Consecrating Competition: Sports, Catholic Culture, & New Evangelization

Introduction

On July 27th, 2015, the temperature was a steamy 97 degrees in Memphis, Tennessee. It was the first day that practices were allowed to begin again for high school football teams and their upcoming season. Not daring to miss one opportunity to improve their conditioning and skill, the East High School football team began their practices for the season at 10:00 AM in full football gear, including protective padding and helmets. By 11:00 AM, the heat index reading was 103 degrees. Around this same time, news media outlets around the region began to break a story that one of these football players, who was under 18 years old, was rushed to a local children’s hospital for heat exhaustion (WREG Report). According to the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA), the governing body of all high school athletics programs throughout the state, when there is a “heat index of 105 degrees or more: Stop all outside activity including practice or play” (TSSAA Board of Control Statement). Fortunately, the young athlete received adequate medical attention and will make a full recovery. However, while he was being treated in the hospital, an odd scene continued at the East High practice fields… the practice continued.

Despite the rigid legalism of the coaching staff’s adherence to the TSSAA’s minimum heat control policy, something deeper is at work in this story; an undercurrent of misplaced priority. Is winning a game worth the health (and possibly life) of the athletes who animate the game itself? What does this attitude (among a plethora of others just as shocking) reveal about the importance of sports in American culture? Can sports be valuable apart from their mere entertainment value, and if so, how can we ensure that the value is “good”? In this essay, I will argue that the phenomena of sports (particularly in American culture) can be harnessed as a ‘vehicle’ or ‘conduit’ for the transmission of Catholic identity as well as a primary tool of “the new evangelization” in terms of the propagation of the faith.

Sports as Cultural Phenomena

When listing major cultural facets of American life, it would be intellectually irresponsible to neglect sports and athletics from such a list. On average, the three primary professional athletic organizations in the United States alone (which include the NBA [basketball], NFL [football], and the MLB [baseball]) gross more than four hundred and seventy billion dollars a year in revenue. This figure, assessed by a consulting firm known as Plunkett Research in 2012, does not factor in college sports, high school and youth sports, or even the world’s largest sport – which has a surprisingly small following in the U.S. – soccer.

Given these statistics, not only can it be inferred that a significant portion of the U.S. economy is driven by sports entertainment, but also, that it [sport-culture] must be widely disseminated among multiple demographics and popularly consumed. Casual observers need not look very far to notice that “sport is a national obsession” (ACSJC, 3) such that it, “whether by deliberate design or happenstance, has achieved a stature not wholly unlike that of traditional religions” (Edwards, 260). In his book, Game Day and God: Football, Faith, and Politics in the American South, Dr. Eric Bain-Selbo examines this in greater detail, ultimately making a strong case that “college football does function religiously for many people in the South” (IJRS, 54). So much so is this a reality that many Southern Americans will actually schedule religious ceremonies or sacraments such as weddings, funerals, and baptisms around the schedule of their favorite sports’ teams. In cases such as this, the wise words of St. John Paul II echo out a call for reflection. The Pontiff wrote:

“When Sunday loses its fundamental meaning and becomes subordinate to a secular concept of ‘weekend’ dominated by entertainment and sport, people stay locked within a horizon so narrow that they can no longer see the heavens” (Address to Australian Bishops, 2004).

The Church’s Interest in Sport

It was St. John Paul II who earned the popular title, “The Sportsman’s Pope,” given his personal interest in athletic participation and his focus on the deeper spiritual values inherent in its animation by human persons. Fueled undoubtedly by his own positive, holistic experiences with sports from adolescence to adulthood, he called in 2004, for the creation of a new office in the Roman Curia under the ecclesial jurisdiction of the Pontifical Council for the Laity. This new office would be known as the “Church and Sport Section” and would serve out its mission in a variety of ways, two of which, have particular significance for the aims of this essay. Among the five primary goals of the “Church and Sport Section” are: i.) “To diffuse the teachings of the Church regarding sport and to promote the study and research of various themes of sport, especially those of an ethical nature” and ii.) “To promote a culture of sport in harmony with the true dignity of the human person through youth educational initiatives” (Lixey, 75).

Through the first goal, I would argue, the Church seeks to transmit the inherent spiritual, theological, and ethical dimensions of sport such that others will come to view even these activities, typically perceived as profane, as having a sacred dimension. This view is one that is counter-cultural in that “it requires one to recognize and evaluate its implicit ethos, to look beyond the immediate excitement of the game” (Hoffman, 13) and into that which “is always about something other than itself” (Turnau, 45).

