Putting Faith in God’s Game Plan

This was the day before Super Bowl Sunday, after all, so it seemed only natural that hundreds of men gathered in a college auditorium would exchange predictions and applaud sports-minded repartee.

But the football talk was quickly overshadowed by references to God, faith and being male and Catholic in a competitive modern society.

An estimated 400 Catholic men came together Saturday to hear inspirational speeches and share their own spiritual concerns as part of a new men’s fellowship effort.

“The game we’re involved with, it’s a matter of eternal life and death,” they were told by Olympic gold medalist Brian Goodell. “We’re all on the team. If you’re here, you’re on the team.”

The Super Saturday Team-Up Men’s Conference was organized by CatholicMen Fellowships, a Southern California network that is frequently compared to Promise Keepers, the fast-growing Christian men’s movement that has filled stadiums from Atlanta to Los Angeles.

But while the Promise Keepers has attracted many evangelical Christians, some felt a Catholic equivalent was needed. A group of men started meeting in 1991 in a south Orange County living room, and today CatholicMen Fellowships has two groups in the county and hopes to foster more at Catholic churches in Southern California and beyond.

Its purpose: to allow men to develop a closer relationship with Jesus and encourage fellowship with other Catholic men.

The conference at Chapman University was scheduled the day before the Super Bowl and emphasized the “Team-up” theme, in part because sports tends to draw men together, organizers said.

“The whole football thing has become something of a god in our community. But it also represents a need to connect,” explained Father Stan Bosch, who works with Santa Ana gang members and was one of the conference’s four main speakers.

Yelling and screaming in a football stadium imparts only an artificial intimacy, Bosch said. Events such as the “Team-Up,” he said, are intended not to segregate men, but to allow them to talk among themselves and to leave feeling better about their ability to interact with their wives, families and others in their lives.

The men who milled on the steps of a campus building in the chilly morning air, drinking steaming coffee and meeting newcomers, were largely in their 40s and 50s. Most are married with children, organizers said. In fact, Herman Cortez brought his 17-year-old son after his wife urged him to attend.

Michelle Hanna of Trabuco Canyon, whose husband, Al Hanna, founded CatholicMen Fellowships, praised the notion of the men’s network.

“It’s all those things that men are afraid of. That intimacy thing. Singing together,” she said.

In his speech, Goodell recalled his public triumph and then delved into a more personal account of why he became involved in the men’s fellowship.

He riveted the crowd with the story of how, as a 17-year-old swimmer from Mission Viejo, he beat his rivals and earned his way to the 1976 Olympics in Montreal to win two gold medals and set a world record.

With a film clip of the race showing behind him, he remembered his emotions as he zipped through the water (“ . . . if I miss this turn, I’m dead”), and the Team-Up audience applauded enthusiastically as he reached the finish line.

Goodell has recounted that story in motivational talks, but this time, the Rancho Santa Margarita resident told what he called “more of the whole story”--his experiences with Catholicism. Now 36, married with three sons, Goodell had become active in his church but still felt something was missing in his spiritual life.

“Do you guys ever feel, ‘There’s got to be something more to this thing’?” he asked.

A turning point came three years ago when he attended a men’s fellowship retreat, returning with new commitment. Today he prays with his wife and meets with other men weekly at a local coffee shop. Last summer, when he was laid off from his real-estate job, that network helped him through the crisis. “I got so much positive support that I didn’t really worry,” said Goodell, who soon found a new job.

“It’s our job to be ambassadors to those guys who aren’t here,” he said.