., Cincinnati, OH 45202 ctadvertising@catholicaoc.org The Catholic Telegraph (xUSPS 094-520) ISSN. 10736689 is published monthly by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati 100 E 8th St., Cincinnati, OH 45202. Periodicals postage paid at Cincinnati and at additional mailing office.

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| 3

Serving On & Off the Court, page 22

september sports

columns

12 DIVING IN

7 QUESTION OF FAITH

KARY ELLEN BERGER

St. Xavier High School Aqua Bombers carry faith into the pool 18 COACHING COUSINS JOHN STEGEMAN

Kuhlman cousins credit faith 20 FINDING COMMON GROUND

news

Literal or symbolic?

10 SEIZE THE MOMENT NICHOLAS HARDESTY

Faith convo 101 16 A CLOSER LOOK DR. KENNETH CRAYCRAFT

MATT HESS

Maria Stein public school teams unite in prayer

25 SHINE ON

KARY ELLEN BERGER

ABBY KLARE

That we might never feel alone

FATHER DAVID ENDRES

Sport, transcendence and ineffability

22 SERVING ON & OFF THE COURT

8 EUCHARISTIC REVIVAL

contents

26 FOSTERING SPORTSMANSHIP

DOMINICK ALBANO

Is God a sports fan?

32 CATHOLIC AT HOME KATIE SCIBA

Life beyond the finish line

REBEKAH DAVIDSON

35 DID YOU KNOW? GAIL FINKE + EMMA CASSANI

JESSICA RINAUDO

Friars Club leads athletics in CISE schools

St. Sebastian

14 BLEACHER BROTHERS

28 FAITH ON THE FIELD

EILEEN CONNELLY, OSU

EILEEN CONNELLY, OSU

36 KIDS’ CORNER Mother Teresa

11 THE CATHOLIC TELEGRAPH WINS SEVEN CATHOLIC MEDIA AWARDS

Friars travel to baseball stadiums to evangelize 34 BOOK REVIEW

ALLEGRA THATCHER

DR. KENNETH CRAYCRAFT

The Genesis of Gender

ON THE COVER PHOTO BY: DANNY SCHNEIBLE

Jim Brooks coaches tennis at Chaminade Julienne High School in Dayton.

4 | THE CATHOLIC TE LEG RAPH

31 FINDING CONNECTION

MAGAZINE

191st year | issue 9

bringing faith into the home

38 THEOLOGY OF THE BODY

Young adult Catholics build friendship through community sports

DR. ANDREW SODERGREN

33 IS YOUR PARISH RUNNING LIKE A MAJOR LEAGUE TEAM?

FATHER THOMAS WRAY

An integral vision of man 42 THE FINAL WORD Bengals Nation Catholics: Why do we love sports?

DOMINICK ALBANO

POPE FRANCIS’ PRAYER INTENTION FOR SEPTEMBER For Abolition of the Death Penalty september 2022 | sports | 1

We pray that the death penalty, which attacks the dignity of the human person, may be legally abolished in every country.

Seek the Lord ARCHBISHOP DENNIS M. SCHNURR

“Run so as to win.” St. Paul wrote these words to the Christians at Corinth, a city with a large stadium and anchored in the centuries-old Greek athletic tradition.

“Every athlete exercises discipline in every way. They do it to win a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one” (1 Cor. 9:24-25).

important values such as loyalty, perseverance, friendship, sharing and solidarity,” plus a healthy sense of competition.

Most of all, sports teaches that the achievement of a goal, particularly a stretch goal, is the result of embracing everything that leads to obtaining that goal and rejecting those things that do not.

Sports and the Catholic spiritual life, perhaps surprisingly, have some significant aspects in common. Saints from the Apostle Paul to Pope St. John Paul II have taught us that focus, persistence and determination are as necessary to the faithful Christian witness as to the successful athlete. At the same time, participation in sports can nourish important human values.

As Catholics, we are called to be saints. This is our ultimate goal. It is not the goal of an exceptional few or those living out a particular vocation. The universal call to holiness is at the very heart of one of the central documents of the Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium. “Therefore in the Church, everyone, whether belonging to the hierarchy or being cared for by it, is called to holiness, according to the saying of the Apostle: ‘For this is the will of God, your sanctification’” (LG 39). Just as an elite athlete orients his or her whole mental and physical life – training, nutrition, competitive psychology, skill development – to the end of athletic excellence and winning, so must we strive to orient all our thoughts, words and deeds to our ultimate end: holiness. Everything we do, every choice we make, moves us either closer to that goal or further from it.

Almost two millennia after St. Paul, at a Mass in Rome’s Olympic Stadium celebrating the Jubilee of Sports People on Oct. 29, 2000, Pope St. John Paul II used a similar sporting analogy. “Every Christian is called to become a strong athlete of Christ, that is, a faithful and courageous witness to His Gospel,” he said. “But to succeed in this, he must persevere in prayer, be trained in virtue, and follow the divine Master in everything.”

Perseverance is necessary for success at anything in life, Pope St. John Paul II pointed out. “Anyone who plays sports knows this very well: it is only at the cost of strenuous training that significant results are achieved. This is the logic of sport; it is also the logic of life: without sacrifices, important results are not obtained, or even genuine satisfaction.”

St. John Paul was, himself, an avid athlete who hiked and skied even after he became pope. In his 2000 speech, he thanked God for the gift of sports “in which the human person exercises his body, intellect and will, recognizing these abilities as so many gifts of the Creator.” And he noted that playing sports “can encourage young people to develop

Unlike athletic contests, the competition within ourselves between faith and doubt, virtue and vice, light and darkness, is one we must win. Fortunately, we are not alone in this contest. The Catholic Church, Christ’s sacramental presence on earth, imbued with the Holy Spirit, offers us everything we need to orient our lives to Christ. Among them are prayer, spiritual reading, Sacred Scripture and Tradition, the saints, the holy sacrifice of the Mass, the sacraments and adoration of our Lord in the Eucharist. These are gifts which we should not ignore.

When our time on this earth comes to its end, may we echo the words of St. Paul: “I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7).

S E E K T H E L O R D / S E PT E M BE R 2022 | 5

Busca al Senor ARZOBISPO DENNIS M. SCHNURR

“Corre para ganar”. San Pablo escribió estas palabras a los cristianos en Corinto, una ciudad con un gran estadio y anclada en la tradición atlética griega de siglos de antigüedad.

“En cualquier competición los atletas se someten a una preparación muy rigurosa y todo para lograr una corona que se marchita, mientras que la nuestra no se marchita” (1 Cor. 9:24-25).

“puede favorecer en los jóvenes la afirmación de valores importantes como la lealtad, la perseverancia, la amistad, la comunión y la solidaridad”, además de un sano sentido de la competencia. Sobre todo, el deporte enseña que el logro de una meta, particularmente una meta ambiciosa, es el resultado de abrazar todo lo que conduce a la consecución de esa meta y rechazar las cosas que no.

El deporte y la vida espiritual católica, quizás sorprendentemente, tienen algunos aspectos significativos en común. Los santos, desde el Apóstol Pablo hasta el Papa San Juan Pablo II, nos han enseñado que el enfoque, la persistencia y la determinación son tan necesarios para el testimonio cristiano fiel como para el atleta exitoso. Al mismo tiempo, la participación en los deportes puede nutrir importantes valores humanos.

Como católicos, estamos llamados a ser santos. Este es nuestro objetivo final. No es la meta de unos pocos excepcionales o de aquellos que viven una vocación particular. La llamada universal a la santidad está en el corazón mismo de uno de los documentos centrales del Concilio Vaticano II, Lumen Gentium. “Por ello, en la Iglesia, todos, lo mismo quienes pertenecen a la Jerarquía que los apacentados por ella, están llamados a la santidad, según aquello del Apóstol: ‘Porgue ésta es la voluntad de Dios, vuestra santificación’” (LG 39).

Así como un atleta de élite orienta toda su vida mental y física – entrenamiento, nutrición, psicología competitiva, desarrollo de habilidades – al fin de la excelencia atlética y la victoria, debemos esforzarnos por orientar todos nuestros pensamientos, palabras y acciones hacia nuestro objetivo final: la santidad. Todo lo que hacemos, cada elección que hacemos nos acerca o nos aleja de esa meta.

Casi dos milenios después de San Pablo, en una Misa en el Estadio Olímpico de Roma celebrando el Jubileo de los Deportistas el 29 de octubre de 2000, el Papa San Juan Pablo II usó una analogía deportiva similar. “Todo cristiano está llamado a convertirse en un buen atleta de Cristo, es decir, en un testigo fiel y valiente del Evangelio”, dijo. “Pero para lograrlo, es necesario que persevere en la oración, se entrene en la virtud y siga en todo al divino Maestro”.

La perseverancia es necesaria para el éxito en cualquier cosa en la vida, señaló el Papa San Juan Pablo II. “Quien practica el deporte lo sabe muy bien: sólo a costa de duros entrenamientos se obtienen resultados significativos.

Esta es la lógica del deporte, especialmente del deporte olímpico; y es también la lógica de la vida: sin sacrificio no se obtienen resultados importantes, y tampoco auténticas satisfacciones”.

San Juan Pablo era, él mismo, un ávido atleta que caminaba y esquiaba incluso después de convertirse en Papa. En su discurso de año 2000, agradeció a Dios por el don del deporte “con el que el hombre ejercita su cuerpo, su inteligencia y su voluntad, reconociendo que estas capacidades son dones de su Creador”. Y señaló que la práctica del deporte 6 | THE C ATHOLIC TE LEG RAPH

A diferencia de las competencias atléticas, la competencia dentro de nosotros mismos entre la fe y la duda, la virtud y el vicio, la luz y la oscuridad, es algo que debemos ganar.

Afortunadamente, no estamos solos en esta contienda.

La Iglesia Católica, presencia sacramental de Cristo en la tierra, imbuida del Espíritu Santo, nos ofrece todo lo que necesitamos para orientar nuestra vida a Cristo. Entre ellos se encuentran la oración, la lectura espiritual, la Sagrada Escritura y la Tradición, los santos, el santo sacrificio de la Misa, los sacramentos y la adoración de nuestro Señor en la Eucaristía. Estos son regalos que no debemos ignorar.