There is a current in sporting culture today wherein some believe religion, spirituality, and philosophy should remain divorced and separate from the thrill, the competition, and the “edge” of sports because of the possibility that “prayer softens players” (Price, 63). In no place is this undercurrent more evident than in the 2001 case of Kansas City Royals manager, Tony Muser, who said to his baseball team after their disappointing loss, “Chewing on cookies and drinking milk and praying is not going to get the job done” (The Topeka Capital Journal). After coming under some fire – especially from sports ministers, clergy, and other faithful – he apologized for the words he chose, but clearly mentioned that he makes no apology for the message he intended to send. The Church’s goal to research, investigate, and sort of “reorient” the ethical nature of sports participation would certainly have been useful in Muser’s situation, to say the least. A more mindful view into sports participation and the attitudes which correlate to such mindfulness may have prevented such a negative view of the role of spirituality and religion in sports. This would support the Church’s desire to transmit a more Catholic (or catholic) worldview – one wherein God is not viewed as needing to be utterly divorced from sports for fear that His compassion might “soften” the athletes, but rather as their Source of strength; and who is, as St. Augustine would contend, “more interior” to them than they are unto themselves.

In terms of the second goal, it can be argued that the Church seeks to “harness” to collective power of sport as a cultural phenomenon such that what is consumed by the culture might be more virtuous and less scandalous, or “negatively impressionable” on the youth who are the future of the Church. The idea here is that human beings – and thus how we develop and that outgrowth; namely, our actions – are products of the culture in which we are raised or grow up. For example, a majority of young athletes today emulate the actions or attitudes of professional athletes in one form or another. This is a sort of “cultural conditioning” that is ongoing and is, sometimes, “spiritually destructive.” That said, the Church notices the powerful grasp that sporting culture has throughout the world – especially in the United States – and so are interested in cultivating within that culture a new means of spreading the Gospel message of Love, peace, and justice. In theory (and, I would add, in reality), a sporting culture which comes to play, compete, and model itself after Christ as their example would be one much better for personal emulation. To spread the Gospel is, essentially, to evangelize. Thus, it is here that we must interrogate what is meant when both Popes Benedict XVI and Francis have called for a “new evangelization.”

The New Evangelization

The Catholic tradition is replete with phrases and references concerning various abstract doctrinal, moral, or theological teachings which lay faithful for the most part cannot in any certain terms define. One classic example of this is the phrase, “Communion of Saints.” Of more recent time, a phrase coined by Popes Benedict XVI and Francis is “the new evangelization.” Many within the Church automatically assume this term has much to do with new means of spreading the Gospel (e.g.: using social media, through literature, via film and television or other facets of popular culture). While there is some truth to this belief, the “new evangelization,” technically refers to another issue of importance within the Church – and, as I will argue for the purposes of this essay, one that can be especially assisted via the popular cultural phenomenon of sports.

The “new evangelization” is an effort “to reach out to alienated Catholics who in many cases have become secularized” (Allen, 2). Stated more simply, it aims to “bring back into the fold” Catholics who have fallen away from regular practice of their faith or become distanced in their relationship to the Church. According to statistics compiled by the National Catholic Reporter, an independent newspaper covering topics of interest to Catholics, in 2013, “The Church drops four members for every one member it gains” (Allen, 3). The report of the statistics goes on to explain that were it not for Hispanic immigration into the U.S., the numbers would have been in even more drastic decline for several years. All that said, it begs the question: Of what concern is this in terms of Catholic culture in sports?

In 2012, when the faithful first began to hear language in reference to the “new evangelization,” the famed Jesuit publication, America Magazine released a groundbreaking article simply titled, “Why They Left.” In this article was an exploration into the popular reasons as to why people lapsed away from the Catholic Church. Among the most popular answers were individuals’ concerns over many social issues, including the role of the laity in the Church; spiritual needs not being closely enough addressed; boring homilies or ritual; and, of course, an overabundance of requests for financial support (cf. Byron & Zech, 2012).

