Any given Sunday, and on every other day of the week, I will take Vince Lombardi's Catholicism over the Catholicism of Pope Francis.[Disclaimer: Rules ##7-9]
Legendary Hall of Fame and Universal Football Coach, Vince Lombardi:
Lombardi biographer David Maraniss wrote:Each day on his way to work for the Green Bay Packers, Lombardi would stop at St. Willebrord and “offer a prayer in case of unexpected death: My God, if I am to die today, or suddenly at any time, I wish to receive this Communion as my viaticum ...’”
Friday, September 02, 2016
Sports + Catholicsm: Pope Francis vs Vince Lombardi
Seriously interesting, especially about Lombardi: "Sports + Catholicsm: Pope Francis vs Vince Lombardi" (Mick Jagger gathers no Mosque, August 5, 2016):
Labels:
Catholic opinion,
Culture wars,
People,
Pope Francis,
Sports
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3 comments:
Dear Doc, Thanks for the link.
My Dad was a sports writer and I remember just how broken- up he was when Lombardi died. Any time we spoke about Lombardi, Dad would begin to cry.
My Dad thought everything was going to hell in the 1960s and that Lombardi was about the only man who was able to remain on firm footing in our shifting and shiftless society.
My Dad had been a LaSalette seminarian and he simply could not understand why the Church was going to hell and why the Popes were doing what they were doing and so Lombardi was both his anchor and lifebouy, his personal Pope and the Packers his substitute religion.
Yes, that was a bit weird but when the Pope and the Church abandoned the sheep to the wolves it is was only to be expected that some simple American men would only go through the motions while transferring loyalties to those who continued to act like men.
Maraniss wrote the definitive bio of Lombardi: "When Pride Still Mattered".
We learn that after his HS football games he would take Marie out to dinner at a small joint in NJ. Entertainment in that joint was provided by a very skinny kid/singer. Lombardi felt sorry for the kid who wasn't paid much and who obviously needed a meal, so Lombardi would buy dinner for the kid.
The kid? Frank Sinatra.
Wow! Dad29, thanks for that revelation. Amazing!
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