By RICH FISHER
Contributing Editor
In just four years, what started as a two-parish competition with no official name has evolved into a 14-team tournament of parishes and ministry groups known as “The Pastor’s Cup.”
Its founder and organizer, Father Neiser Cardenas, could not be happier as he continues to unite people of faith through soccer.
“The slogan of the tournament has been ‘Promoting Unity & Fraternity,’ and it has been growing,” said the parochial vicar of host parish St. Joseph, Toms River. “It has been a great opportunity to connect faithful people of our diocesan churches with non-practicing Catholics and non-baptized people.
“Unity and fraternity are difficult values to cultivate among people; they require the commitment and collaboration of many,” he continued. “But certainly, the tournament has the potential to gather people from all cultures and languages around soccer. It is setting up the foundations for unity and fraternity.”
Father Cardenas began the competition when assigned to St. Joseph Parish in 2020. That summer men, women and children from sister parishes St. Joseph, Trenton, and St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton, did battle “and we had a good time playing soccer.”
Women of St. Joseph Parish, Toms River, and St. Joseph Parish, Trenton, vie for the championship trophy in the Pastor’s Cup.
Mike Ehrmann photo
The field expanded to five in 2021 and was titled the St. Joseph’s Cup. Last year it was renamed The Pastor’s Cup and eight parishes of men and women participated.
This summer’s competition featured the parishes of St. Joseph, Trenton; St. Joseph, Toms River; St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral; St. Mark, Sea Girt; Our Lady of Guadalupe, Lakewood; St. Anthony of Padua, Hightstown; St. Rose of Lima, Freehold; St. Barnabas, Bayville; Mother of Mercy Parish, Asbury Park; Charismatic Renewal Movement; Cursillo de Cristiandad Movement; Members of Children of Mary, and St. Paul, Princeton.
Games were played Aug. 6, 13 and 20. St. Anthony of Padua defeated St. Rose of Lima, 3-0, in the men’s championship game while St. Joseph, Toms River, defeated St. Joseph, Trenton, 1-0, in the women’s final.
Monmouth University sophomore Marilyn Moro, a member of St. Joseph Parish, Toms River, has played in all four tournaments since she was a junior at Central Regional High, Bayville.
“It’s fun to get together and have this experience,” Moro said. “You see other churches come together and root for a different church in the final, even though it’s not their church. You just want to see good soccer and people getting along in the end.”
Father Cardenas, whose Colombian heritage lends a deep connection to soccer, noted that while friendly and competitive games are centered on good sportsmanship participation, there are “moments of verbal and physical aggression.”
“Those moments are the perfect opportunities we had to teach them about sports’ moral behavior and Jesus Christ’s teachings,” he said. “During heated moments we gather the group and pray with them.”
A knowledgeable soccer man, Father Cardenas praised the talent he has watched and noted, “it is easy to identify happiness and joy among the people and participants.”
Moro, who played travel soccer, is also impressed by the quality of play.
“It’s some really tough competition because there are some very good players who take it a lot more seriously,” she said. “It does get competitive. But in the end, you congratulate the other team for trying their best, they congratulate you. It’s a game, it’s fun, and in the end we all celebrate and have a good time.”