Bishop bans early Sunday basketball
No diocesan Catholic Youth Ministry basketball games, parish tournaments, or practices may be scheduled on Sunday before 1 p.m. this season, Bishop Paul G. Bootkoski announced.
Pope John Paul II reminded Catholics in June that Sunday should be a day for God, the bishop said.
The bishop referred to a public statement made by the pope in which he said: “When Sunday loses its fundamental meaning and becomes subordinate to a secular concept of‘weekend’ dominated by such things as entertainment and sport, people stay locked within a horizon so narrow that they can no longer see the heavens.”
Also, the Office of Youth Ministry received several letters and phone calls from parents expressing concerns regarding basketball games scheduled Sunday mornings, the bishop said. The games place young people in the unfortunate position of choosing between attending Mass or playing ball.
“This creates tension within the family and confusion for our young people,” Bishop Bootkoski said.
Earlier this month, the diocesan
director of Youth
Ministry, Kevin Early, held a
pastor’s forum for youth athletics
to discuss this and other
issues. The consensus
reached at the forum “supports
and affirms our shared
commitment to Sunday worship
with the parish community,”
and “must be our priority,”
the bishop said.
*The attached/referenced article was originally published in The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Metuchen, and is protected under U.S. and international copyright law