Courtesy Photo| Washington Nationals Play ball!Spring training has Catholic sideWith the spring training field for Major League Baseball’s newest team right across the street, it’s no wonder the sport would find its way into a homily in March at St. John the Evangelist Parish in Viera. “It was so funny. Our first Sunday here, the pastor (Father Lawrence M. Olszewski) compared the spirit of Lent with spring and spring training. He said how similar they are because it’s a new start for everyone, including the ball club,” said Washington Nationals spokesman John Dever, whose team has played spring training games at Space Coast Stadium since its inaugural season in 2005. St. John’s Parish Life Center, where Masses are celebrated, opened last year. The Nationals are one of 18 major league teams that played their preseason games in five of Florida’s seven dioceses this year. The presence of the teams and their fans for a month or so does more than inspire homilies and bolster attendance in nearby parishes. It offers opportunities for game-day fundraising and evangelization, and for allowing Catholic players to share their stories with schoolchildren and others. But it also presents the challenge of meeting the spiritual needs of Catholic players, coaches and team staffers who have crushingly busy schedules. “Baseball’s schedule is not very forgiving for any faith, but I’ve been able to hit Mass a couple of times here on Saturdays and it has been fantastic,” said Nationals left-handed pitcher John Lannan, a parishioner at St. Mary of the Isle at home in Long Beach, N.Y. “To have the new parish directly across the street has been great.” BASEBALL AND LENT Not all baseball-fan priests have the luxury of being so close to players who need their pastoral services — or the games they so much want to see. Father Tom Anastasia of St. Clement Parish in Plant City is an avid fan. Distance and his role as pastor kept him from more often taking the 40-mile trip to Clearwater to enjoy his front-row seats for the Philadelphia Phillies at Bright House Network Stadium. “One of the beautiful things in spring training is there are no losers unless someone gets hurt,” Father Anastasia said. “The young guys are playing harder to get a job; the veterans are looser and signing autographs. … The whole environment is very much fan-friendly. It’s a great pastime.” 
Father Michael O’Brien takes in a Philadelphia Phillies spring training game and a Philly cheesesteak sandwich during a recent Grapefruit League contest against the Cleveland Indians. “Spring training has been in my blood since I was a kid.” Sitting in Father Anastasia’s front-row seats at Bright House Field on a recent afternoon was Father Michael O’Brien, pastor of St. Justin Martyr Parish in Seminole. As a child growing up in St. Petersburg, Father O’Brien regularly saw spring training games and had a brother-in-law, Bill Freehan, who played for the Detroit Tigers. “Baseball is just a major part of our family,” Father O’Brien said. “Spring training has been in my blood since I was a kid.” Today, the priest, like Father Olszewski in Viera, uses spring training as a metaphor in his Lenten homilies. Lent is a time of preparation for Catholics, just as spring training is a time of preparation for professional baseball. Like the pros, they cannot let their skills go lax after Easter. “We hone our skills with our praying, almsgiving and fasting,” Father O’Brien said. “What typically happens is people say, ‘Hey, Lent is over,’ and stop (focusing on growing spiritually). … (I tell them) Lent has been our spring training and the triduum is the opening game, so come out and play!” PARISHES CAN CASH IN 
JASON COLLINS | FC In Vero Beach, Sunday Mass has come to Dodgertown once a year for as far back as Chickie Anderson can remember. Her family built Ebbets Field for the Dodgers in Brooklyn long before they moved to Los Angeles. But this year’s memorial Mass for deceased members of the Dodgers community, celebrated outdoors by Father Mike Edwards, pastor of nearby St. Helen Parish, will be the last at the conference center where the team has stayed and played during its spring training tenure in Vero. The Dodgers are leaving Florida’s Grapefruit League training circuit and heading to Arizona next year. But at St. Bernadette, down the road in Port St. Lucie, parishioners have good reason to hope the New York Mets stay around for spring training at Thomas J. White Stadium for a long time. “The stadium has a nice thing. They let groups work the concessions. From St. Bernadette we have about 20 people. The stadium gives us a concession stand like a booth,” said parishioner Joe Duffy. This year the parishioners sold hot dogs, beer and nachos at two games. Knights of Columbus Council 13042 also worked one game. “We get a portion of the sales,” said Duffy. “We put a donation jar out and people toss coins in it, too. The money goes toward the building fund.” The pastor, Father Victor Ulto, said he always joins in and has fun. “We make a few hundred dollars. More than that, we evangelize. Along with the hot dogs, we tell them about the parish. It’s terrific. Man does not live on hot dogs alone,” he said. He said they don’t get to see much baseball because they’re too busy, but, “Every once in a while, we take a break.” PLAYERS GIVE BACK 
JASON COLLINS | FC In addition to providing fundraising opportunities to churches and other nonprofit groups, many MLB teams make time for community outreach during spring training. The ballclubs set up opportunities for the players to sign autographs and talk to schoolchildren. Washington Nationals spokesman Dever, whose home parish is St. John the Evangelist in Rochester, N.Y., said most of his players participate. “They realize they are privileged in some way and they give back of themselves.” Among the Nationals players who believe such opportunities are important is Matt Whitney, a first baseman from Palm Beach Gardens, who is a parishioner of the Cathedral of St. Ignatius Loyola and was an altar server as a boy. “We’re in the eyes of everyone so we try to do the right thing, to set an example. We have the opportunity to give back to a lot of people. Just a smile can make someone’s day,” Whitney said. With spring training over, the Nationals will play their regular season home-opener Wednesday, March 30, in the brand-new Nationals Park. The team won’t be home April 17 when Pope Benedict XVI celebrates Mass there, but Catholics associated with the team said they’ll be there in spirit. “We are so happy that the pope is saying Mass at our ballpark — the altar will be in center field,” Dever said. Laura Dodson, Janet Shelton, Linda Reeves and Pat Langford contributed to this story.
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