One wall in the Notre Dame office of the Rev. Pete McCormick features a crucifix and religious icons.
asserted
wall → feature → crucifix
Another wall features basketballs signed by Larry Bird and other NBA greats, plus a framed miniature version of the Fighting Irish hardwood floor.
asserted
wall → feature → floor
McCormick may be best known for his call to postgame mass after the third quarters of Notre Dame football games.
uncertain
McCormick → know → games
Basketball is his real love, though, and as team chaplain he’s going to have a special role in the college hoops season-opener against Villanova — which has its own team chaplain, the Rev. Rob Hagan — in Rome on Sunday.
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which → go → Sunday
In a video call from campus before flying to Italy, McCormick said that he gets to “kind of merge together two deep passions.”
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he → fly → passions
“I love basketball.
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I → love → basketball
I mean, you can see in the back of my office, I got the court, I’ve got balls (also signed by Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon),” added McCormick, who likes to roll up the sleeves of his clerical shirt and shoot some hoops any chance he gets.
asserted
he → mean → hoops
“In some ways you might be led to believe that I’m working in the athletic department when I’m really the (assistant vice president) of campus ministry.”
uncertain
I → lead → ministry
The doubleheader featuring men’s and women’s games between the two Catholic universities will be preceded by a private audience with Pope Leo XIV on Saturday.
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doubleheader → feature → Saturday
“It’s important to recognize what is it that the church is saying about this: That there is value in the way that sports bring people together and unify them,” McCormick said.
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McCormick → ’ → them
“It’s a reminder of the unity to which we’re called.
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we → ’ → which
And man, what an important message for us all to hear right now.”
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us → hear → ?
McCormick and Hagan are doing far more than just holding pregame prayers for the teams in Rome.
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McCormick → do → Rome
There are customs to follow inside Vatican City and history lessons everywhere you look in Rome.
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you → be → Rome
“If all they do is win a game and miss everything else, then so much will have been missed,” McCormick said.
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McCormick → do → everything
“So my job is going to be hang with them.
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job → go → them
Try to point out things that maybe otherwise they might not have seen and just live a little life with them.”
uncertain
they → try → them
McCormick and Hagan have both cut down nets after titles: McCormick when Notre Dame won the ACC tournament in 2015; Hagan after Villanova’s NCAA championships in 2016 and 2018.
asserted
Dame → cut → 2016
Most of their work comes off the court, though.
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Most → come → court
“There’s no real textbook on chaplaincy,” said Hagan, who was a criminal defense lawyer before he became a priest.
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he → ’ → chaplaincy
“These student athletes have a lot of people talking at them: their coaches, their parents, their agents, their advisers.
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athletes → have → them
And so I learned early on that my role was in large part to listen, to be not another person who is kind of just telling them what they should be doing, but giving them an opportunity to open up what might be going on in their head and their heart.
uncertain
what → learn → head
And then they get to the next level and you’re not playing and you’re not performing to the level that you’re used to.
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you → get → that
They have setbacks, physical, mental and spiritual.
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They → have → setbacks
And so I found an opportunity to just kind of companion them on the journey.”
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I → find → journey
Hagan likes to hold mass in the team hotel four hours before game time on road trips.
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Hagan → like → trips
That usually means at mealtime.
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That → mean → mealtime
“So you can smell the chicken and the beef and the foods all there in the room and we’ll say, ‘Before we take our food let’s take some spiritual food.
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we → smell → food
And we’ll break out the good word and we’ll find a Gospel passage,” Hagan said.
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Hagan → break → passage
McCormick organizes prayers in the locker room after practice the night before home games.
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McCormick → organize → games
“That’s a lot of pressure,” he said.
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he → ’ → pressure
“A lot of guys (are) really hungry and I’m trying to focus a minute on the mass.
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I → try → mass
‘Not my job to make you Catholic’
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you → make → ?
Hagan said Villanova has had “a fair amount” of players who are Protestant and Methodist and there also have been Jews and Muslims.
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who → say → players
“That’s the beauty of it: Understanding that nobody has a monopoly on these values,” Hagan said.
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Hagan → ’ → values
“Ultimately our call is to go serve others.
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call → go → others
So that’s kind of a mission that a lot of people can get on board with regardless of their faith persuasion.”
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lot → ’ → persuasion
It’s the same at Notre Dame.
asserted
It → ’ → Dame
“I always say this at the very beginning of the season: ‘It is not my job to make you Catholic,’” McCormick said.
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McCormick → say → season
“It’s my job to honor and to respect the person that you are, the dignity that you possess, the tradition that you come from.
asserted
you → ’ → that
…and 30 more, not listed.
The Aporia