Cuando nuestro tiempo en esta tierra llegue a su fin, hagamos eco de las palabras de San Pablo: “He competido en la noble competición, he llegado a la meta en la carrera, he conservado la fe” (2 Timoteo 4:7).

QUE ST IO N O F F A IT H

Literal or Symbolic?

How do we know which parts of the Bible are to be taken literally and which symbolically?

A difficult aspect of interpreting the Bible is whether certain verses should be taken literally or figuratively. For instance, the first two chapters of Genesis each contain creation stories.

In the first chapter, God created humans after he finished creating the other animals. In the second chapter, God created man first.

Which is true? What are we to believe?

SCIENCE OF SCRIPTURE

Prior to the 18th Century, most Christians interpreted the Bible literally. But as the scientific study of Scripture advanced, some questioned the literal interpretation, seeing that there were internal inconsistencies in the Scriptures. Though many Christians interpret the Bible literally, Catholics are not “Biblical fundamentalists.” The Bible is inerrant in faith and morals, but not necessarily regarding history or science.

The Catholic Church is open to the fruits of modern, scientific study of the Scripture. This has resulted in acknowledging, for instance, that a Catholic need not believe Moses wrote the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) nor to take as literal every detail of the creation stories in Genesis.

SENSES OF SCRIPTURE

In the 3rd Century, the theologian Origen, often thought of as the first Biblical scholar, developed a way of understanding the Scriptures. He perceived that not all parts of the Bible should be understood the same way; he distinguished between various “senses” of Scripture, which can be divided between literal and spiritual approaches.

The first sense is the literal, upon which the others are based.

Most of Scripture can be understood through the literal sense, but the other senses of Scripture—called the spiritual senses—can be useful, and even essential, for a proper reading of certain verses.

SPIRITUAL SENSES

These spiritual senses can be differentiated into the moral, anagogical and allegorical. The moral sense encourages readers to apply Scripture to their ethical decisions: for instance, the moral lessons found in the Book of Job. The anagogical sense promotes Scripture’s ability to point to the afterlife: as in the Israelites crossing the Red Sea as a symbol for entering heaven. The allegorical sense looks beyond the most obvious reading to illuminate some greater spiritual truth: such as Abraham’s sacrifice (Gen. 22: 1-19) being a prefigurement of Jesus’s sacrifice. When commanded by the Lord, Abraham, in place of his son Isaac, sacrificed a ram that he found caught in a thicket. The thicket is suggestive of the Cross, and the ram, which is sacrificed, is analogous to Jesus.

DIFFERING INTERPRETATIONS

In determining which passages should be viewed literally and which symbolically, Catholic and Protestant interpretations sometimes differ. For example, Catholics take the Bread of Life Discourse in John 6 as literal: Jesus proclaims Himself as the “true bread from heaven” (suggestive of the Eucharist).

Most Protestants perceive this as a statement that need not be understood literally.

In other cases, the respective interpretations match.

Catholics, as well as many Protestants, believe that the first two chapters of Genesis can be reconciled if they are not seen as a chronological and historical narrative. Instead, when Genesis’ genre is taken into account, its early chapters can be seen as expressing spiritual truths—which are true, but not in the literalistic sense. The reader should approach the Scriptures with an openness to the ways that God wishes to communicate since the Bible is “living and effective” (Heb. 4:12), whether, as certain passages may suggest, it is read literally or symbolically.

FATHER DAVID ENDRES is associate professor of Church history and historical theology at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary & School of Theology.

Q U E S T IO N O F F A IT H / S E PT E MBE R 2022 | 7

EUCHARISTIC REVIVAL

That We Might Never Feel Alone

BY ABBY KLARE

Growing up as the oldest of three girls, I was the rule-follower in the family. I was especially respectful and obedient to my mom and her directives. From “clear your plates and empty the dishwasher” to “hurry up and get ready for Mass,” I generally lived with a simple trust that she had my best interests in mind, so I did as she said, as best I could.

In Feb. 2021, my mom passed away after a brief, fierce battle with cancer. The absence of her earthly presence radically changed my life, and for quite some time, I felt directionless without the person who had always been my guiding light.

In the weeks and months that followed her passing, everything about me could be characterized as follows: inconsistent, overwhelmed and unstable.

In response to this new reality, when my world was turned entirely upside down, our Lord, in His mercy and infinite goodness, drew me to Himself through something uniquely constant, consoling and stabilizing: the Eucharist. This gift, the physical reality of His love, poured out for us on the Cross and made present through the daily sacrifice of the Mass, became the center and anchor of my life.

Throughout those first weeks without my mom, the absolute most I could 8 |

manage was to simply show up, so that’s what I did. I began regularly attending daily Mass and in the depths of my own poverty, Jesus Christ encountered me in an intimate, personal way. Not by my own doing, but through the powerful graces He bestowed on my life through the daily reception of His Body, Blood, soul and divinity, I knew I was held safely in His tender embrace.

It was during these vulnerable, early months without my earthly mother that I was led to encounter the reality of my heavenly mother, our mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. I didn’t pursue a relationship with her; in fact, I was quite skeptical and, at times, indignant at the suggestion that she could satisfy a portion of the maternal void I now knew so painfully. However, one morning while sitting before our Eucharistic Lord in adoration, I found myself reflecting on a passage from St. John’s gospel, the wedding feast at Cana.

Following the exchange between Jesus and Mary about the empty wine jars, Mary speaks to the servants surrounding Jesus and says: “Do whatever He tells you” (Jn. 2:5). Meditating on this verse, I understood for the first time that Mary really is a mother with authority, to whom is owed reverent obedience.

Immediately, Mary’s maternal wisdom and direction brought to mind my relationship with my own mom. Like my earthly mother, our heavenly mother only holds the best interests of her children in her heart. To do as she asks is more than just or obedient, it’s one of the most powerful ways we can be transformed into saints. So, what does Mary ask? Like many good mothers, she is candid and direct: do whatever Jesus tells us.

At the highpoint of His earthly life, Jesus imparted upon the Apostles, and in turn all of us, a very clear directive: “And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me’” (Lk. 22:19). By giving us the Eucharist, Jesus Christ offered His entire self to us, that we might never feel abandoned or alone. He was, is, and always will be God with us.

Similarly, hanging from the Cross, He gives us the gift of His blessed mother. These great gifts are inherently united as overflowing sources of grace in our lives. Each and every day, we are invited to heed the direction of our heavenly mother and live in communion with her Son, our Savior, through His gift of the most Holy Eucharist.

As has always been the case in this life, we have the choice in how we respond to our mom’s instruction; may we respond with a Fiat like Mary, living a Eucharistic life that brings glory to our God and world.

Eucharistic Fact!

In Exodus 12: 3-10, Scripture makes clear that the whole of the sacrificial lamb of the Passover was to be consumed either by digestion or by fire. Now, in the new covenant, the new sacrifice in the Eucharist gives of Himself completely, not only nourishing the body but also the spirit. There are no undesirable leftovers in this new Eucharistic sacrifice. Rather, the new Lamb of the Blessed Sacrament, has the power to burn away all that is undesirable in us by the fire of His love.

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S E IZ E T H E MO ME NT

Faith Convo 101 Evangelization is ... a lot. On one hand, it’s the task set before us by our Baptism. Yet, at the same time, we often don’t know how. We might have little or no experience evangelizing others and have never seen it done, so we can’t even imagine what it looks like. Thankfully, Catholic apostolates like St. Paul Street Evangelization teach people how to evangelize.

They recommend a five-step method: Ask, Listen, Befriend, Proclaim and Invite. Let’s take a brief look at each one.

ASK

Faith conversations start like any other conversation—with a question: “How ya doin?” “What’s your name?” “Where ya from?” “What do you do for a living?”

When you’re doing street ministry, carry a pocketful of rosaries or Miraculous Medals and simply ask people if they’d like one.

It’s a great way to start the conversation. Once a conversation is started, keep it going by asking more questions. When it feels right, ask faith questions: “Were you very religious growing up?” “How did that affect your relationship with God?” “Do you believe in God?” Pretty soon, you’re having a faith conversation.

LISTEN

It’s a privilege to be genuinely heard. We dignify others when we really listen to them. There are many ways to do this, for example: look at the person who is talking, nod your head, give verbal feedback, like “Oh,” and “I see.” Repeat back what was said to confirm your understanding and try not to formulate your response while someone is talking. This “active listening” shows that you genuinely care, and also reveals opportunities to proclaim the Gospel. Eventually, people will share their feelings, hurts, aspirations, lies they’ve been told, etc.; then you can speak the Gospel right into them.

BEFRIEND

The next step is to be a friend. This means finding common ground; empathizing when hurts are revealed; being quick to say, “I’m sorry”; giving the benefit of the doubt; and caring for the other’s physical and spiritual needs. No one cares what you 1 0 | THE CATHOLIC TELE GRAPH

know until they know that you care. You’re not doing all of this to score points, you’re doing it because you love your neighbor.

PROCLAIM

It can be difficult to find the right time to proclaim the Gospel, but remember, the Gospel has both objective and subjective content. It’s who Jesus is and what He’s done for mankind. It’s also who Jesus is and what He’s done for you.

At this point you’ve uncovered many possible openings.

Choose one and speak the truth into it: “Jesus loves you.” “He would never forsake you.” Talk about why you love Jesus and how He helped you through hard times. Your faith story is easy to tell, and it’s one of the most effective ways to proclaim the Gospel.

INVITE

The final task is to invite the person to “something more.”

For example, if they’re an atheist, invite them to ask God to reveal Himself. If they’re a Protestant, invite them to consider Catholicism. If they’re a lukewarm Catholic, invite them to the sacraments. Also, offer to do these things with them! Offer to continue the conversation over coffee or via email.

The most crucial invitation is the invitation to prayer—this is how we facilitate an encounter with God. Ask if you can pray for the person right then and there. Invite them to pray to God, too, right alongside you. When the time is right, invite them to make a statement of faith in Jesus and to commit themselves to Him! Then invite them to your parish.

Everyone is on a journey, and every faith conversation is an opportunity to join someone along the way. With these steps, you can be a sort of viaticum, the “provision for the journey” that eases the path to Jesus.

