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

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

The Oklahomans will be among thousands of youths sharing their Christian faith with fellow students as part of the annual event.

Students are planning togather at more than 400 locations around the nation, including three in the Oklahoma City metro area:

– 8 p.m. at Edmond North High School, 215 W Danforth in Edmond.

–  6:30 p.m. at Carl Albert High School, 2009 S Post Road.

–  6:30 p.m. in the Capitol Hill High School auditorium, 500 SW 36.

Around the state, Fields of Faith events are planned in Davis, Ardmore, Bristow, Chickasha, Durant, Enid, Lawtown, Talihina, Thomas, Tulsa, Turpin, Velma and Wagoner.

For more information, go to www.fieldsoffaith.com.

(The picture above from www.fieldsoffaith.com was taken at a 2007 Fields of Faith event.)

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

You know the one that features actress Sandra Bullock as Leigh Anne Tuohy, who, with her husband Sean, adopted Michael Oher, a poor teen who went on to become a collegiate football player and NFL player. I met the Tuohys, by the way, when they visited Oklahoma City in June 2011 for the Arrow Child & Family Ministries Ambassadors luncheon and they were very nice and, well, inspirational.   

Lifeway Christian Resources, affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, has apparently decided to take “The Blind Side” movie videos off Lifeway Christian Store shelves. A Baptist pastor is saying that it contains a racial slur and profanity. The movie, which is PG-13, may be brought up at next week’s Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in New Orleans, La., through a resolution submitted by the pastor, a Florida minister, who brought up these same concerns at an SBC meeting several years ago.    

Read the Associated Baptist Press story here: “Lifeway pulls ‘Blind Side’ Movie from stores”

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor

However, there’s another interesting story about hoops in Sports Illustrated.   

This week’s Sports Illustrated cover story features a basketball star who has been called “the best high school basketball player since LeBron James.”

The magazine story talks about Jabari Parker’s hoops aspirations of course, but his faith is a significant part of the article.

Parker is a junior at Simeon Career Academy in Chicago and he is a Mormon.

A news release about the cover story said the article shares about Parker’s comittment to his faith: ”Parker wakes up each morning at five and says a prayer, and three days a week, he is at Bible study at 5:30. Parker also accompanies a bishop of his church on visits to the sick, the poor and the elderly — an assignment designed to teach young men the importance of service and self sacrifice.”

“I realize why I’m in the position I’m in right now. It’s not because of me. It’s because of God,” Parker told SI contributing writer Jeff Benedict who wrote the story. 

I’ve read the story and it’s an interesting article about how faith has made an impact on this young man’s life. I just wrote a story for The Oklahoman about local high school students who are Mormons. The students gather together between 5 and 6 a.m. several days during the week for an international Bible study program simply called Seminary. It looks like Parker is participating in the same program.

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor        

It’s just a few hours away until the tip-off  of the Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Los Angeles Lakers NBA game and true to their word, a group of Southern Baptists have continued their “I Believe” faith outreach in conjunction with the Thunder’s playoff series.

I got to meet with several volunteers at the Chesapeake Energy Arean today as they placed Thunder T-shirts and towels on every chair. Van Greenwood, volunteer coordinator of the “I Believe” outreach, said he had a group of about 30 people at the Peake for the T-shirt placement, most of them from Baptist churches in the metro area. However, he said several people from a Baptist church in Maud joined in and he also invited some young men who play basketball at his church, Quail Springs Baptist, to participate. Greenwood said volunteers prayed for the people that would be sitting in the chairs as they placed the T-shirts on them.

My initial story about the “I Believe” initiative ran in Saturday’s Oklahoman. The faith outreach is a combined effort of the Capitol Baptist Association and Union Baptist Association, in partnership with the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. In addition to the T-shirt placement, the faith outreach will include the distribution of faith-inspired brochures and a mini-magazine related to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

“It’s been a great opportunity for us,” Greenwood said of the effort.

“The Thunder has taken the community by storm. We want to show our support for the Thunder and try to share the love of God with people at the same time,” he said.

Jason Taylor, a member of Judah Christian Assembly, was part of Greenwood’s group on Monday. Taylor said he regularly shoots hoops at the Quail Springs Baptist Church recreation center and was happy to accept Greenwood’s invitation to help place T-shirts on chairs for “I Believe.”

“It’s a blessing,” Taylor said.

 Taylor said he’s an Oklahoma City Thunder fan and he particularly enjoys watching Thunder star Kevin Durant play ball.

Look for more stories about the “I Believe” outreach in the near future.

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor    

I had wondered how many fans would skip Palm Sunday services to see the Boys in Blue battle it out with the Bulls.

I tried to find out how Sunday’s attendance — 18,203 (according to stats in today’s Oklahoman) – compared to other big games like the Thunder’s last game against the Miami Heat, but it was taking too long (Got a little thing called Easter to write about, you know) to ferret that out.

Anyway, what struck me was that I really wanted to see Derrick Rose suited up and playing for Chicago. I thought Sunday’s matchup would have been more exciting. I have no doubt that the Thunder would have won anyway, but Rose’s presence on the court might have added more drama.

Glad to see the Thunder keep on rolling as they are — no matter who they play.

Now back to religion …

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor