Gulf Pine Catholic
•
June 3, 2016
3
Gulf
Pine
Catholic
(ISSN No. 0746-3804)
June 3, 2016
Volume 33, Issue 20
The
GULF PINE CATHOLIC
,
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Bishop Morin’s
Calendar
June 5 Confirmation Hispanic
Community, St. Alphonsus
Parish, Ocean Springs, 2 pm
June 8 Housing Board Meeting,
2 pm
June 12 Mass, Nativity BVM
Cathedral, 11 am
June 14 Finance Council Meeting,
2 pm
Catholic values drive head coach of Ravens on
and off the field
BY PAUL DYKEWICZ
Catholic News Service
BALTIMORE (CNS) -- The accomplish-
ment of winning the Super Bowl in Febru-
ary 2013 as the head coach of the Baltimore
Ravens gave John Harbaugh a crowning
achievement in football, but he relied on his
Catholic faith to guide him and his players
through a series of potentially spirit-crushing
events during the past year.
The worst was a nighttime phone call
about a catastrophic off-season accident
that caused severe head trauma to one of his
promising young players, 23-year-old Tray
Walker. The March 17 call caused Harbaugh
a sleepless night but he reached out to his
team the next morning before Walker died by
writing an open letter that urged them to de-
velop a spiritual life, to live with purpose and
to consider the risks when making decisions.
Harbaugh shared with his players that
he viewed them as sons and wanted to offer
guidance about how to live and to look after
their loved ones. His deeply held religious
beliefs had intensified during the past year
as he prayed for the words to speak to his
team during the 2015 football season when
major injuries to key players led to a number
of close losses as the perennial playoff-con-
tending team had a 5-11 record.
Johnny Shelton, the Ravens’ nondenomi-
national team chaplain, witnessed Harbaugh
“grow spiritually” during the season and said
that his players responded to their coach’s
messages as he sought to prepare them each
week. In a society where political correctness
causes leaders to shy away from acknowl-
edging God’s role in their lives, Harbaugh
Baltimore Ravens head coach John
Harbaugh prays with players after they
defeated the Cleveland Browns 20-10 in
2014 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.
Harbaugh says he has relied onhisCatholic
faith to guide him and his players as they
have faced various challenges during the
past year.
CNS photo/Shawn Hubbard, Baltimore
Ravens
humbled himself in giving passionate, Scrip-
ture-based locker room talks to keep his team
focused on putting aside setbacks and seizing
new opportunities, Shelton added.
“We will not blink,” Shelton recalled
Harbaugh telling his players. “We will not
flinch.”
Harbaugh also participates in a weekly
bible study with other coaches on the team
that focuses on preparing them to be “leaders
of men,” Shelton said. Those sessions give
Harbaugh and his fellow Ravens coaches a
spiritual foundation to guide their players
through challenging circumstances.
Harbaugh put his faith into action with
the open letter to his players after Walker’s
accident and included the following advice:
-- Lead in your home. Take care of your
family and yourself every single day.
-- Please consider your actions and choic-
es. There are always consequences. Choose
who you allow to advise you. Consider the
quality of the counsel you take. Put yourself
in positions to succeed. Turn away from un-
necessary and risky behavior.
-- Be your own best friend. Do not be
an enemy onto yourself. Turn away from
trouble and harm. Walk away from foolish
behavior. Ignore silly and unwise advice --
you’ll know it when you see it.
-- Get to know those people in your life
who manage to walk free from the weight of
self-created obstacles. Get close to those who
have gone where you want to go, and have
accomplished what you want to accomplish.
Grow spiritually. Think about what and who
you want to become.
“I am asking you to consider what is at
stake in your life,” Harbaugh said. “Consid-
er what your thoughts, actions and choices
mean to those around you. Live your life ful-
ly and with purpose. Have fun and share your
happiness. Find your faith, and allow God to
grow your faith.”
Just 12 days before Walker’s accident,
Harbaugh gave a talk to an estimated 1,300
men at the 19th annual Lenten retreat of the
Catholic Men’s Fellowship of Maryland and
told a record number of attendees that the
faith-based way he lives his personal life also
guides him in coaching his NFL team. Har-
baugh tackled Baltimore’s difficult football
season by turning to his religious beliefs in
leading his players.
In his keynote speech March 5 at St.
Philip Neri Catholic Church in Linthicum,
Harbaugh spoke about trying to be grateful
for life’s blessings each day despite disap-
pointments. His message of relying on faith
to persevere through tumultuous times reso-
nated with the men in attendance, said Ed
Roberts, a member of the fellowship’s board
of directors.
“He wrote a speech and he clearly was
able to bring a spiritual and personal side to
the tough season the team had,” Roberts told
Catholic News Service.
That resolve is a tribute to Harbaugh’s
“leadership abilities” as a man who is “sin-
cere of heart” in pursuing God’s plan for his
life, Roberts said.
“The church was filled and we had guys
sitting on the floor, and no one seemed to
mind,” said Roberts, in explaining the wor-
ship space had only 1,200 seats for the 1,300
attendees.
“It was probably one of the best events
that I’ve ever attended,” Roberts said.
Tony Boehk, president of the Catholic
Men’s Fellowship, said one of Harbaugh’s
most striking points was telling the group
that assistant coach Craig Van Steeg also
serves in an unofficial capacity as an “ac-
countability coach” to ensure his head coach
prepared spiritually, Boehk said. Van Steeg
and Harbaugh previously were assistant
football coaches together at the University
of Cincinnati before they reunited with the
Ravens in 2008.
Boehk described Harbaugh as a “good
guy, great coach and faith-filled man.”
“When everything is going right, it’s
easy,” Boehk said Harbaugh told the re-
treatants. “It was a wonderful talk. I walked
away having even more respect for him. The
Holy Spirit definitely came down that day.”
SEE RAVENS HARBAUGH
FAITH, PAGE 8