NICHOLAS HARDESTY is the associate director of Adult Evangelization and RCIA for the Center for the New Evangelization. | nhardesty@catholicaoc.org

The Catholic Telegraph

WINS SEVEN CATHOLIC MEDIA

AWARDS B Y J E S S ICA R IN A U DO

The Catholic Telegraph has many reasons to celebrate—seven reasons, to be exact. This year the official magazine of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati brought home seven Catholic Media awards, including the distinguished title of Diocesan Magazine of the Year for North America.

Each issue of the magazine is the result of many collaborative efforts. The combined work and creative genius from our host of writers pairs with the artful talents of our graphic designer and photographers to produce every magazine and digital offering. I am both proud and grateful to have the honor of leading The Catholic Telegraph team and bringing together the talent and faith of our contributors. Below is a list of our winning offerings, as well as the judges’ comments.

1) Diocesan Magazine of the Year 1st Place

By Jessica Rinaudo, Emma Cassani, Margaret Swensen + The Catholic Telegraph Team and Writers

Judges’ comments: Beautifully and elegantly designed, with honest, authentic and comprehensive coverage on spiritual matters. The gold standard for magazines of faith.

2) Best Freestanding Presentation of Online Video - Explainer, 2nd Place Bicentennial Marian Pilgrimage by Margaret Swensen

Judges’ comments: This video includes professional camera work and inspiring visuals. The topic explanation is thorough and the call to action is clear. There are smooth transitions and visually appealing graphics.

3) Best Reporting on the Celebration of a Sacrament, 2nd Place “A Sense of Belonging - Addressing the Concerns of those with Special Needs in Church” by Patricia McGeever

Judges’ comments: An article about how important it is for the Church to address the concerns of those with special needs. Finely focused on one such person. Good photos. Careful, simple, straight-forward writing keeps it a positive picture throughout. Good anecdote brings the story to life.

4) Best Freestanding Presentation of Online Video - Feature, 3rd Place Priest Ordination by Margaret Swensen

Judges’ comments: Priest ordination is a theme which has been done a lot. But this effort is different. It is very high art and built around an array of beautiful aesthetic effects.

There is a ton of chiaroscuro light and creative angles.

Close-ups, overhead, profiles, anon. Great use of black and white throughout. Sharpness and clarity in the sound and good multi-layered audio techniques. The narrator gets better the longer you listen. Very effective storytelling that is also beautiful visually.

5) Best Multimedia Package - Seasonal Issue, Honorable Mention The Ultimate Guide to Lent by Dominick Albano, Emma Cassani, and contributors

6) Best Guest Column - Honorable Mention “If We Lose Beauty, We Lose Our Spiritual Sight”

By Dr. Mary Catherine Levri

7) Best Regular Column - General Commentary, Honorable Mention A Closer Look by Dr. Kenneth Craycraft N E W S / S E PT E MBE R 2022 | 11

DIVING IN St. Xavier High School Aqua Bombers Carry Faith Into the Pool

BY K AR Y E LLE N B E R G E R

The historic St. Xavier High School swimming and diving team received has multiple accolades— including, most recently, placing second place at the state competition in March. Additionally, senior Gavin Hang and head swimming and diving coach, Dave Albert, were named Cincinnati/NKY Winter Sports All-Stars.

But it’s more than just the fastest times or best scores for the student athletes and coaches who are part of the teams. It’s what is said and showcased outside of the pool that makes the program special.

“The coaches and swimmers truly care for each other and about creating that community,” said Dave Fogler, a senior swimmer.

It’s more than just getting up early or staying late after school for swimming and diving practice. It’s praying together, cheering each other on, and serving the greater Cincinnati area next to one another, while also being a team.

Albert, a St. Xavier alumni, Albert is beginning his second year as the head coach for the “Aqua Bombers,” the team’s nickname. He said he was drawn to the team’s overall mission, of the “Aqua Bombers,” the team’s nickname, which led him to return as an assistant coach shortly after graduating high school.

“The team is focused on our community, being the best version of themselves, building each other up, having no regrets, knowing what you needed to do for the team, and that sense that we’re here for something far greater than swimming and diving. But, at the same time, that’s also why we’re here,” said Albert.

Ben Trujillo, a senior swimmer, shared the same sentiment. “Whenever I leave a chapel visit, I feel like I am more inspired than I was before. It’s that aspect of faith that helps me swim my best and enjoy my time on the swim team the most.”

The Aqua Bombers’ team chaplain is former head swimming and diving coach, Jim Brower. Albert noted that Brower gives, “messages that can be inspirational and motivational, and/or to positively challenge our athletes to be the best they can be.”

“The primary purpose of the team chaplain and the chaplaincy program is to help guide and build spiritual support and community within the team; to help keep the bigger picture in mind so that we find God in all things, especially one another,” said Albert.

1 2 | THE CATHOLIC TELE G RAPH

Hang, who is committed to dive for the University of Kentucky next year, added that his faith and prayer are essential to his mindset in and out of the water. “I have found prayer to be super helpful,” he said. “There is a lot more time waiting than going. Before and during meets there is a lot of time for someone to overthink. I feel prayer is a great way to channel my energy and help center myself. I feel like I have someone else on my side, like God is with me.”

Both Fogler and Trujillo agree with the same faith-filled mindset.

“One aspect I can take away from the team the most is faith as a motivator,” said Trujillo. “Even when there are times where I’m not motivated to practice, I always am able to make it through.”

Fogler agreed. “One thing I’ll take away from my time at St. Xavier and the swim team is keeping that sense of community as a source of strength and comfort. There are times when I have had trials with my faith, but being with the team and that sense of community has helped me see where God is, even in that struggle.”

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Both friars are members of Holy Name Province, based in New York City. Ordained on June 22, 2019, Father Cole has been a chaplain since 2020 at Mount de Sales Academy in Macon, GA, while Father Serrano, ordained Dec. 5, 2020, is an associate campus minister at Sienna College in Loudonville, NY. Father Cole described the 11-week-journey as “one part childhood fantasy, one part Americana adventure and one part radical evangelism.” He and Father Serrano wore their habits to every game, hoping to spark curiosity and conversation, and spoke at churches, schools and other venues along the way.

“It was a great experience, one of the best we had, even with a two-hour rain delay,” Father Cole said. “That gave us more time with the young adults who were there, including one young man who will be entering the seminary.”

BY EILEEN CONNELLY, OSU

A cross-country journey by two young friars was a baseball lover’s dream come true, but there was much more to it for Franciscan Fathers Casey Cole and Roberto “Tito” Serrano. These “Bleacher Brothers” hit the road in May to visit every Major League Baseball stadium in the U.S. (30 total!) and meet people where they are—then invite them to return home to Jesus and His Church.

Nine years in the making, the journey originated during their novitiate, amid frequent discussions about what it means to be a Franciscan, which included stories of how St. Francis of Assisi and the early brothers did not just preach to people in churches, but wherever they gathered. In the Middle Ages, this meant the town square, but the 21st Century friars in formation were charged with finding a way to do this in their own century. Father Cole has embraced this mission through blogging, social media and his YouTube channel, “Breaking in the Habit.”

1 4 | THE CATHOLIC TE LEG RAPH

Fathers Cole and Serrano’s trip began with a May 20 Miami Marlins game and included Cincinnati on May 27 for a Reds win over the San Francisco Giants. On May 28 they participated in a young adult event at BLOC Coffee in the Incline District of Cincinnati, where the discussion focused on discernment, vocations, dating, evangelization and baseball. This, and other gatherings along the way, provided “a really great opportunity to evangelize,” Father Cole noted. “[As Franciscans] we show love, justice, peace and reconciliation through encounter. We need to foster encounter with our Lord, and that comes from the Word of God. Once we’ve encountered Jesus, then our call is to share that encounter with others. We’ve found young people are yearning for this.”

“It’s incredible what the Lord can do when someone says ‘yes’ to a crazy idea like a ballpark evangelization tour,” said Wayne Topp, managing director of Adult Evangelization and College Campus Ministry for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. “On the surface, this looks like the dream summer of many young men across America.

However, when you get into the details, you can truly see the movement of the Holy Spirit. At the event we helped to host at BLOC Coffee, the Bleacher Brothers drew a small crowd and they spoke about mundane everyday life things and deep spiritual truths that need to be heard.

They even gave tips on how to evangelize (it all starts with seeing the other person as another child of God).

In the end, they touched my heart, and they energized the small crowd to live their faith with more conviction.

Who knows how many more people will be touched by these few people, but it all started with a simple yes. In

the end, it challenged me to be more courageous in my response to the Lord’s invitations in my life.”

both noted how inspired they were by Father Soehner’s warm and gentle servant leadership.

The response from those they encountered during their journey was “overwhelmingly positive,” said Father Cole.

“People came up to us throughout the tour to share with us, and it was extraordinary when we prayed with them—so many moments of grace.

There was someone whose mom had just been diagnosed with cancer. He wasn’t expecting prayer, so that was especially moving.”

The baseball pilgrims split the driving for the first 9,000 miles, with the blessing of no flat tires, then took to the air for the trip’s western leg, wrapping up their 17,000 mile mission on July 30 in Colorado, where the Rockies faced the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The pilgrimage proved meaningful for Father Cole on both a personal and spiritual level. “On the baseball side, I held a bat held by Babe Ruth.

Sharing in that history and tradition was amazing. My dad flew out for part of the trip and walked onto Wrigley Field with me. That meant a lot,” he said.

The Bleacher Brothers shared some highlights of their Cincinnati visit in a YouTube video, including their thoughts on Great American Ball Park and a review of Skyline Chili.

In a segment called “Walk and Talk,” they replay their warm welcome at St. Francis Seraph Friary in Overthe-Rhine from Franciscan Father Mark Soehner, provincial minister of St. John the Baptist Province. He led them on a tour, shared his vocation story and gave a blessing for viewers. Fathers Cole and Serrano

“I’ve been preaching and doing YouTube by myself, so over the summer I really found out that friars are better together,” he added. “Jesus sent His disciples out two by two and that common witness is powerful.”

A vocation is a call to use our God-given gifts to serve others.