Though it may seem farfetched at first to parallel the two, let us consider that Church attendance, participation, and membership is as much a matter of community and feeling a “sense of home” as are the fan-followings of many athletic franchises or teams. Throughout the world, common aspects of Catholic identity cause persons to feel a “sense of home” or at least a familiarity. For example, if one is traveling abroad in a country wherein Mass is performed in a language the traveler cannot speak, the traveler will at least be cognizant of what is occurring at which parts of the Mass because of the uniform nature of the liturgy. Similarly, if a person is traveling away from home and they notice someone wearing a jersey or fan-shirt for a team the traveler is also passionate about, the traveler might feel an inclination to begin a conversation with the stranger based on the uniform nature of their interest – or “membership,” if you will, in the fan-base of the same team. Allow us to explore this analogy even further: The America Magazine article revealed a similarity in reasons for why persons chose to leave the Catholic Church and that similarity was rooted in social issues. Members of a loyal sporting fan-base rarely abandon support of their teams because of issues like those which caused the faithful to leave the Church. I would argue that the Church could stand to “take notes” from whatever is so effective in regards to the retention rate of sporting fan-bases.

Consider this: A popular reason as to why faithful lapsed from the faith included their feeling constantly “hit up” for financial contributions. Is it inconceivable to believe that many of the same persons in the pews on Sunday mornings had not spent both Saturday evening and their hard-earned money paying for their seats at a sporting event? The franchise, college team, or event arena asks the patrons / fans for a financial contribution in exchange for their leisure or entertainment via the sporting event. The argument may well be, for many, that a sporting event is more entertaining than a Mass liturgy, but in such a case, how might the Church remedy that? Let us examine another one of the issues for the lapsed Catholics in light of sport. If we suppose, in analogical fashion, that the athletes being observed and cheered for by their spectators are like the priests in our liturgical celebrations and the spectators, like the laity in the pews, then we truly have a “game changer.”

In this view, there can be no doubt as to the importance of the role of the laity in the Church. In sports, athletes are “fueled” or inspired to persevere or perform to their greatest abilities by the cheering of their spectators. How much more enthusiastically might a priest celebrate Mass or preach a captivating homily if only his spectators (the laity) were as enthusiastic – in positive ways, of course – as sporting spectators. Later in this essay, I will outline some practical suggestions as to how the Church might harness the cultural power of sports as a means of recovering those we have “lost along the way.” In this way, readers might begin to notice how the Church will learn from sports. However, it would prove beneficial now to examine in greater depth how sports can learn from the Church, especially considering many of the ways in which “sports are in need of redemption” (Mazza, 65).

Sports & Redemptive Suffering

Hearken back, if you will, to the way in which this essay opened, with the example of the East High football players being forced to practice in excessive heat. One might argue that in that case, the suffering the athletes were made to endure at the hands of their extremely legalistic coaches was cruel and misplaced. Be that as it may, there are ways in which sports can impart valuable lessons to both their participants and spectators. One such way is by providing a concrete example of what Catholic-Christian theology calls, redemptive suffering. During the civil rights marches orchestrated bravely by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a number of persons of faith – and not all of the Christian faith – took up the cause along with him. Rabbi Abraham Heschel, who marched at Dr. King’s side in Selma, said, “Today, I prayed with my legs as I walked” (Groff, 142). Runners know well the truth of Rabbi Hechel’s statement. Any athlete with even the slightest practical experience would likely attest that their participation in their respective sport – and especially the training associated with it – is not always easy. It demands a great deal of dedication, sacrifice, discipline, and suffering.

In the Catholic tradition, while if many are being honest, suffering is likely not viewed favorably, it is, nevertheless, viewed as reality – and one over which we can triumph in Christ. Jesus Himself, as noted in the Gospels (cf. Matthew 26:39; Luke 22:42), even prayed that He be delivered from the suffering of Crucifixion He had to endure. St. John Paul II, speaking in his homily for the Jubilee for the World of Sports in the year 2000, alluded to Christ’s very own example, calling Him the “true athlete of God” who “teaches us that in order to enter into glory we must first undergo suffering” (L’ Osservatore Romano, 1).

That said, in the experiences of ordinary human life, the faithful – not always understanding the mystery of God’s will and plan – may seek meaning for their trials and sufferings be they illness, financial peril, heartbreak, or anxiety. Often in these moments of extreme suffering, many turn to prayer in hopes that God will alleviate their pain. Of great comfort to many who petition God for alleviation to their pain or resolution to their turmoil is the reality of the Incarnation. It is through God’s becoming fully human in the person of His Son that “He meets our needs as one of us and stoops down in the dust of weakness to help us” (Hume, 98). Elsewhere, I have argued that our human sufferings, “if they do not decimate our faith, aid in its building up” (Maranise, 2009; Broadcast). In that way, our sufferings can retrospectively be viewed as something which made us stronger. As athletes train, they tear down their muscles, and it is only by means of that tearing down that they “build up” newer, stronger muscles which can bring them to the glory of championship. Therein the analogical similarity between suffering in sports and suffering in life is one means by which the Church can educate, and thus, disseminate its cultural worldview into the broader sporting context. Suffering, even in sports, can be redemptive and can be consecrated over – just as ordinary human persons might offer their sufferings in life in union with Christ’s pain at the Crucifixion – to God as a unity of both prayer and action; both the active and the contemplative.

Consecrating Competition: The Eucharist & the Sacramentality of Sports

According to the Bishops of the Second Vatican Council, “the celebration of the Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life” (Knight, 115). What makes the Eucharist so extraordinary in the Catholic tradition is the change of substance – transubstantiation – of the profane bread and wine into the sacred Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, as sacrificed on the Cross at Golgotha. Catholics, as David Knight explains, believe that “during the Communion Rite we are present – in fact and not in fantasy – at the wedding banquet of the Lamb” (p. 102). The moment when the bread and wine undergo their transformation is known as the “consecration;” or what many Catholics may know more visually as the moments when the priest elevates the host and chalice and the bells ring. Though maintaining the external appearances of bread and wine, these seemingly ordinary objects are no longer objects; and they are now anything but ordinary.

Because of our finite human limits, we may be unable to see these happenings for what they actually are, hence the importance of their mystery – or abstract nature – being concretized for us through the medium of a Sacrament. In the fifth century, St. Augustine first defined a Sacrament as that which is “an outward sign of an inward grace” (On Catechizing the Uninstructed, n.4). Therefore, Sacraments, or actions which contain within them a sort of “sacramentality” are those which make manifest to the human senses (the perceptible) realities which are beyond the human senses (the imperceptible) by means of signifying or association with tangible things. The key to understanding sacramentality, I maintain, is not in the perceptible signs, but rather in the action – both of what actually occurs in the metaphysical reality as well as in the humanly perceptible signing associated with the reality itself. So, in the Eucharist, Jesus, ACTS in true bodily form by offering Himself again in front of us such that we witness His death, resurrection, and coming again {the metaphysical realities}. We, on the other hand, witness (our action) the elevations of what appears to be bread and wine {the humanely perceptible signing}. If Catholicism is right – as I believe it to be – then Jesus, fully God, and the source of all eternity enters into time and space at the Eucharist. This very action, though metaphysical, “absorbs us into the action not as actors” (Schall, 83), but rather, as inter-actors. Captivated by the experience of Christ truly present, time ceases to be; the world we know and usually perceive becomes the illusion, and instead, we interact with the source of all reality. This is the height of contemplation.

According to the Jesuit scholar, Patrick Kelly, sports, or “play and contemplation share similarities” in that “the liturgy itself is a kind of play” (p.154) based in signified action. In moments of intense focus – whether on the liturgy or on the athletic contest before us – we simultaneously contemplate and act. Arguably, contemplation is itself an action as it is the performance of an activity and action has a contemplative nature in that “our attention is not on ourselves” (Schall, 85). When our attention is directed outside of ourselves – as it is during the consecration of the Eucharist – we are “taken outside of ourselves” and such an “experience eventually takes us to the divinity” (ibid). James Schall (2013) notes that, “The closest that ordinary people come to understanding what is meant by contemplation comes from this experience of being outside themselves in following a game” (p. 86). This is precisely because in the intense spectatorship associated with sports – or the absorption into the performance of the sport if one is the athlete – the person(s) forget about their very being and their attention is totally devoted elsewhere. That said, we “lose ourselves” in both the acts of contemplation and sport. It is precisely when we “lose ourselves” in the mystery of God in the Eucharist, that we ultimately find the slightest inkling of who we really are, namely, persons within whom God dwells and without whom, we would cease to be. Consider, then, that sports “have their own time in which their action occurs along with their own space that includes the spectators” (Schall, 84). The time and space occupied by the athletic activity itself rests outside of, or independent from ordinary linear time. Likewise, so does the Eucharist given that through it, eternity enters into time and space. In the sacramentality of the Eucharist lies the possibility for the Church to “redeem” the world of sport; to harness that cultural retention power and captivate its own audience.

