Growing Closer to God Through Sports? Author To Be Interviewed on CatholicTV

On October 20th, Jim Penrice, author of the book Living the Eucharist Through Sports, will appear on the CatholicTV talk show “This is the Day”. Jim is also a member of Catholic Athletes For Christ which includes numerous well-known Catholic professional athletes and coaches. In his book, Jim says, “An athlete’s pledge to their teammates, coaches, and fans has Eucharistic overtones: “This is my body, which will be given up for you.”

“The book reflects on sports as a profound way to live the Eucharist, joining us to Jesus, the greatest athlete ever”, said Jim about his book. The book offers an athletic perspective on the Mass, Eucharistic adoration, the sacrament of Reconciliation, the Rosary, prayer, humility, and suffering, among other topics.

Jim is a popular speaker on the catechetical opportunities in sports. He serves as Pastoral Associate/Adult Faith Formation at St. Mary Parish in Spring Lake, Michigan. Jim believes that sports are enormously popular and rich in catechetical potential. His book offers ways to use sports to connect people of all ages to their faith.

Jim’s interview can be seen on Tuesday, October 20th live at 10:30AM (EST) on CatholicTV where available (rebroadcast at 8PM). The show will also be streamed simultaneously at www.CatholicTV.com and will be available on the site’s archives starting Tuesday night. All videos at the website are viewable in full-screen. Paste this URL into your browser in order to access the “This is the Day” video archives. http://www.CatholicTV.org/shows/default.aspx?seriesID=72

4-Time All Star and Boston Red Sox Third Baseman Mike Lowell was recently interviewed by CatholicTV. The interview can be viewed at http://www.catholictv.com/shows/default.aspx?seriesID=72&videoID=326. The interview starts at 13 minutes and 12 seconds into the episode.

Boston Red Sox Star Mike Lowell To Appear on CatholicTV Talk Show

Mike Lowell, 3rd baseman for the Boston Red Sox and Catholic father, will discuss faith, cancer, and baseball on “This is the Day”-a talk show on CatholicTV on Tuesday, July 7th. Also on “This is the Day” will be Fr. Ron Sajdak who helped to found “Reaching Out To Africa”, a mission which assists African refugees, African priests and religious, and the less fortunate in Africa.



Mike Lowell is well known as star 3rd baseman of the Boston Red Sox. He is a 4-time All-Star, a Golden Glove Winner, and also named the 2007 World Series MVP. During his interview on “This is the Day”, Mike will talk about baseball and how despite how much he loves baseball, he says “baseball is only what I do, not who I am”.

At the age of 24 Mike was diagnosed with testicular cancer and his initial reaction was “am I going to die?” After being diagnosed, Mike began to reexamine his life and to think about his Catholic faith more.

Mike was born in Puerto Rico and comes from a Catholic family. He will discuss his early family life during his television interview. Before his CatholicTV interview, which took place at Fenway Park, Mike mentioned how during Sunday home games, a priest from the Archdiocese of Boston comes to say Mass for about a dozen people at Fenway Park. During away games Red Sox players and personnel always have access and a ride to the local Mass.

Also on the show, will be Fr. Ron Sajdak- a priest from the Diocese of Buffalo. After meeting a few African refugees from Sudan in 1995, Fr. Ron was “changed forever”. He helped to start an effort to assist more African refugees who were moving into Buffalo, NY. Eventually, more people became interested and the ministry grew. Now, Reaching Out To Africa’s mission is:

· To assist African Refugees primarily in Buffalo, NY.
· To assist African Priests & Religious in their ministry to the motherland.
· To have a “hands on” outreach to specific ministries in African Countries.

You can learn more by visiting http://www.reachingout2africa.com/index.php

These guests can be seen on Tuesday, July 7th live at 10:30AM (EST) on CatholicTV where available (rebroadcast at 8PM). The show will also be streamed simultaneously at http://www.catholictv.com/ and will be available on the site’s archives starting Tuesday night. All videos at the website are viewable in full-screen. Paste this URL into your browser in order to access the “This is the Day” video archives. http://www.CatholicTV.org/shows/default.aspx?seriesID=72