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S P O R T S / S E P T E M BE R 2022 | 15

A CLO SE R LO O K

Sport, Transcendence and Ineffability Last January and February, all of southwestern Ohio, northern Kentucky, and southeastern Indiana were caught up in what might be described as a religious experience: the Bengals’ improbable run to the Super Bowl. We came together across economic, racial and ethnic identifications, committed to a single cause and united in our common adoration. Indeed, one might say that devotion to the Bengals transcended all that often divides us, creating a community devoted to a good that is common to all of us.

The word “religion” comes from the Latin word, religare, which means to bind. This evolved into the concept of religio, a sense of duty to some God or gods for the sake of our own well-being, whether it be good health and abundant harvest, or life everlasting. Thus, religious people are bound not by ropes or chains that constrict, but rather by a feeling of obligation to something or someone that makes our lives richer and more abundant. Not to put too fine a point on it, our experience of the Bengals’ first Super Bowl appearance in 33 years contained these elements.

A RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE

This is not surprising, as sport in general touches the human person in many ways akin to religious experience.

In his fascinating book, Baseball as a Road to God, New York University law professor John Sexton accounts 1 6 | THE CATHOLIC TE LEGRAPH

for this experience through his own commitment to baseball generally, and the Brooklyn Dodgers of his youth specifically. Sexton doesn’t argue that baseball is the road to God, nor does he claim that baseball (or any other athletics) is a substitute for God. Rather, he argues that elements of sport lend themselves to aspects of human experience and expression that are akin to, and may lead us toward, worship of God. Sexton begins by discussing what many of us felt last football season, namely the “ineffability” of our athletic enjoyment experience. Though hard to describe, we all felt it. Indeed, we may have thought, you have to experience it to understand it. As Sexton writes, ineffability is invoked “in story or ‘myth’ (not myth as ‘falsehood,’ but myth in the original, sublime sense of the word).” This is myth as a set of stories, legends, rituals and liturgies that bind us to something we believe is true, but ineffable. The thing itself defies full comprehension, much less perfect articulation, but we experience it as true, nonetheless.

Our experience of the ineffable (and of sport as one medium of ineffability) is rooted in the human person’s nature as transcendent. We experience transcendence in varied ways; the most important is our sense of something that is larger than ourselves and toward which our lives are ordered. Thus,

we experience God as transcending our ability to articulate or comprehensively understand. But transcendence also has a more “horizontal” aspect. It describes humans’ ability to make abstractions—to translate particular things we see into general things we cannot. As Sexton puts it, “This dimension of human experience touches some of the most important features of our existence.”

And sport is among the most common mediators of this sense of transcendence. We view sport not as mere entertainment (although it is that, and that’s fine), but also as a metaphor for more important aspects of our lives. Participating and watching sports brings us to appreciate (and even to practice) certain virtues that lend themselves to the whole person’s development. Through the virtues of fortitude and temperance, athletes develop their skills and avoid that which impedes them. Even the most gifted athletes must acquire habits and practices that translate athleticism into the skills necessary to excel at their chosen sport. We develop a strong commitment to fundamental justice and fairness, insisting on a level playing field, consistency in rules’ application, unbiased referees or umpires and equal opportunities for both sides to succeed (or fail).

We’re taught that what might be called “profane” or “secular” goods may be incorporated into a good life.

We marvel at the perfect cross to the striker’s foot for a one-touch goal; the sublimely arcing, tight spiral that lands in the receiver’s hands; the sound and view of the bat perfectly squared with the ball; the laser-straight drive to the fairway’s middle and the gorgeous approach landing softly on the green. All of these speak to our appreciation of beauty, proportion and excellence, and properly incorporated into a life ordered toward God, they may lead us to a fuller awareness of what we mean by a flourishing life.

Finally, of course, sport reminds us of the contingency of human existence and experience. The road to success is marked by potholes, hurdles, ditches and streams.

Sometimes we fail. But even in our failure, we may discover the gifts of resilience and grace. Thus is sport more than simply winners and losers. Rather, it can help us develop the habits and practices that contribute to our sense of those greater things that transcend our ability to name.

DR. KENNETH CRAYCRAFT is an attorney and the James J. Gardner Family Chair of Moral Theology at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary & School of Theology.

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S P O R T S / S E P T E M BE R 2022 | 17

Coaching Cousins Credit Family Faith

BY JOHN STEGEMAN

Coach Steve Kuhlman led the Moeller rugby squad for eight years and Coach Sara Kuhlman runs the Mount Notre Dame lacrosse team. Although these sports have little in common, the player experience under these two leaders is comparable: Winning counts, but faith comes first.

Sara and Steve, both 30, are first cousins. They credit their grandparents, parents and Catholic school upbringings for developing them into the coaches they are today.

“I think growing up in today’s society, I feel like a lot of people sway away from their religion,” Sara said. “For me, that’s never really been a question because my grandma has just always instilled such a strong faith base in our family and I just admire her so much. I’m just super lucky to have a mom, a dad and a sister whose faith is so strong and that we all just kind of get it. And it’s just our everyday norm.

We always have something to thank God for.” “[Our families] really drove the importance of the Catholic faith and representing our last name,” said Steve. “That was instilled in us from the time we were born.”

An active parishioner at All Saints in Kenwood, Steve is a 2010 graduate of Moeller and member of the 2010 state championship rugby team. He returned to Moeller as a math teacher and coach in 2014. He is stepping into the background as an assistant coach for next season, after leading the team to back-to-back state championship matches in his last two years. He’s pleased with the wins, but quickly adds that championships aren’t the ultimate purpose.

“The goal and the mission of our program is to make better leaders in the community, better future fathers and husbands and obviously, better rugby players. But it’s hard to be the best husband and 1 8 | THE CATHOLIC TE LEGRAPH

SARA AND STEVE KUHLMAN

father possible if you’re not rooted in faith, and it’s hard to be a good community leader if you’re not rooted in faith. So, the mission of our program kind of guides our direction. This isn’t just all about rugby. It’s about building the best man we possibly can, which is through faith and prayer and understanding our Catholic faith.”

Sara, who worships at St. Margaret of York in Loveland, is a 2010 graduate of Mount Notre Dame. She played Division I lacrosse in college after a standout high school career and went on to coach college lacrosse at the Division I level. In 2019, she moved back to Cincinnati for grad school, and the head coach position at her alma mater became available—just in time for a pandemic.

After one canceled season, she led the team to consecutive competitive seasons, but, like Steve, she seeks to instill a Catholic identity in her team.

“I think that they understand that it’s important to me and that it is in a sense a non-negotiable for me that I want them to have that [faith background.]

I want them to pray and spend a couple minutes with their team before school, going and receiving communion. I think that they’ve reacted really well to that.”

Coaching strategy on the field differs in each sport, but the two use each other as a sounding board.

“We bounce ideas off of each other and discuss how we deal with players and playing time and parents,” Sara said. “I think as coaches we have a very straightforward coaching style.”

While faith is at the forefront of both coaches’ programs, there’s also a measure of friendly family competition. Whether it’s video games or playing sports on family vacations, both Kuhlmans are always angling to win.

“We’re super close,” Sara said. “We’ve always grown up competing with each other and, whenever we were doing something, we always wanted to be on the same team because we knew that we could trust each other—and that we would probably win.”

S P O R T S / S E P T E M BE R 2022 | 19

finding C OM M O N GR OUND Maria Stein Public School Teams Unite in Prayer STORY BY MATT HESS • PHOTO BY DANNY SCHNEIBLE

In the Archdiocese of Cincinnati’s northern area, the many competitive sports teams foster small-town rivalries that provide good viewing and camaraderie among communities and families (even when cousins play against each other). One such team, the Marion Local Flyers, are noteworthy for both their successful athletic program and how their student athletes remain committed to their faith.

Located in the Northwest 8 Family of Parishes, which includes Maria Stein, Minster and New Bremen, the Marion Local Public School system is centered in Maria Stein, has fewer than 1,000 students in grades kindergarten through 12 and is one of Ohio’s top-rated schools. While not a Catholic school, the community is grounded in its faith, and this plays out weekly in churches during sports’ seasons.

A tradition of student athletes praying together began in 2000 with Father Emil Labbe, C.PP.S., pastor in Maria Stein. Involved with the youth, he challenged the football team to attend Mass in their jerseys each Friday morning before the school day to ask for God’s protection over players in that evening’s game and to bring team members together. Players began attending each week—helped by the donuts Father Labbe provided after Mass—and that year the team won the state title, launching the custom of teams thanking God after a big win for the Flyers.

Father Dan Schmitmeyer meets with student athletes after Mass in Maria Stein.

20 |

A senior member of the Marion Local Volleyball team, Lydia Father Ken Schroeder, C.PP.S., succeeded Father Labbe and Eifert has witnessed the fruits of team prayer play out for still remembers how impressive it was to see the roughly 70 three years. Attending Thursday morning Mass at Nativity players’ section of blue and gold, the school colors, at Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in nearby Cassella with in Maria Stein’s St. John Church. Other sports teams soon her teammates has helped center them each week. Eifert said, joined on different weekdays, thus it became a tradition “Prayer brings us together with a stronger bond and helps us for many Marion Flyers. Having enjoyed working with the be more of a team.” athletes, Father Schroeder stated, “It was wonderful! I was very proud of Teams voluntarily Marion Flyers pray for safety, that no the students and proud to tell people one gets hurt during a match, and about their attending Mass as a team.” organize their prayer, reflect on both good sportsmanship providing time after and the Christian virtues that can be Teams voluntarily organize their prayer, providing time after Mass for Mass for socializing and acquired when working together as a team. In victory, their prayer is one of socializing and donuts. Although the donuts. thanks, that God gave them the skills school is not involved and no one is and ability to work well together. In told they must attend Mass or pray defeat, they pray to keep moving forward and to rebuild their with their team, everyone is welcome and the chance to pray confidence in their ability for the next time they compete. together often draws non-Catholics to join. Athletic Director, Daniel Koenig said, “We are a very close-knit community, As a new fall sports season begins in the Marion Local centered around faith and school. We feel this connection community, student athletes are hitting the fields, courts, has been a tremendous benefit to our success.” Community greens and tracks, but they have not forgotten to also spend leaders support the athletes’ choice to partake in prayer and time in pews. The challenge Father Labbe gave teams over 20 realize that this student-led initiative helps them form virtues years ago still brings Marion students together. they will carry through life.

