Diary of a Parish Priest

Fr Manning Going to the Dogs (Again)

Father Manning will be judging a local dog show on May 29th. Monmouth County Kennel Club is holding its all-breed dog show and obedience trial at East Freehold Park and he will be judging a variety of Non-Sporting and Sporting dogs. There are shows at this site for all four days of the Memorial Day Weekend. Check here for Judging Programs.

The entry for the entire show looks good, so its a handy place to come and see a variety of many breeds, get acquainted with the dogs temperaments and meet their breeders and handlers. Tons of doggie related merchandise is also on sale.

Stop by and say hello if you get to the show!

Athletes As Role Models?

Why Athletes are Not Role Models, Newsweek Magazine Article

 The very week we began discussing morality and ethics in professional and amateur sports with our 8th grade students, Newsweek magazine published this hard-hitting article about the image of the professional athlete in our society.

Its author, an African-American woman, has some strong words for the behavior of many professional athletes, including this quote from a leading sports sociologist, Steven Ortiz:

Spoiled-athlete syndrome begins early in sports socialization. From the time they could be picked out of a lineup because of their exceptional athletic ability, they've been pampered and catered to by coaches, classmates, teammates, family members and partners. As they get older, this becomes a pattern. Because they're spoiled, they feel they aren't accountable for their behaviors off the field. They're so used to people looking the other way.

The article is brief, and although it contains some 5o cent words, it will surely spark some interesting conversation. Check it out.

Lenten Reading for Sport

A new edition of D. Stanley Eitzen's  Fair and Foul:Beyond the Myths and Paradoxes of Sport has been recently published. In this controversial book, Eitzen examines the good and bad of America's seeming obsession with sports and the its effects on student and professional athletes, our colleges and our professional teams. He asks some sobering questions about America's sacrosanct treatment of sports and using sociological data attempts to find answers. The book contains not only many anecdotes of well-known coaches and players, but also lesser known college and student athletes.

This book may help us to find spiritual balance in our lives, and honestly re-assess some of our priorities. At least it illuminates the good and the bad of sport, so that we can minimize the bad, especially as a parish and a school.

 Watch for a series of posts featuring excerpts from this book and others on this important issue during Lent. 

Next: Does participation in competitive sports build character?

Fair and Foul: Beyond the Myths and Paradoxes of Sport