In August of 2005 the Louisiana Superdome was the scene of anguish and despair, becoming a temporary shelter for New Orleans' newly homeless in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Last Sunday it hosted a joyous civic celebration, as the New Orleans Saints clinched their first NFC championship and trip to the Super Bowl.
Trivial by comparison? Hardly. Said Saints safety Darren Sharper: "This means a lot not only to us, but to the city of New Orleans, because everyone knows what they've been through. I can't count the number of times fans have come up to me on the street and say, 'Thank you guys for bringing happiness and life back to the city.'"
It's not the first time the success of a sports team has pulled a community together in the wake of tragedy. The 1968 Detroit Tigers' World Series championship helped heal a community ravaged by riots the previous summer. The 2001 New York Yankees' American League pennant was a catharsis for the city after 9/11.
Society easily recognizes the power of sports to be an instrument of healing for a hurting community. If we accept that all healing ultimately flows from God, then we must recognize that God uses sports for his purposes. Too often pushed aside as something on the periphery of "real life," sports are truly an instrument God often employs to draw us closer to him. In a society with a heavy interest in sports, they need to be utilized more and more as a means for evangelization and catechesis.
That's the mission I will continue to advance with this blog, with my work for Catholic Athletes for Christ, and with an exciting new partnership CAC is forming with Catholic Online (www.catholic.org) to provide many more sports-themed articles to this dynamic Catholic news outlet. With profiles of Catholic sports figures as well as articles reflecting on the theology of sport, we will continue to spread the word about the "Good News" of athletics.
I hope you'll stay on the team--we have so many places to go!
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