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BY KARY ELLEN BERGER

2 2 | THE CATHOLIC TE LEGRAPH

“It’s a great day for tennis.”

That’s a phrase anyone who meets Jim Brooks will likely hear, no matter the weather or conditions.

Brooks sees this as an uplifting mindset.

“We should all fill in the blank: ‘It’s a great day for ___’ because it truly is great to be alive, to live for and love others in their uniqueness, and realize the goodness of the great God,” he said.

For nearly 25 years, Brooks has been a staple on the tennis courts of Chaminade Julienne (CJ) Catholic High School, first as a coach for the boys’ team in 1998, then as the girls’ team head coach. Recognized throughout the years with many honors, he received the Greater Catholic League Tennis Coach of the Year (multiple times for both boys and girls tennis) and was named to the Miami Valley Tennis Coaches Hall of Fame, Ohio Tennis Coaches Hall of Fame and CJ Athletic Hall of Fame.

However, Brooks is quick to add, “Coaching awards and accolades are largely a result of the accomplishments of the players on coaches’ teams.

Because our players have had success at certain times, awards sometimes follow. It is also the case that if they stick around long enough, people recognize what coaches do. I am one of those fortunate guys.”

continued on page 24

Jim Brooks, tennis coach.

S P O R T S / S E P T E M BE R 2022 | 23

continued from page 23

His legacy is well beyond the court, though.

He joined the Marianists in the late 1970s and took his first vows in 1980, the same year he started teaching English at CJ. He left the order in 1985, and later married Peg Regan, another teacher at CJ. They now have two daughters, Colleen and Carmen.

While the couple retired from teaching, Brooks continues to live out his passions of coaching and mentoring.

“My faith is and needs to be an integral part of coaching,” he shared. “Working with young people is a privilege that any and all coaches must treasure. We are there to serve them, and they often inspire us with their kindness, their work ethic, their desire to learn and their faith.”

My faith is and

needs to be an integral part of coaching...

Brooks noted ways he and the athletes live out their faith on and off the court, through prayer before matches, beginning the season with an hour-long prayer service and volunteering.

“There are more important things in life than hitting a ball over a net,” he said. “The simple act of hitting a ball over a net, though, can be a springboard for life lessons about character, confidence, work ethic and patience.

Trusting yourself—and your doubles partner—on the courts is a concept that for me is related to trusting in God and the talents He has given us to develop.”

“God should be at the center of our lives and should influence all of our relationships,” said Brooks. “A team is a small community whose members support each other through thick and thin. A coach can model that behavior, praise those athletes who do the same and help kids to keep things in perspective.”

It’s that same perspective that Brooks has when he shares that, “It’s a great day for tennis.”

24 |

It’s a great day for tennis.

SHINE O N

Is God a Sports Fan? By and large, men and women love sports. Okay, maybe not everyone and perhaps not all sports, but throughout history, sports have been a beloved part of human life. Why? If you closely examine the fundamental elements of sport, you’ll see it closely aligns with some of the human heart’s deepest desires.

Greatness is always attractive because it is never an accident.

It demands virtue. It’s worth reminding ourselves that virtues are more than good habits, they are the habit of doing good.

It’s a good habit to go for a daily run, but it’s a virtue to consistently and repeatedly practice self-discipline.

The human heart thirsts first and foremost for God, and every heart knows the path to God is holiness, and the only way to walk that path is virtue. Everything you do, every choice you make, either takes you further along that path or derails you from it.

We love watching sports because we see someone manifest all this virtue to achieve a feat we ourselves are likely incapable of.

Practicing virtue culminates in the promised land of victory.

This leads us to an uncomfortable truth: most of us think we are not capable of consistently and repeatedly doing good. We think holiness isn’t really possible for us. Sure, it’s possible for others—just not for me.

Of course, our hearts are corrupted by original sin, which can so bury these desires that they’re difficult, if not impossible, to recognize. Nonetheless, as St. Augustine wrote, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” PASSIONATE PURSUIT

The passionate pursuit of victory in sports mirrors the passionate pursuit of victory in heaven. There is a clear goal: win. There is a clear path to victory: score. And everything you do or choose not to do either carries you further along that path or derails you from it.

Elite athletes know this better than anyone else. You can’t just try to win on the field during the game—you must orient your entire life to winning. They know nothing is off the table: what they eat, what they wear, how they spend their time, how they control their emotions, when and how long they sleep, what they think about... everything is oriented toward their goal.

And while the ability to perform in a sport is not in and of itself virtuous, achieving greatness requires many virtues, including: Fortitude, perseverance, discipline, courage, selfcontrol and patience.

OUR CAPABILITY

This is, of course, a lie. The devil is a mastermind of lies, and he wants us to believe that the best we can do is sit on the sidelines and watch others run the race for Christ. We settle for looking at the lives of saints or our much holier friends and basking in the glow of their victory.

But Christ calls us to get in the game. The path to holiness isn’t reserved for a select few. You might need supernatural gifts to compete in professional sports, but the gift you need to grow in holiness is readily available to you: Grace.

Pray. Sacrifice. Receive the Eucharist. Be reconciled to God. Fill your life with an abundance of grace—the supernatural gift. It provides the foundation, which is given to you freely and undeservedly. Now, it’s on us to practice virtue, to get in the habit of doing good. Do that, and we’ll have a victory greater than any won in an arena.

DOMINICK ALBANO is The Catholic Telegraph’s director of digital engagement, an author and national speaker. He and his wife have been married for 14 years and have four sons. dalbano@catholicaoc.org S P O R T S / S E P T E M BE R 2022 | 25

fostering SPORTSMANSHIP Friars Club Leads Athletics in CISE Schools

BY REBEKAH DAVIDSON

Helping local, underprivileged schools bring organized sports to their students, Friars Club is a non-profit, Franciscan ministry in Cincinnati that serves both boys and girls, ages 4-17, through baseball, basketball and volleyball programs.

Begun 161 years ago, it has worked with Catholic Inner-city Schools Education (CISE) schools for over 10 years.

CISE provides an affordable, quality education to povertystricken children, regardless of their family’s religious background and economic status: According to its website, 70-percent of its students are non-Catholic and 94-percent live in poverty.

“Friars has been a great partner to CISE as we have grown in our support of schools to include programming that addresses the academic and social-emotional development of scholars,” said Catherine O’Brien, CISE school program director. “Healthy involvement in skill development, teamwork, discipline and the joy of competition are all a part of a well-rounded education.”

Friars Club runs most CISE schools’ sports programs, providing the necessary sports equipment, a healthy snack and an hour of study time before jumping into their sports.

In 2014, they opened a $3.5 million facility that includes four high school basketball courts and a learning center.

“With the CISE schools, we try to provide practices right in their school, primarily because of transportation,” said Annie Timmons, Friars Club president and a member for 44 years. “On the weekends, we like to bring them into our leagues or the games because it gives them an opportunity to meet other kids than the kids they see in the neighborhood and in their school.”

2 6 | THE CATHOLIC TE LEGRAPH

“The kids love the sports,” said Timmons. “[They] find people there that give them that positive affirmation, a positive self-image and self-confidence.”

Recalling the four core values on which the Friars Club focuses with its athletes, she said, “I think that’s what makes us unique, [it’s] the fact that we require the kids to have respect, to be responsible, to have leadership, and to have good sportsmanship.”

Along with coaching sports, Friars Club follows up on the children’s grades to steer them in the right direction and help them achieve academic success.

“Beyond just the sports and the athletics, [there] really is… a mentorship piece,” said Sandy Sieben, Vice President of Operations for Friars Club. “I keep hearing stories of the kids sharing what’s going on at home, sharing hard times, sharing good things that are happening with our coaches and our volunteers ... so there’s a really cool connection that happens.”

Through its learning center, students receive education on life skills, such as finance, budgeting and general planning for the future. They also teach skills that help children deal with difficult experiences, like failure, conflict resolution, self-confidence, self-love and mental health issues.

I keep hearing stories of the kids sharing what’s going on at home, sharing hard times, sharing good things that are happening with our coaches and our volunteers...

“We continue to assess the community need and also look at what adjustments or new programming might be possible and beneficial to the community,” said Sieben.

“As an organization, we want to be proactive in what we do with the children and make sure that they can handle some of the difficulties that they’re faced with in life,” said Timmons.

Ultimately for Timmons, the best part of Friars Club is “the kids. It has to be the kids. That’s why we’re here. It’s about giving them opportunities.”

For those who wish to help Friars Club continue its mission, visit their website, www.friarsclubinc.org, or learn more by calling at 513-488-8777.

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a passion for soccer. The game just allows for a lot of freedom and creativity that I really enjoy. It’s a physical game, but you also have to think and problem solve in the space you’ve been given.”

BY EILEEN CONNELLY, OSU

What’s the connection between sports and our Catholic faith? It’s the journey of discovery for professional soccer player Erin Yenney. The 29-year-old Troy, OH, native has found plenty of opportunity to live her faith, deepen her relationship with God and evangelize, all while traveling the world as she played the sport she’s loved since childhood.

“We just love sports,” Yenney said of her parents and brothers. “I think I started playing at around five-yearsold, just kicking the ball around. As I grew older, I also played baseball and basketball, but really developed 2 8 THE | C ATHOLIC TE LEGRAPH

“And sports unite people,” she added. “Any time you’re on a team, there’s that sense of camaraderie. I may not be able to speak the same language as my teammates or the people I’m playing against, but we’re still able to connect through the shared language of soccer.”

Yenney attended Troy High School before being recruited to play soccer at the University of Louisville, where she studied industrial engineering. “By sophomore year, I knew I wanted to pursue playing professionally after college,” she said.

That decision gave the young soccer player an opportunity to travel the world, along with setting the stage for “an exciting journey of following God’s will for my life,” Yenney said.

When soccer took her to Sweden in 2016, Yenney quickly realized there wasn’t much of a Catholic presence where she was based. “That was my first experience of having to step out with my faith and find the connection and relationship with God on my own,” she said. “I didn’t have teammates at the time to share my faith with, and while that made me feel uncomfortable, it was also an opportunity to strengthen my faith.”

