I thought folks in the faith community might be interested in this story about Notre Dame and how Catholicism and football merge tonight.

At the heart of Notre Dame’s legendary football program is a careworn balancing act. The team is unapologetically Catholic,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Read the entire article for yourself: 

Wall Street Journal: “Notre Dame’s Holy Line”

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor

I had an interview with Tim O’Connor, executive director of Catholic Charities, this afternoon and he told me that he and several members of his staff and a board member visited Notre Dame this week for a workshop. He said he wore blue and gold, Notre Dame’s colors, as he told other workshop participants about Catholic Charities’  work in Oklahoma.

 O’Connor said at the end of his talk, he took off his gold sweater with a flourish … to reveal an OU jersey.

He said he just had to reveal that crimson and cream after all.

The crowd loved that … a jolt of humor about what everyone is talking about these days any way… the BIG game.

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor  

Actually, O’Connor said he has many reasons to root for both schools. He said he has always had great respect for Notre Dame. He said a few years ago, the university presented him with an award for his community service in Oklahoma City.

As for OU, O’Connor said three of his four children attended the university.

“You love ‘em both,” he said, chuckling.

Folks who follow the happenings surrounding NFL quarterback Tim Tebow either because of his football career, his evangelism or both, might be interested in the following story from CNN’s Belief Blog.

It focuses on the concept of “Tebowing” and is probably one of the more interesting stories about it to come along in a while.  

CNN’s Belief Blog:   Quarterback moves to tradeback ‘Tebowing.’

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor

Here’s a couple that I found interesting: 

Penn State scandal and NCAA sanctions

USA Today Faith & Reason blog: “Catholic priest victims: NCAA too light on Penn State”

Washington Post’s For God’s Sake column: “Penn State NCAA Penalty: Using a bomb when needing a scalpel.”

Huffington Post: “Penn State: Morality Matters”

Colorado theater shootings

Huffington Post: “Cain, Colorado and the Divided Human Heart”  

USA Today Faith & Reason: “Billy Graham’s team prays with Colorado shooting victims”

USA Today Faith & Reason blog: “Colorado priest prays for Colorado victims and gun control”

(Photo above — AP Photo/Centre Times Daily: A worker hangs a blue tarp over the fence that was installed around the Joe Paterno statue as crews worked to remove the statue in State College, Pa., on Sunday, July 22.  The university announced Sunday that it was taking down the monument in the wake of an investigative report that found that the late coach and three other top Penn State administrators concealed sex abuse claims against Jerry Sandusky, who was recently convicted of sexually abusing 10 boys, sometimes on Penn State’s campus.

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor

People laughed when he said God told him he would be starting quarterback, but here he is, the Bronchos starting quarterback and I’d say he’s been pretty successful (Those who don’t agree might want to catch the highlights of Sunday’s game between the Bronchos and the Pittsburgh Steelers …and then get back with me … )

The thing about him is he seems to have big faith … nothing tiny about this Tim.

Big faith and he’s not afraid to show it.

Here’s more from others who have an opinion about Tebow, football and faith …

Washington Post’s On Faith blog: “Why I Believe in Tim Tebow” (by Sally Quinn) 

USA Today: “Tim Tebow’s stats boost Bible verse John 3:16″

Advertising Age: “Tim Tebow: The NFL’s new $10 million man?”

(CUTLINE: Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow greets fans after the Broncos beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 29-23 in overtime of an NFL football wild card playoff game Sunday, Jan. 8, 2012, in Denver. AP Photo/The Denver Post, Joe Amon)  #NewsOK

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor

You almost can’t escape it … everyday there are unfortunately new bits of information that come out about the alleged cover up of alleged sex crimes by a former assistant football coach at the university.

It seems the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which had its fall meeting earlier this week in Baltimore, briefly discussed the Penn State debacle.

USA Today’s Faith & Reason blog reported Archbishop Timothy Dolan’s  remarks about the issue in a recent blog post.

Read what he had to say  by following this link to the posting: USA Today Faith & Reason blog: “Bishops offer Penn State Help to Prevent Abuse.”   

Look for a related story in The Oklahoman’s Life section soon.

Also, the Washington Post’s On Faith blog also has some interesting postings on the subject of Penn State: Washington Post’s On Faith: “A Priests View of Penn State.”

