This really resonated with me. We actually pulled out of a travel volleyball league when the tournaments on Sunday mornings became all-encompassing. When I was growing up in Chicago, the Catholic League (think hundreds of grade schools and dozens of high schools) had a hard and fast rule: No game or practice before noon on Sunday. Some coaches would even require that, for a Sunday afternoon game or practice, you bring your parish’s weekly bulletin to participate. Did some kids just stop in and grab a bulletin before the game? Sure. But the rule spoke for itself: God was first on Sunday. Your afternoon was for recreation. But your morning was for God.
Mary FioRito
Everyone should have a day of rest, including children. Sunday is a logical day to declare off-limits to scheduled sports for children. This business of scheduling children for activities from the time they can walk is detrimental. “Play” is free, unstructured time by definition. Children learn a lot simply by playing without goals to win games. I once told a young relative, whose time was very scheduled, that when I was young, “we got to take life off until we were 18.” This relative looked at me like the very idea of taking time off was incomprehensible. Children may be far richer in material things now, but they are impoverished when it comes to time. Lisa Weber
Interesting essay, and while I agree with some of the points, there are a few I would have liked the author to address: the opportunity to attend Saturday evening Mass, and the fact that many communities include families of different faiths. For example, many teams will also have Jewish families who observe Saturday as the Sabbath.
Christine Leahy
Thank you for this; it has been on my mind as my 12-year-old has gotten involved in club baseball and we are figuring out Sunday Mass with games. Another piece to be examined is the “elite Catholic high school sports” problem. In our area, Washington, D.C., your kid won’t play high school sports at a Catholic high school unless he or she is an exceptional player and you have bought into the elite sports culture. The Catholic high schools all went in this direction to attract students.
I don’t have any great aspirations for my son to play college baseball or beyond, but I would love for him to play high school sports, just to keep him busy and out of trouble. So, though I never saw our family being involved in any sort of Sunday sports, we are now doing that because we want him to play at whatever Catholic high school he goes to.
Julie Penndorf
I think this is more about moderation, rather than an either/or decision. Please do not throw the baby out with the bathwater, though. As the author mentioned, fewer kids are participating in sports, resulting in increasing cases of obesity and diabetes in children. Furthermore, for a lot of kids who struggle academically or socially, sports is a good outlet and a way to make friends. I agree that these teams are often too focused on winning and not focused enough on children’s health and family time. The pushback will have to come from parents. But it is hard because of the competitive culture of these teams. The fear is that if you complain, your child will not be allowed to play.
Jeri Graham
Fifteen years ago or so, when our children started playing hockey, we had difficulty juggling church and games. One of the moms jokingly (or maybe not so jokingly) said, “Don’t you know? You belong to the church of hockey now!” When I became manager of one of my children’s teams, I did everything I could to avoid scheduling Sunday mornings. One of the teams we played only had Sunday morning ice times. In a way, it was lucky for us. It turned out the parish nearest the rink was a wonderful place; I still miss going there.
Stephanie Johnson
Fifteen years ago or so, when our children started playing hockey, we had difficulty juggling church and games. One of the moms jokingly (or maybe not so jokingly) said, “Don’t you know? You belong to the church of hockey now!” When I became manager of one of my children’s teams, I did everything I could to avoid scheduling Sunday mornings. One of the teams we played only had Sunday morning ice times. In a way, it was lucky for us. It turned out the parish nearest the rink was a wonderful place; I still miss going there. Stephanie Johnson
I think the issue is less about sports occurring on Sunday and more about the necessity of making space in life for prayer and worship. Integrate, integrate, integrate. Mix your spirituality into all your thoughts and actions of the day. You will be a superior athlete for the effort. We are all athletes of a sort, running in a race of life; emulating Christ, the greatest athlete of all.
Peter Arnez