Her strengths as a midfielder next led Yenney to Colombia, and a different experience of faith. “There’s such a huge Catholic population and it’s so embedded in the culture,” she said. “I wasn’t on a faith-based team, but we prayed before every practice and match. It was just the normal thing for my teammates to do and it was a very rich experience for me because of the faith of my coaches and fellow players.”

In 2018, Yenney made her debut with the Chicago Red Stars, where she tapped into the vibrant local Catholic community and interacted with other young adults active in their faith. She participated in the Diocese of Joliet’s Catholic Soccer Camp, which later became part of Catholic Sports Camps and had as chaplain a former professional soccer player, Father Chase Hilgenbrinck.

Playing next in Finland, Yenney found a limited Catholic presence, and this yielded more time for her personal spiritual development, prayer and reading of the Scriptures.

In the first part of 2020, COVID presented U.S. soccer players with many challenges, including travel restrictions and budget issues, and left Yenney without a club or place to play. After nearly two years of not playing professionally, Yenney admitted she was “ready to throw in the towel”; then, out of the blue in the fall of 2021, she was contacted to join a new professional women’s soccer team in Turkey.

Before long, she headed to Istanbul as part of the Fenerbahçe Sports Club.

“I didn’t know anything about Turkey, but the whole experience turned out to be such a blessing,” Yenney said. “I quickly fell in love with Istanbul and its rich history. There is so much Christian history in Turkey that it really enriched my faith. And learning about another religion [Islam] … was really meaningful. Although I didn’t get to have the kind of conversations and dialogue I really wanted to, it did help me to see the unity of all of us. That’s been one of my favorite things about the places I’ve visited: making connections and finding the similarities between people. It’s been God’s grace at work in every place I’ve been.”

S P O R T S / S E P T E M BE R 2022 | 29

“I never would have been able to continue on this journey without God’s presence and guidance. Being a professional athlete can be quite isolating; there are so many moments of uncertainty and times when you question your value and your worth. My relationship with God has been the one thing that I knew I had. It’s a reminder that my identity isn’t based on what club I’m signed with or how well I’m doing on a team, but on how God sees me,” she said.

Amid her travels, support from home has helped keep her faith strong. Her parents are active members at St. Patrick Parish in Troy, where Yenney attends Mass when she’s home and where she has a huge fan in its pastor, Father Eric Bowman.

“Erin is my favorite soccer player,” he said. “I love this awesome spiritual daughter. What I love most is her beautiful faith and the manner in which she lives that faith. She would send me messages from her

time in Turkey from the spiritual pilgrimage sites.”

Yenney has solid advice for other young adults, which is, unsurprisingly, connected to sports and God. “Everyone has tough times that they go through, and that’s what I love about sports, especially soccer,” she said. “It gives you practice for life. Every time you’re presented with a challenge, even if you fail or make a mistake, it’s the chance to learn, grow and try again. That’s totally related to our faith. God knows we are going to fail, but He’s there to help us to be strong and to continue to come back home to Him. So we need to be resilient believers who are constantly working on our faith, actively seeking God and turning to Him for strength. By doing that, we build resiliency.

We have to be okay with sometimes having a lack of faith, knowing that’s normal and human. But then we come back to God, because He is always seeking us. We just have to turn to Him and be resilient in our belief.”

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St. Catherine of Siena Enochsburg 84th Annual Church Picnic Sunday, September 4 (The Sunday of Labor Day Weekend)

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FINDING CONNECTION Young Adult Catholics Build Friendship Through Community Sports

BY ALLEGRA THATCHER

Whether it’s competitive indoor soccer or Monday evening volleyball, young adults in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati are discovering new sides to their friends through recreation.

In the last few years, young adults stepped into leadership roles on a quest to bring other like-minded young people together for a community activity. The beauty of their efforts lies in the variety of options created.

Catholic school teacher Megan Luiso founded an indoor sports team of Catholics that she says is an incredible source of joy for all the players. “When I played soccer in college, it was the most meaningful community I had there—you’re working together for a common goal. This sport has taught me a lot about community and not living your faith alone,” she said.

She brought that to Cincinnati, forming a team both with people she knew and some she’d never met. Playing four sessions during the year, they’ve advanced from level one to level three. More importantly, they’ve settled into a regular set of friends, who regularly go out for drinks afterwards to socialize. Luiso said it’s a gift to spend that time together outside of just weekly Mass.

“It’s very lonely sometimes, being a young Catholic adult in the workforce,” she said. “The regularity of this team— the fact that you can depend on people to show up—it’s just nice to know that we’re not alone in our beliefs.”

A similar story lies behind the explosion of young adult

volleyball teams this summer. Mary Peach, a religion teacher, said she’s enjoyed getting to know more about her Catholic friends outside of Bible studies and prayeroriented settings. She and a few friends from St. Cecilia Parish learned her friend Nicholas Thorvaldson was forming a team to play in leagues at The Sandbar.

John David Kimes, director of young adult ministry at St. Cecilia Parish, was instrumental in reviving the “Sunday Sports Play” group in 2022 after COVID-19. On Sundays, young adults play pickup-style games reminiscent of college intramural sports. Kimes said it’s ideal because it’s an easy entry point, and people want to meet others in their age range with similar interests.

“I think there’s a bonding experience that comes from doing things together, especially for the complementarity for guys and girls,” he said. “Even if they aren’t good at sports, or super athletic, the majority of people are there for fun.”

Evan Atkins moved to Cincinnati a year and a half ago and said he was attracted to the group for using recreation to bring the Church into “areas of our lives that we’ve given to secularism.” Doing everyday things with a Catholic perspective unites participants.

“It’s easier to be more intentional about your faith when you’re more disciplined physically and mentally, and sports helps with both ... . Any time you can increase these gifts God gave us, that applies directly into your faith life,” said Atkins.

S P O R T S / S E P T E M BE R 2022 | 31

CATH O LIC A T HO ME

Life Beyond the Finish Line Watching the Olympics is a passionate experience. It’s intense, witnessing the world’s most excellent athletes drive themselves to mind-blowing achievements. In 2012, I saw Oscar Pistorius rise to greatness, racing without lower legs. This year, I witnessed Shaun White defy gravity on his snowboard. Their talent is incredible and I’ll never understand devoting the physical exertion spent throughout one’s life in order to win the crown. I’ve maintained a pretty jack-of-all-trades approach to the activities in mine—my life is dotted with brief appearances on athletic courts, as well as stints in dance, instrument performance and theater.

Because of my short attention span for hobbies while growing up, I watch sports with an occasional twinge of regret. Seeing athletes my age and younger possess skill they honed over excruciating hours of hard work and dedication, I fall into comparing my non-athleticism with their excellence and wish I had devoted the same amount of passion to achieve greatness beyond measure.

But then I recall that I’ve been a dedicated participant in a different arena, and one of my favorite Bible passages comes to mind: Do you not know that in a stadium all the runners run the race, but only one wins the prize? Run so as to win. Every athlete exercises discipline in all things. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one. Thus I do not run aimlessly, I do not fight as though I were shadowboxing; No, I drive my body and train it, for fear that, after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified. (1 Cor. 9:24-27) One thing I can attest to loving all my life is Catholicism. My life’s work is in pursuit of the imperishable crown. Striving for Eternal Life calls for focus, lest we “run aimlessly” as St. Paul says. Fortunately for the children of God, the Lord upholds us in our pursuits for holiness and deeply wants us to be saints.

We have no end of opportunities for victory through the sacraments. Just as any athlete chooses healthy food to fuel the body, we have the Eucharist to nourish our souls. The intimacy 3 2 | THE CATHOLIC TE LEGRAPH

we experience with Jesus in Holy Communion is an incredible miracle afforded to us so frequently that it seems more commonplace than extraordinary; yet this heavenly food offers grace upon grace that every one of us needs for life. “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life within you” (Jn. 6:53).

Similarly, the Sacrament of Reconciliation is rejuvenating. In purging our souls of sin and receiving the Lord’s forgiveness, we can both receive and reflect Jesus more naturally. We’re healed in the Confessional from the sickness of sin because of God’s infinite mercy, which empowers us to live in His image and likeness.

Any athlete will tell you rest is as paramount as work, yet both take equal amounts of self-discipline. Careers, marriage, parenting and living in this world call for a level of devotion that feels beyond us.

A devotion I feel God calling me to carry out is adoration.

Sitting in the presence of God is an experience of restorative rest that makes self-giving much easier. When I began to tap into this, I recognized two realities: that I had been running on fumes and that time spent with Jesus empowers me to do anything.

The best way for us to run so as to win is taking advantage of the Sacraments of Confession and Holy Eucharist, and to avail ourselves of a ready relationship with God. Struggle is inevitable, but what separates Olympians from spectators is grit: determination to rise, stay the course and refocus. With my heart fixed on life beyond the finish line, I hope to receive a heavenly crown for the glory of God. KATIE SCIBA is a national speaker and Catholic Press Awardwinning columnist. Katie has been married for 14 years and is blessed with six children.

IS YOUR PARISH RUNNING LIKE A B Y D O M IN ICK ALBANO

resources in service of the parish’s greater mission: They don’t waste people, finances or other resources.

Is your parish running like a little league team or a major league team?

3. Keeping Score

You might not think winning matters much when it comes to your Catholic parish, but winning a baseball game is far less important than winning a soul for Christ. Let’s take a look at four differences between running a little league team and a major league team and at how you can be sure your parish is striving to “run so as to win” (1 Cor. 9:24).

Major League Teams: Everything is measured against the score. The goal and purpose is to win—to score more than the other team. If something doesn’t drive in runs or prevent the other team from doing so, then it doesn’t matter. Period.

1. Setting Goals

Little League Teams: At best, a little league team’s goals are for everyone to have a nice time, enjoy the game, learn a little bit and have some fun. In reality, everyone is watching out for their own kid and self-interests. Some just want to have fun, some want to be competitive, some only care that their kid has a good day, etc.

Major League Teams: There is one constant and unchanging team goal: Win—and no individual desire is placed ahead of that goal. If you perform poorly, you are expected to work to improve; you will get help from coaches, but a player who can’t improve will be replaced.

The best parishes set clear goals, measure performance and hold people accountable. They don’t allow an individual’s needs to be placed ahead of the parish’s needs. Can this get tricky?

Absolutely. Holding people accountable is rarely comfortable, and people will disagree about goals and objectives. But if you aim for nothing, then that’s exactly what you’ll hit.

2. Positions and Playing Time

Little League Teams: Every kid gets a chance to play every position, regardless of ability.

Major League Teams: Everyone specializes in one position. It might be a secondary position or a ‘utility’ player, but the best players have one specialty and stick to it to best utilize their skills and talents to win the game.

Like a major league team, the best parishes align their

Little League Teams: At the youngest ages, we don’t keep score.

Everyone is just there to have fun.

The best parishes keep score. If you don’t keep score, you’ll never know what it means to win. Major league parishes don’t let ideas, events, strategies, or initiatives get by without serious scrutiny. I’ve been at parish events where 50 people from the 2,000-family parish showed up and no one ever said: “Hey, that right there, that didn’t work. Let’s figure out what went wrong so it doesn’t happen again.” Instead we get clichés: “Well, quality over quantity” and “Ministry isn’t really about the numbers.”

4. Keeping Statistics

Little League Teams: Teams keep rudimentary statistics at best, and those aren’t usually shared with players or parents.

Major League Teams: No other sport is as obsessed with statistics as Major League Baseball. Everything someone does on the field is scrutinized. Every action on the field is measured, recorded, analyzed and evaluated for improvement.

The best parishes measure performance so they know what is working and what isn’t. They track numbers, such as attendance, giving, participation and volunteer hours. They can identify best practices and opportunities for improvement, because they know!

Everyone wants to belong to a major league parish. Communities thrive when there is a clear goal, resources are aligned to achieving that goal, everyone knows what is meant by a “win” and every effort is analyzed for continuous improvement. If you aren’t sure whether your parish is a major league parish just yet, now is a perfect opportunity to step up to the plate and help.

Batter up!

S P O R T S / S E P T E MBE R 2022 | 33

BOOK REVIEW

The Genesis of Gender On Love, Friendship and Becoming the Person God Created You to Be

By Abigail Favale REVIEWED BY DR. KENNETH CRAYCRAFT

As recently as 10 years ago, very few people expected that we would have serious public debates in 2022 about what pronouns to use for people; whether public schools could be compelled to allow boys to use girls’ restrooms; if 14-year-old children should be permitted to have mutilating surgery on healthy organs; or the fairness of forcing women to compete against men in athletic competitions. Yet each of these issues is among the most heated and broadly debated in American public life. All of these problems are related to a revolutionary movement by some people for how they want us to think about sex and gender. Or, perhaps more accurately, the problems are related to the separation of gender from biological sex. How did we get here?

practice,” she explains. “We live and move and have our trysts in a contraceptive society, where the visible sexual markers of our bodies no longer gesture toward new life, but signal the prospect of sterile pleasure.” When procreation is separated from sexual organs and impulses, it is not a long step to a theory that sexual organs are incidental to what it means to be a man or a woman. From there it is a shorter step to gender “identity” being entirely separate from sexual physiology.

In her 2019 article, “The Rise of Gender by the Eclipse of Sex” (in Notre Dame’s online Church Life Journal), Dr. Abigail Favale outlined the intellectual history of the physiological sex’s separation from gender identity. By analyzing the rise of certain forms of feminism that contend gender is nothing more than a description of social roles or cultural expectations, she perceptively traced the genealogy of contemporary “gender theory” or “gender ideology.”

This is one of several cultural shifts that have given rise to gender ideology, which produced the breathtaking rise in transgender identification. Dr. Favale contends that gender ideology did not arise as an explanation of transgenderism, but rather, she persuasively argues, the rise of transgenderism is caused by gender ideology. A theory that separates sexual physiology from personhood, when applied to a person struggling with gender identity and roles, has exponentially increased the number of adolescents (especially girls) who identify as transgender. Sexual incongruence is nothing new, Dr. Favale argues; however, the separation of physiology from sexual identity is. And when applied to dysphoria, this separation leads to the transgender crisis.

Dr. Favale has expanded that article into a brilliant book-length treatment of this issue in The Genesis of Gender: A Christian Theory. Deftly combining personal anecdote, literary analysis, social theory and Christian theology, The Genesis of Gender is a necessary resource when considering the current crisis of gender dysphoria, transgenderism and gender ideology from a Catholic Christian perspective.

Dr. Favale does not merely critique, but instead advocates the recovery of a Christian anthropology as an answer to the rise of gender ideology. A review of this length cannot do justice to the entire argument, but it is the forum by which I very highly recommend The Genesis of Gender as a clear explanation and analysis of the crisis in gender and sexuality. This is truly an important book.

“It is difficult to underestimate the impact of widespread contraception on our culture, in terms of both thought and

The Genesis of Gender: A Christian Theory by Abigail Favale;

3 4 | THE CATHOLIC TE LEGRAPH

Ignatius Press; $17.95; 258 pages; published June 2022

Written by Gail Finke Illustrated by Emma Cassani 1852

St. Sebastian parish formed for German-speaking parishioners of St. Rose and St. John the Baptist parishes. Traveling Precious Blood Fathers celebrated Mass.

1853

Did you know St. Sebastian Church in Celina (according to parish legend) was built on the spot where boys found a piece of wood from a felled tree that reminded them of the outlines of a church? Their father, farmer Albert Stammen, is supposed to have said, “If Almighty God wants a church here, He will see to it that it gets built.”

Temporary church built. The name was proposed by the oldest parishioner, Sebastian Schraner.

1879

Brick church, designed by Anton DeCurtins, built.

1894

Parishioners from Chickasaw (a mile and a half away) wished to form a separate parish, built their own hall, designated it a “chapel of ease” for people who could not travel.

1903

Following years of infighting between three factions, St. Sebastian Church burned to the ground a week before its golden jubilee. Foul play suspected.

1steeple, making St. Sebastian one of the many churches and related buildings in the 38.4-mile “Land of the Cross-Tipped Churches” Ohio Scenic Byway

1904

Chickasaw and Montezuma split from the parish. St. Sebastian rebuilt on the original site by Andrew DeCurtins (son of the original architect) from red-pressed brick in Gothic Revival style.

2 hearts: The parish holds a First Friday and First Saturday Vigil of Two Hearts (the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary)

1906

Three Precious Blood parishes, including St. Sebastian, are ceded to the archdiocese.

1908

Double-pipe organ, by HannWangerin Weickhardt Organ Co. of Milwaukee, dedicated. Pittsburgh industrialist and philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie, donated $1,000 toward the organ’s $2,500 cost.

1979

St. Sebastian Church and rectory added to the National Register of Historic Places, along with more than 30 properties associated with the Society of the Precious Blood.

ST. SEBASTIAN Devotion to St. Sebastian was well-known by the mid-300s. According to legend he was a deacon who joined the Roman army to serve martyrs in secret, but when found out, he was tied to a tree and shot by Mauretanian archers. St. Irene healed him; however, he then rebuked Emperor Diocletian, who had him clubbed to death. People sought his intercession against the plague in the middle ages.

More recently he has been claimed as a patron of athletes because he is frequently depicted as young and fit (but shot through with arrows).

13 stained-glass windows: 12 vertical windows depict the life of Jesus and several saints, an additional window over the altar depicts St. Sebastian (additional windows are floral) “During the daylight hours, especially when the sun is shining, five long stainedglass windows on each side are the most beautiful colors and the light inside the church is incredible.”

– Deacon Steven Broering

D ID Y O U K N O W ? / S E PT E MBE R 2022 | 35

Saints of the Eucharist

Mother Teresa of Calcutta was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu on Aug. 26, 1910, in North Macedonia. After her father died when she was eight, Agnes grew closer to her mom, who taught her to love the Catholic faith and how to lovingly serve the poor.

At 18, Agnes pursued a vocation with the Sisters of Loreto, where she received the name of one of her most beloved saints: St. Therese of Lisieux. On May 24, 1937, she professed final vows to forever become known as Mother Teresa. She embodied perseverance, service to others and profound joy.

In her early years, she taught at St. Mary’s school for Girls in Calcutta. When she was 36, God gave Mother Teresa a strong desire to serve the poorest of the poor in that city. She left the Sisters to found her own Order, the Missionaries of Charity, and later helped found four 3 6 | THE CATHOLIC TE LEGRAPH

other Missionaries of Charity orders for men, women and priests.

She had a special connection to our Lord in the Eucharist, drawing strength from daily reception. She wrote, “If we have our Lord in the midst of us, with daily Mass and Holy Communion, I fear nothing for the Sisters nor myself; He will look after us. ” She had serious health issues near the end of her life and was criticized by others—but she kept going. Before Mother Teresa died in 1997 at 87, 4,000 women were Missionaries of Charity Sisters, serving the poor around the globe.

Mother Teresa is patron of the Missionaries of Charity and World Youth Day. Her feast day is September 5.

St. Teresa of Calcutta, pray for us!

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“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”

Agnes Calcutta Charity Joy Mother

What small things can you do to spread Christ’s love and joy?

Poor Serve Sister Teresa Thirst Vow Youth K ID S ’ CO R N E R / S E P T E M B E R 2022 | 37

POPE ST. JOHN PAUL II’S THEOLOGY OF THE BODY

An Integral Vision of Man This article is part of an ongoing series on Pope St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body (TOB).

For many months now, we have explored Pope St. John Paul II’s reflections on “original man” (i.e., man and woman before the Fall). We pondered original solitude, original unity and original nakedness, as well as marriage as the primordial sacrament, the spousal meaning of the body, and the logic of gift. Before we go to the next major topic of Theology of the Body (TOB), it may be useful to revisit the overall purpose and structure of the late pope’s reflections.

Through his pastoral ministry as a priest and bishop, Pope St. John Paul II was well aware of the questions faced by men and women today: Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? How can I find fulfillment? What is love? He was also well acquainted with the myriad of ethical dilemmas facing modern man as our technological mastery of nature—including the human body—has grown exponentially in the last 100 years.

In the 1960s, he was deeply involved in the Church’s deliberations regarding contraception, and he served as a key theological advisor to Pope St. Paul VI who, in 1968, reiterated the Church’s perennial teaching on the immorality of contraception in his encyclical letter Humanae vitae.