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor

So I asked my daughter last night about “Tebowing” — the new  phenomena that was the subject of one of my recent blog postings.

To my surprise she had indeed heard of Tebowing. As a matter of fact, she told me Tim Tebow had recently tweeted (because of course Twitter is how the kids find out about everything) that he liked the idea.

If you haven’t heard of Tebowing, here’s my brief explanation: A Denver native created or came up with the word to describe when someone gets down on a knee and starts praying, even if everyone else around them is
doing something completely different.

This apparently was inspired by Tebow, who plays for the Denver Bronchos NFL team,  doing that very thing on the sidelines during a football game. 

Last week, when I first heard about this, I wondered if perhaps this was something that mocked Tebow and his Christian faith. But now, I”m thinking, who cares if the intent is to mock, this may actually get some folks down on their knees and maybe they will pray.

One can only hope.

Anyway, here are some stories about the issue for those interested in what the rest of the nation is saying about this:

TIME: Tebowing: Football Meme goes from the field to the Internet  

Fox Sports: Denver Bronchos QB Tim Tebow sees ‘Tebowing’ phenomena as a ‘blessing.’

USA Today’s Faith &  Reason blog: Tim Tebow revives prayer in public debate

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor

The blog described Tressel (pictured in a March AP photo) as a “Bible is my playbook” coach.

It’s an interesting commentary about ethics, faith and sports.

Since I know I’m not the only sports fan in these here parts, I thought I’d share the USA Today link with you so you can read the commentary for yourselves.

USA Today’s Faith & Reason Blog: “Is Tressel’s OSU exit a scandal for evangelism via athletics as well?.” 

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor

The ad continues to cause talk as football fans await the game between the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts.

I’ve seen lots of opinions on the issue being bandied about  on the Internet in the days since I last posted a blog on this issue. I just got a news release today that says an anti-abortion group called Wisconsin Right to Life has produced a Tim Tebow mask that people can wear on Sunday to show their support for Tebow and his mother Pam. For those who haven’t heard about the ad yet (it’s possible, I guess), CBS has agreed to air a Focus on the Family ad featuring Tebow’s mother, who will share her decision against abortion when she was pregnant with the young college football star. Some pro-choice groups are upset about the ad and demanding that CBS refuse to air it, while anti-abortion groups are rallying in its favor.

Back on the masks, Barbara Lyons, executive director of Wisconsin Right to Life, said in a news release that they are a way to have a little fund and show the public that Tim and his Mom and Dad are “an inspiration to all of us.”

Learn more about the mask at www.wisconsinrighttolife.org.

Meanwhile, I saw lots of comments concerning my last posting on this issue.

I asked what people thought about the ad, whether CBS should air it or not. Here are a few responses:

“I hate Tim Tebow, as any Sooner should, but I say run it. How one-sided are we as a country if we cannot at least allow both side to be heard?” — EJP

“I’m confused by this reaction. Isn’t the pro-choice movement in support of choice? Why is it wrong for this mother to say she chose to have her child? — Cara

“Absolutely not. I will boycott not only the game but all the sponsors if they don’t retract this.” — Carolyn

Stay tuned for more on the issue …

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor    

In the days leading up to the championship, Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford (at left)and Florida quarterback Tim Tebow have shared their thoughts about Thursday’s game, but they also have talked about something else: Their faith in God.

Fans who want to see them share about their faith can visit www.BeyondTheUltimate.org. 

“The key things I’ve learned are patience, perseverance and trusting God,” Bradford said in a video interview on the Web site.

“Everything that God does He’s doing for a reason. He has a purpose and we need to trust Him and know that His plan is the right way.”

Tebow said: “I found true satisfaction, true happiness — and it is not by having your name in a newspaper, it is not by winning trophies, and it is not by winning championships. It is by having relationship with Jesus Christ.”  

 Other college football stars share their stories on the Web site, as well.

The site was originally developed in partnership with Athletes in Action, the sports ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ, as a platform for Super Bowl coaches Tony Dungy, Lovie Smith and their players to share the important role that faith in Christ has played in their lives. BeyondTheUltimate.org has since expanded to reach fans of a variety of sports. 

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor