Prior to the end of March Madness, college basketball teams across the country competed with each other and prayed to come out on top. Professor of Religious Studies Joe Price was on on-hand to help audiences understand the correlation between religion and competition, and helped answer the question people were asking themselves: "Does God really care about sports?"
“Because God cares about the whole health of a human being, and because play is an element of the human experience, God cares about play,” said Price in a recent Associated Press article. “Now, whether God cares about competitive sport at a professional level is perhaps a different question.”
At a recent March Madness game, the Loyola-Chicago Ramblers deftly conquered each round, securing their spot in the regional finals. The improbable success of the underdog team is being attributed, in part, to the presence of their 98-year-old team chaplain, Sister Jean Dolores-Schmidt.
Sister Jean’s involvement in the tournament has raised many questions regarding the role of prayer and miracles in championship outcomes. Fans are also left wondering whether Sister Jean’s prayers really hold more weight than the wills of others.
“It’s a legitimate question,” said Price. “It’s about discipline and it’s about frequency of prayer, and that doesn’t necessarily mean Sister Jean’s prayers are heard better. But they’re articulated in ways that are not about self-gratification. Cheering for a bunch of young men to play their best and fulfill their dream is different from, let’s say, a stock car racer who prays to the Lord for a caution flag to come out so he can win the race.”
Although Sister Jean’s team did not win, her prayers may have helped them go a little further in the competition than in years before.