However, Paul VI recognized that in order to receive this teaching fully, modern man needs to see how it corresponds to his nature and his good. In this regard, Pope St. Paul VI spoke of the need for “an integral vision of man” and sketched aspects of this vision. However, he left it to his brother priests, bishops and theologians to develop and expound such a vision that supports not only the Church’s 3 8 | THE CATHOLIC TELE GRAPH

teaching against contraception, but all of her teachings in the area of sexual ethics, which are increasingly held in suspicion or even scorn.

Desiring to help develop such “an integral vision of man” that could answer the existential questions of contemporary men and women and show them the truth and beauty of Catholic moral teaching, Pope St. John Paul II wrote his TOB reflections. He used the phrase “theology of the body” as a working title because it is impossible to understand what it means to be human without pondering the human body, which is intrinsic to who we are. Even more, he saw in the Incarnation of Christ how the human body plays a central role in salvation history. That is why he remarked: “The fact that theology also includes the body should not astonish or surprise anyone who is conscious of the mystery and reality of the Incarnation. Through the fact that the Word of God became flesh, the body entered theology… I would say, through the main door” (TOB 23:4).

In TOB, Pope St. John Paul II followed the example of Christ in his response to questions from the Sadducees about divorce by appealing to “the beginning” and by quoting the opening pages of Genesis. For this reason, the late pope began TOB by going back to the beginning and pondering “original man” (man and woman before the Fall).

Up to this point, our explorations focused on this portion of TOB. However, the late pope’s reflections did not remain there. To complete his “integral vision of man,” he again followed the example of Christ and reflected on “historical man” (i.e., fallen and redeemed) and “eschatological man” (i.e., in view of the resurrection and eternal glory). After

this three-fold reflection on man, the late pope provided an extensive reflection on marriage’s sacramentality before finally turning to matters of sexual ethics.

Having highlighted the teachings on “original man” in these articles, we will next delve into historical and eschatological man. This deep dive into TOB will not only help us understand and embrace more fully the Church’s teachings on marriage and sexuality, it will also show us how to live fulfilled lives in accord with God’s plan. This is especially true for those called to marriage, as Pope St. John Paul II pointed out: “Those who seek the fulfillment of their own human and Christian vocation in marriage are called first of all to make of this ‘theology of the body’… the content of their lives and behavior” (TOB 23:5).

Let us all—married or otherwise—heed the saintly pope’s words and continue to ponder God’s beautiful design for us through the lens of TOB. DR. ANDREW SODERGREN, MTS, PSY.D. is a Catholic psychologist and director of psychological services for Ruah Woods. He speaks on the integration of psychology and the Catholic faith.He and his wife, Ellie, have five children.

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out & about in the Archdiocese

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1) CTK’s Dailey Wins Music Scholarship Michael Dailey, the Music Director at Christ the King Church in Cincinnati, won first prize in the Strader Organ Scholarship Competition at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Dailey will begin a Master’s degree program in organ performance in August.

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2) Dayton Student Wins Big Art Prize Carroll High School student Emma Williams was awarded a National Gold Medal for her oil painting “The Freedom of Being Young” and attended a reception with the other winners at Carnegie Hall in New York! More than 100,000 students submitted more than 260,000 works of art and writing to the 2022 Scholastic Awards.

3 3) Dominicans Play Bluegrass Concert The Hillbilly Thomists & Easter Rising played a contert at St. Gertrude Parish Center. This summer concert event was hosted by The Angelico Project.

4 4) Patriotic Rosary in White Oak St. James the Greater in White Oak held its annual 4th of July Patriotic Rosary to pray for our country and religious freedom. The rosary was held in the parish’s Marian Life garden where the 15-foot rosary was displayed.

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ACROSS 1 Sts. Simon and ___ 5 Does a car repair job 10 Letters for a police call 14 Autumn birthstone 15 Take to the soapbox 16 Landlocked African nation 17 ___ Ground 18 Angered 19 Spoiled child 20 Vane reading 21 A biblical sea 22 Middle Easterners 23 Direction from Nazareth to Jerusalem 25 Tax 28 Chairman with a “Little Red Book” 29 Deal out sparingly 30 Winter worry 33 Celestial being 36 Shrewd 38 Patron saint of France 39 Lucifer 40 A nobleman 41 Describes leadership succession in the Church 43 Interviewer, often 44 Norse goddess 45 Pundit’s page 46 There have been 13 popes with this name

47 Lyric poems 48 Fred Flintstone’s wife 50 Source of chocolate 53 Lather 54 OT book 57 French protest cry 58 Fragment 60 Ready, willing and ___ 61 City southeast of Milan 62 Biblical animal of transport 63 Prod 64 Forfeiture 65 Sierra ___ 66 “___ time…”

DOWN 1 St. ___ of God 2 Atop 3 Valleys 4 English cathedral town 5 Marian litany 6 David married his widow 7 Like Michael Jordan 8 Parisian season 9 But, to Ovid 10 Place for sacred vessels 11 Monetary unit of Yugoslavia 12 Reveal indiscreetly 13 Obeys a basic canine command

21 Double 22 ___ plaisir 24 Auguries 25 Reasoning 26 Israel’s airline 27 Prince of India 29 He succeeded Saul 30 Number of horsemen in Revelation 31 Patron saint of lace makers 32 Consumers 34 Informal refusal 35 London jail 36 Graf rival 37 “Piece of cake,” for example 39 Narcotic 42 Commotion 43 Our Lady, ___ of Christians 46 Legally responsible 47 Patriarch respite, perhaps 48 They were first to see the empty tomb 49 Boss monk 50 Vocation 51 Peek-___ 52 Ill-bred fellows 53 Form of wrestling 55 Mr. Greenspan 56 Repeat 58 250, to Caesar 59 “Norma ___” 60 Muslim title of honor

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S E PT E M BE R 2022 | 41

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THE FINAL WORD with Father Thomas Wray

Bengals Nation Catholics Why do we love sports?

We are primed for the Sept. 11 Bengals Opening Day game.

As the defending AFC North Champions, we’ll take on the Steelers, and our players will don the white Bengals helmets— which makes this a natural moment to review the perennially confusing question: can we really “pray for a Bengals win?”

As the Cincinnati Bengals Catholic Chaplain, my answer regarding prayers for sports teams is “that depends on your intention!” If your desired outcome is an online wager or Fantasy Football standing, no, that’s not cool. If it’s for something larger, however, involving the vocation and dignity of the players or the celebration of the common good, then chances are it’s a solidly Catholic prayer.

Recall that both athletes and the prayers of those who cheer for them are imaged positively and consistently in both Sacred Scripture and Tradition. “Run with endurance the race set before you,” teaches St. Paul. “Remember you are God’s athlete,” said St. Ignatius of Antioch. We don’t pray for a win per se, but we do pray that God will grace the athletes with the skill to play generously and well; to give the best of themselves to the team, their opponents, and the fans, and to achieve their heart’s desire—which, of course, is often to win.

St. John Paul the Great famously taught that the human body “speaks a language.” My experience of elite football players and coaches is that they intuitively get this reality. They know they are a unity of both body and soul. They get that athletic competition is a God-given pathway for them to honor and offer up their unique talents for the common good.

St. Thomas Aquinas famously asked in the Summa Theologica, “Can there be a virtue about games?” His answer: “Yes.” For St. Thomas, virtue is associated with balance in life, so working or studying all the time is unbalanced. There is a God-given need for sabbath, play and recreation to “reset” a fully human life.

4 2 | THE CATHOLIC TELE G RAPH

This “play ethic” was the central influence on late medieval Catholic preaching about games and sports. It led early Jesuits to respond to Calvinist distortions about the human person, whereby the latter eliminated “feast days” when students historically played games and sports. Authentic education, the Jesuits taught, should provide time in the school day for play and sport. Later Catholics vigorously embraced this spirituality, especially in the U.S. Pope Francis is himself a famous sports fan, and he invites us to envision sports as a prime expression of the New Evangelization. The first major Vatican document about sports, “Giving the Best of Yourself,” quotes the Pope’s affirmation of this deeply biblical and Catholic vision of athletics as a worthy transmitter of Gospel values. In his address to members of the European Olympic Committee on November 23, 2013, the Pope essentially expressed that the bond between the Church and the world of sports is beautiful. Sports are a powerful instrument for the integral growth of the human person.

To participate in sports is to reject every form of selfishness and isolation. It is an opportunity to encounter others. This is possible because the language of sports is universal; it transcends borders, race, religion and ideology; it can unite people, it fosters dialogue and acceptance. Sports are a very valuable resource!

So Bengals Nation Catholics, by all means, let’s enjoy these 16 (and hopefully more) games of the Bengals 2022 season, giving thanks to God that, whether we’re at Paul Brown Stadium or cheering from our homes, sports so clearly and passionately express what it means to be human, to celebrate together, and to enjoy a culture of encounter.

FATHER THOMAS WRAY is the Catholic Chaplain for the Cincinnati Bengals and Parochial Vicar for All Saints and St. Vincent Ferrer Churches in Cincinnati.

The Since the first interment in 1948 here at Gate of

Come visit us and view our New Columbaria:

Heaven Cemetery, of The Archdiocese of Cincinnati,

Baptism of Christ and Dorothea’s Angel

these 160 acres of sacred ground have been cared for daily, with pride and compassion, season to season, and will continue until Jesus returns. Gate of Heaven Cemetery, is sacred not only because of consecration, but because it holds the relics of many who are already enjoying the beatific vision. We are committed to your family and your friends, living and deceased. We invite you to visit, to laugh, to cry, to sing, to pray, to remember, to smile and to love.

Schedule a time for one of our next Pre-Planning Seminars: 2pm or 6pm on Oct 18th or Dec 13th 2022

Upcoming Events: Get involved in our 2023 Photo Contest starting this autumn! • Mark your calendar for the 2nd Annual Advent Concert “Tidings of Comfort and Joy” on December 1st at 7pm.

This holy cemetery is for prayer, for service, for memory, and for renewed purpose where...

LIFE is remembered, LOVE is deepened, HOPE is rekindled, FAITH is awakened, renewed and strengthened, THE BODY OF CHRIST UNITS US!

gateofheaven.org • 513-489-0300 facebook.com/gateofheavencemetery

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100 E. 8th St. • Cincinnati, OH 45202

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