Scottish Catholic Observer

ATHLETES celebrating a sporting victory often claim to have God on their side, but for the players of the Green Bay Packers, there might just be something in that.

As the American football stars collected their team’s fourth Super Bowl championship, watched live by BBC viewers in the UK for the first time, nobody was happier to see the Vince Lombardi trophy being held aloft than the team’s Catholic chaplain, Fr James Baraniak.

Fr Baraniak has just completed his 14th season in the role, which sees him following the team at home and on the Holy road, celebrating game-day Masses, looking after the players valuables and attending to their spiritual needs. A native of Wisconsin, he was raised, along with his brother and two sisters, in the city of Antigo, just 90 minutes along the road from the Packers’ Lambeau Field, by his mother, Jackie and father, Jack.

He had felt a calling to the priesthood at the tender age of five, shortly after his grandfather passed away. The parish priest, who was new to the area, visited the family before he had even unpacked, leaving a lasting impression on the young James Baraniak.

And so on August 28, 1986, he entered the Norbertine Order and two years later, he professed temporary vows of poverty, consecrated celibacy and obedience. On August 28, 1991 he professed his solemn vows and he was ordained on January 3, 1993.

A mere four years later, he received a call that would have delighted any lifelong Packers fan like himself, when he was offered the chance to work with the team—a chance he nearly squandered. A representative from the team telephoned him to ask if he would celebrate a couple of Masses for them in Detroit and Chicago, but Fr Baraniak thought it was a prank call.

“Are you kidding? You want me to go to those places? Send me to Tampa Bay or California and I’ll think about it,” he replied.

It was only when he noticed that the caller ID had read Green Bay Packers Inc that he had made a massive blunder. However, they called again and this time the priest jumped at the opportunity, serving as team chaplain for the remainder of the season and the playoffs, before he became the Packers’ only Catholic chaplain.

Fr Baraniak’s primary duties involved simply celebrating Holy Mass before every game, but when former head coach Mike Sherman—a Catholic and daily massgoer—took over, he asked Fr Baraniak to take on a bigger role.

“I began to celebrate Masses during training camps and mini camps,” Fr Baraniak said. That expanded to Masses on Holy Days, a draft day Mass and liturgies during rookie training. Now wherever the Packers are, I celebrate Mass.”

But Masses are not his only responsibility as he also offers the players pastoral care and counselling, along with preparation for the Sacraments too. The coaches will often give Fr Baraniak a heads-up if there is any issue with one of the players.

That was the case in December 2003, when former Packers’ quarterback Brett Favre’s father Irv died. The player had been a regular attendee of Fr Baraniak’s Masses before home games and his father died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 58. Coach Sherman asked Fr Baraniak to make himself available to meet with Brett after he broke the news to him. He did so and also accompanied him back to Kiln Mississippi, for his father’s funeral, at which he was one of six priests and two bishops who concelebrated.

Fr Baraniak has nothing but good words for all the coaches that he has worked with and that includes current coach, Mike McCarthy, who he claims has ‘brought a holistic approach to the players’ wellbeing.’

“The team provides the right resources for them: educational opportunities, relocation and wives programmes,” he said. “The chaplaincy is part of that. Mike’s mantra is ‘physicality gets you in the door, but head and heart take over once you’re inside.’ He constantly preaches that the players have to make good choices and claims the NFL should stand for ‘not for long’ because their careers are so short.

“The players have to have something to lean back on when their playing days are over. The chaplaincy addresses those issues.”

The Norbertine priest often gives a talk to that end, entitled Hero to Zero, where he talks about people who have fallen from grace, how to avoid that, how to build yourself back up if needs be and how to make the correct choices.

One current player whom he has the utmost respect for is current quarterback Aaron Rodgers for the faith example that he sets.

“That guy is the real deal,” he said. “He is so kind to everyone. He is a very spiritual being whose spirituality is not a head-trip. Aaron appears so calm because he is completely grounded.”

Though its not just the Super Bowl-winning quarterback whom Fr Baraniak has a special relationship with, he is a real fan of all the players and sees them as much more than colossal figures clad in uniforms.

“I respect the players and they know that,” he said. “I will never judge them, that is not my job. I am affirming of them. I am appropriately challenging of them, particularly for them to be the best people that they can possibly be.

“I see them with their families. The men pour out onto the field as goliaths. They are brutes on the gridiron, but after the game I see them with their children and wives and I see their tender, softer side.”

As the players came off the field in the Dallas Cowboys’ Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Sunday February 6, 2011 and Fr Baraniak handed them back their valuables, they handed him something even more valuable, the Vince Lombardi trophy, which like taking up the position of chaplain, was a ‘dream come true’ for their biggest supporter in every sense of the word.