Conclusion: Sport as a Cultural Conduit

Just as an electrical conduit provides a channel for the transmission of electricity so also does sport provide a channel for the transmission of Catholic culture and identity through which we can reach out to those who have lapsed in their Catholic faith. This essay has presented some theories as to how the Church might tap into the cultural power and influence of the sporting world, although much is left for exploration and study. Despite the theoretical framework of this essay, no progress toward the “cultural redemption” of Catholicism can or will ever occur through sports without our answering the call “to join in the action of offering ourselves as members of the body of Christ” (Knight, 93). According to renowned sports and religion scholar, Shirl Hoffman, there has been much “failure of the Christian community to extract from sport the spiritual riches that if offers” (p. 13). That said, I propose that the Catholic Church, with the foundation of the “Church and Sport Section” within the Pontifical Council for the Laity, is on the most ideologically correct track toward extracting and emphasizing those “spiritual riches” which sport offers. This can be done through a three-fold process of i.) Education, ii.) Evangelization, and iii). Consecration.

Educationally-speaking, much more attention, serious academic inquiry, and the wide dissemination of work in the fields of sport-spirituality, sport-philosophy, sport-ethics, sport-theology, and sport-psychology should be taken up in Catholic theological institutions including universities, seminaries, high schools, and middle schools. Further, the Church would do well to promote the reality of these disciplines as serious fields of academic study which for some time have remained sorely neglected. To date, some of the most pioneering research in these respective fields has come from primarily Western and English speaking countries (e.g.: Great Britain, Australia, and the United States), with little published literature apart from the Vatican coming from other nations. Furthermore, it is suggested that the Church – expert in humanity – extend its arm in interdisciplinary fashion toward major sporting organizations (e.g.: NBA, NFL, MLB, etc) in efforts to re-orient or “course correct” the ever-growing trend of the commodification and exploitation of human persons (the athletes that animate sport) for pure profit or collective “win-at-all-costs” attitudes. This should be accomplished through a renewed emphasis on the true (ever ancient-ever new) “spirit” of sports so that rather than being prized only for shameless self-promotion, personal gain, notoriety, or escapism, it may once again “become truly a vehicle of values, and a sphere for fostering a virtuous culture, humanity, and civilization” (Constantini, 50).

In terms of evangelization, the Church should focus first and foremost, as both Popes Benedict XVI and Francis have already called for, on “bringing back into the fold” those faithful who have “gone astray.” There is a remarkable opportunity for the Church to do this utilizing the cultural “grip” that sports already has, especially in the United States. Though their methods, intent, and result may be different than the Catholic Church desires, members of the more evangelically Protestant sects of Christianity have already had great success in their own brand of sports-ministry (e.g.: Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), Athletes in Action (AIA) “especially in light of the fact that [they] have fully embraced the multi-media revolution as a means to communicate their message” (Watson & Parker, 41). However, these organizations generally approach sport from a sola fides – sola scriptura perspective, utilizing sports gatherings as an opportunity for worship and avoiding intellectually substantive discussions of the means by which sport has the inherent opportunity to educate through its very practice and experience. While this is certainly not to be avoided (and should be lauded), I would argue that if we truly wish to influence sporting culture in a more virtuous fashion, we first must appraise and educate its own athletes, coaches, spectators, etc., about its areas of negative concern and also, opportunities for holistic growth and human development – of body, mind, and spirit.

Finally, utilizing perhaps the strongest gems of the Catholic tradition, namely, the fullness of Divine Revelation and the Real Presence of the Eucharist, the Church ought to seek to encourage all Catholic athletes to actively and intentionally “consecrate” their ordinary actions of competition into those that are not merely further extensions of an already hectic schedule, but rather as sacred actions – unspoken prayers, even – offered to the service and glory of God and all the human family. For example, on October 23rd, 2013 in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Fr. Quinn Mann was granted permission to celebrate Mass at the tailgate areas near Lambeau Field for Green Bay Packers fans who, on a Sunday, otherwise might have missed Mass because of the game. The beauty of the Eucharist is that God can make Himself present to us anywhere we may be and in any situation – including on the field of play, in the locker-room, or even in a crowded football stadium parking lot. According to him, “Catholics are beginning to understand that if you truly want to engage a secular culture, we need be proactive” (Wisconsin Post-Crescent). After all, is that not how Jesus did it? And the Church He began more than two-thousand years ago, today, still stands, having on her schedule more wins than losses.

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AUTHOR’S NOTE:

This paper was initially presented before the esteemed delegates and attendees of the Inaugural Global Congress on Sports and Christianity (IGCSC) held at York St. John University in York, United Kingdom from August 24 – 28, 2016.