God on the gridiron: Faith helps football players on, off the field

Published: 2007-12-03

INDIANAPOLIS (CNS) -- After beating the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI in February, the Indianapolis Colts stormed to another strong start, winning their first seven games of the 2007-08 season. Even with a faith-filled head coach like Tony Dungy, it might have been easy for players on the team to think they are invincible. But the players know better. And consecutive losses to the New England Patriots and the San Diego Chargers helped bring that reality into perspective, as have serious injuries suffered by some of the team's star players. Father Peter Gallagher, volunteer chaplain of the Colts and chaplain of Cardinal Ritter Junior-Senior High School in Indianapolis, said coping with injuries is an opportunity for football players to grow closer to Christ. "I would try to get them to associate whatever they're experiencing with the suffering of Christ," he said. "If we can't associate even those difficult things in our lives with Christ's experience of those same things, then we're really not fully trusting in his message and in his presence in our lives."

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