Father Richard Sunwoo was never a big sports fan. But when a student from Loyola High School came to him asking for help converting to Catholicism, he decided to meet with him every Sunday.
When they would meet, Sunwoo thought it was odd that the student was always sweaty.
After his baptism on Easter Sunday, Sunwoo asked the student about his college plans.
“He said, ‘I’m going to Stanford. I got an offer to play football,’ ” Sunwoo said. “I said, ‘I didn’t know you played football.’ Because it just never came up.
“But that’s how I started getting involved in sports.”
Sunwoo, now the pastor at St. Louise de Marillac Church in Covina, is one of a handful of priests in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles who regularly celebrate Mass for, or minister to, professional sports teams. With the NFL season kicking off on Sept. 5 and five teams having training camps in Southern California, those priests have had to step up their games.
Sunwoo is a veteran at this point, having started doing Masses for the Dodgers nearly a decade ago — which he still does to this day — and then moving on to the Rams, the Cowboys, and other visiting NFL teams. He also ministered to USC’s athletes during his previous assignment at Our Savior Church.
This year, he will be regularly celebrating Mass for the Chargers under the supervision of team chaplain George Gregory.
“I can’t describe the joy that I have because the athletes there are just really good people,” Sunwoo said. “The coaches are just really good people. It’s regular priest life. It just happens to be in the context of professional sports.”
Sunwoo has an extra reason to be excited: This past offseason, the Chargers hired Jim Harbaugh as their head coach, one of the most outspoken, intense, and public Catholics out there.
“He believes in God and he’s not ashamed about it,” Sunwoo said about Harbaugh. “He’s also very pro-life. But what you see is kind of what you get. What you see on TV is how he is in personal meetings. It’s not a schtick.
“When you see him excited about football, he’s just as excited about his faith.”
That Harbaugh effect has already paid off for Sunwoo’s homilies, which, due to other coaches’ time constraints, have to be extremely concise. But after his first Mass with Harbaugh, the coach gave Sunwoo permission to be free.
“He was like, ‘You know, Father, don’t be afraid to give it to us,” Sunwoo said. “I said, ‘I’m sorry, coach. I’m used to working with a very short window of time. I just want to be respectful of your time.’ ”
Time also proved to be a challenge for Father Jihoon Kim, who previously served at St. Kateri Tekakwitha Church in Santa Clarita. Celebrating Mass for the Rams, Chargers, and visiting NFL teams near SoFi Stadium in Inglewood often meant long drives.
But his new assignment this year at St. Paul Church near Mid-City Los Angeles has allowed him a new opportunity this season: becoming the chaplain for the LA Rams.
“The main role is celebration of the Mass,” Kim said. “But as I get to know them more, there might be more opportunities for me to do more things with them. Talk over various issues they’re dealing with, if they need some kind of spiritual guidance. Or perhaps there might be players who might be planning to get married, I’ll be open to help them with marriage prep.”
Kim believes his age and being a relatively new priest will help him with players.
“Players might find me more relatable because I’m around their age group,” Kim said. “Sometimes that happens at a parish level with the young adults or youth, they tend to relate more to the younger [priests]. So I’m thinking probably the same will be for the players.”
For Father Preston Passos, pastor at St. Mary Magdalen Church in Camarillo, this is like a rookie season, having celebrated his first Mass this summer for the Cowboys with Head Coach Mike McCarthy at their training camp in Oxnard. Passos said he would definitely do it again for NFL teams if asked, especially if it involved his favorite, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“When they asked me, I was excited about it,” Passos said. “I had no anticipation of doing that ever.
“If there’s any other Masses, especially with the Steelers in town, they would call me.”
The force behind the ministry is a group called Catholic Athletes for Christ, which helps organize Masses, reconciliation, and spiritual retreats for professional sports teams across the country. President and founder Ray McKenna said they do so knowing how essential the Eucharist should be for a Catholic athlete.
“If you wanted to be a practicing Catholic, going to Mass isn’t a nice thing to do, it’s not a fun thing to do,” McKenna said. “It is those things, but more, it’s a mandatory thing to do.
“The virtues that strengthen you to be a better Catholic also help you be a better player. And vice versa, the things you practice that make you a better athlete make you a better Catholic.”
McKenna said he’s thankful for priests such as Sunwoo, Kim, and Passos for being able to serve superstar athletes and coaches just like everyday Catholics.
“Not any priest can do it,” McKenna said. “The ‘right’ priest is somebody who’s conversant with the sport, with football and baseball. Enjoys it probably, but isn’t like a super fan. Because on the one hand, if you don’t understand the value at all, you probably are lacking a little bit in being able to serve the community. On the other hand, if you’re all about wins and losses and the team you have their jersey on, it kind of misses the point of bringing Jesus to the team.”
Each priest said that celebrating Mass for NFL teams was no different than doing one anywhere else off-site. They simply brought their vestments, travel Mass kits and set up a suitable place for an altar. The difficult part is getting those painfully short homilies to connect with coaches and players whose jobs involve pounding into each other all day.
Sunwoo: “You’re talking about the beauty of the game and I use all of that for my homily. Like how do we build trust with Christ and maybe God’s relying on you. Maybe Jesus is QBing and he’s relying on you to do your job. How successful am I doing that?”
Kim: “I reminded the players the Magi saw a star and they followed the star to come to Christ. You guys are literally NFL stars that a lot of kids look up to. And you could lead them to Christ, or you could pull them away from Christ.”
Passos: “I did tie that into the Eucharist and being filled and nurtured, not just physically, but spiritually. Football is mostly focusing on physical needs and strengthening yourself physically. But I told them that the Eucharist also strengthens us and builds us up spiritually, which can help in a life of pro football.”
At the end of the day, priests celebrating Mass for pro sports teams is simply a unique side project. They have day jobs. They have parishioners to serve. They give to the NFL what belongs to the NFL, and to God what belongs to God.
With one caveat for Father Kim.
“Last year, I celebrated Mass for the [Kansas City] Chiefs and they won the Super Bowl,” Kim said. “So hopefully I’ll celebrate Mass for the Rams and they’ll win it this year.”
