By Christina Leslie | Staff Writer

Proving that strong Catholic faith and the love of sports can create young student leaders, dozens of diocesan high school athletes, their coaches and administrators met in the Chancery Sept. 16 during the second annual Catholic Athletes for Christ focus group meeting. The members of the Diocese of Trenton’s CAC chapter, the first one in the nation to enlist high school students, were asked for their input by the diocesan CAC committee for future adaptation of the program.

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Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., warmly greeted each high school’s representatives gathered at roundtables in the Bishop Ahr conference room. “I’m filled with such great enthusiasm and hope looking at you, and hope you have the opportunity to do so many things with your education which is centered on Catholic faith,” he said. The Bishop blessed a basket of lapel pins bearing the CAC logo and prayed, “Give them the strength, courage and spirit to do your will.”

Bishop O’Connell continued, “Thanks for your witness to your faith and bringing it onto your fields of endeavor. Your witness to your faith is not abnormal; we should include Christ in everything. That is the answer.”

The day-long meeting marked the second time student athletes and administrators from the Trenton Diocese had met to both analyze the program’s effectiveness and make recommendations for operational changes. Present at the focus group meeting were representatives from St. Rose High School, Belmar; Holy Cross High School, Delran; Trenton Catholic Academy, Hamilton; St. John Vianney High School, Holmdel; Notre Dame High School, Lawrenceville; Mater Dei Prep, Middletown; Red Bank Catholic High School, Red Bank, and Donovan Catholic, Toms River.

Father Christopher Piccolo, parochial vicar in St. Charles Borromeo Parish, Cinnaminson, led the CAC program prayer which beseeches God to “take up our daily Cross on the playing field of life,” and Dan Duddy, head football coach of Donovan Catholic, introduced a video wherein student Cathletes Dana Carbone and Joe Derado enumerated the CAC program’s seven core values of charity, honesty, humility, meekness, moderation, purity and sportsmanship.

Jeff Johnson, campus minister in St. John Vianney High School, organized the students into focus groups of one representative from each school and a coach or administrator. Echoing Bishop O’Connell’s earlier declaration that “Your faith is not just your own faith, it is something that you share,” Johnson gave the group focus questions on the best practices and challenges of implementing the CAC program at their high school and their attempts to meld sports and faith on and off their playing fields.

Once the focus group results were read aloud, students walked to the outdoor grotto at nearby Notre Dame High School to pray aloud a decade of the Rosary before the statue of Mary, then break bread together in the Lawrenceville school’s cafeteria.

Guest speaker Father Thomas Maher, pastor of St. William the Abbot Parish, Howell, described the connection between sports and faith in a presentation in the school’s chapel. A former walk-on defensive lineman for William Paterson University, Wayne, Father Maher had left the game after an injury and worked in the financial field for two years before answering his call to the priesthood.

“There are two things I love: my Catholic faith and sports,” Father Maher disclosed. “Isn’t it great you can marry the two?” He related a story from the National Catholic Register in which the faith of New Orleans Saints defensive back Vinnie Sunseri had been reawakened as his football prowess grew.

“He realized that he had to get back to Mass, that he was blessed. I pray the same for you,” the priest and former sportsman said. “The first door into union and intimacy with God is gratitude.” Reminding the young men and women athletes that their talents were God-given, he continued, “See yourself in a partnership with God. He is not jealous of your success, but wants to be glorified in you.”

Father Maher urged the students to transfer the perseverance and courage they used on the field of play into their lives and faith. When they felt they were at their physical peak, he advised them to “dig deeper. If you give thanks to God, make him a partner in your life. If you push yourself and use your talents you can tap into more.

“You have great opportunities. You have received so much. I want you to say it because it will change your life: ‘I am so grateful,’” Father Maher continued. He reminded the youth of the age-old sports admonition of “no pain, no gain,” and concluded, “It applies to your spiritual life too: no blood, no redemption.”

As a token of the CAC program’s gratitude for his keynote speech, Father Maher was presented with a white rubber “game football” signed by Bishop O’Connell and the coaches and athletes in attendance.

Young Cathletes from around the Diocese were vocal about their respect for the Catholic Athletes for Christ program in their schools. Holy Cross High School senior Sarah Byham, a field hockey player, found the CAC program “cool. When a bunch of different teams get together, it’s not just about your own sport.”

Jack Conboy, a football player and senior at Notre Dame High School, noted, “It brings a sense of family, and helps you to see God in everything you do.”

St. John Vianney High School senior Philip Walsh, active on both the wrestling and tennis teams, said, “CAC allows teams to grow closer, and the bonds of family are not just secular.”