A Pastoral Letter to the People of God of The
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MOST REVEREND JOHN O. BARRES SEPTEMBER 2019 Met third baseman Ed Charles jumps with joy as pitcher Jerry Koosman and catcher Jerry Grote hug each other after the New York Mets downed the Baltimore Orioles, 5-3, in the fifth game of the World Series, Oct. 16, to take the championship title. GETTY IMAGES/Bettmann “Ya Gotta Believe!” A PASTORAL LETTER TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD OF THE DIOCESE OF ROCKVILLE CENTRE CELEBRATING THE OCTOBER 16, 2019, 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1969 AMAZIN’ METS WINNING THE WORLD SERIES “Ya Gotta Believe!” A PASTORAL LETTER TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD OF THE DIOCESE OF ROCKVILLE CENTRE CELEBRATING THE OCTOBER 16, 2019, 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1969 AMAZIN’ METS WINNING THE WORLD SERIES MOST REVEREND JOHN O. BARRES SEPTEMBER 2019 GETTY IMAGES/Studio-Annika 2 ya gotta believe! ON OCTOBER 16, 2019, WE WILL CELEBRATE by a fresh approach to evangelization.” There are so many memories: the noble leadership of THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE AMAZIN’ manager Gil Hodges; the acrobatic catches of Ron Swoboda NEW YORK METS WINNING THE WORLD and Tommie Agee; the Al Weis, Don Clendenon (3), Tommie Agee and Ed Kranepool home runs; the masterful SERIES. THESE MEMORIES STILL HAVE pitching of Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman and Nolan Ryan; A STRONG HOLD ON GENERATIONS OF the champagne celebration in the locker room; and the LONG ISLAND AND METRO NEW YORK euphoria in New York and across the country. The 1969 Mets season did not seem promising in spring RESIDENTS AND HAVE A PROMINENT PLACE training of 1969. Although Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman IN BASEBALL HISTORY. were coming off their 16 and 19 win seasons, the New York Mets were far from “amazing.” Many among the younger generations of baseball fans The Mets did have #15 Jerry Grote: an outstanding are fascinated by the story even though it happened years defensive catcher with a strong arm to second base and – or decades – before they were born. Sports and athletic a gift for guiding young pitchers and building their events have an ability to transcend generations. confidence. When the 1969 Mets were honored at Citi Field on A “One-on-One” Tom Seaver-Dick Schapp interview June 29, 2019, a father of two girls and two boys said: (available on YouTube) tells the story of how the 1969 “For someone who was not alive in ’69, I could not help season unfolded. but be caught up in the emotion of the ceremony and all One day in spring training 1969, Jerry Grote was talking my children were as well. So many people were cheering to the young pitching staff that was coming into its own and crying. This image could connect with our young – Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Gary Gentry, – and he said people and with Catholics who have been away from the to them: “I think we can win the whole thing this year!...I Church for a while and yet who could feel re-energized think we can win the whole thing this year!” Cleon Jones, Bud Harrelson, Tommy Agee and manager Gil Hodges of the New York Mets during the introductions before the World Series at Memorial Stadium on October 1969 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Focus On Sport/ Getty Images) GETTY IMAGES/Studio-Annika 3 The Diocese of Rockville Centre This was unexpected coming from Grote – a steady, the Best of Yourself — On the Christian Perspective of Sport reliable player not known for hyperbole or overstatement. and of the Human Person said: “Sport is a very rich source So what was the reaction from the young pitching of values and virtues that help us to become better people. staff? Seaver, Koosman and Gentry simultaneously and Like the athlete during training practicing sport helps us instantaneously told Grote that he was crazy, absolutely to give our best to discover our limits without fear, and crazy! to struggle daily to improve.”2 However, that solid, steady, reliable catcher Jerry Grote Sports, the Pope stressed, is a meeting place where was right. He saw something in spring training that Seaver, people of all levels and social conditions come together Koosman and Gentry did not yet see. And his comment to reach a common goal and inspire the community. The stuck like a burr in each one of them despite them calling 1969 Miracle Mets achieved just that! him and his prediction crazy. Pope Saint John Paul II said this to a group of athletes Tom Seaver said: “As we went through the course of the in 1979: “In our time, organized sport sometimes seems season, we as individuals began to get on board. Maybe conditioned by the logic of profit, of the spectacular…it is Grote isn’t crazy. Everyone started to believe and the also to proclaim and to witness to the humanizing power thing steamrolled.” Seaver pinpointed a specific clutch of the Gospel with regard to the practice of sport, which if comeback win against the Dodgers in August where he lived in accordance with the Christian outlook, becomes himself began to believe. a ‘generative principle’ of profound human relations and When they made it to the World Series after overtaking encourages the building of a more serene and supportive the Chicago Cubs and sweeping the Atlanta Braves in the world.” playoffs, the Mets faced the formidable and intimidating The experience of the 1969 NY Mets has something to Baltimore Orioles who had such Hall of Famers as Brooks teach the Catholic Church on Long Island 50 years later Robinson, Frank Robinson and Jim Palmer. in 2019. The Mets lost the first game to Baltimore 4-1 but as they The very essence of our Catholic faith is that there is were coming off the field, Don Clendenon came over to always a light in the darkness – a light that the darkness Seaver and said with a confident intuition, “We’re going cannot understand – and the history of the Catholic Church to beat them!”1 repeatedly shows that hope can spring from the most As we know, the rest is history. The Mets swept the next unlikely sources. four games. They beat the seemingly unbeatable Orioles. Drawing on the inspiration of the 1969 Miracle Mets, Tom Seaver became “Tom Terrific” and a baseball Hall of the Catholic Church on Long Island can experience a new Famer, and the New York Mets, previously known for their era of Catholic Evangelization and dramatic missionary constant comedy of errors in the early `60s, became the growth against all the odds and expectations, and even “Amazin’ Mets” whose relief pitcher Tug McGraw in 1973 become a model for the country! taught us the phrase “Ya Gotta Believe…Ya Gotta Believe!” Ya Gotta Believe, Ya Gotta Believe – that together we can be Can you believe that it will be 50 years in October 2019 the Holy Spirit’s instruments of generating something new since the Amazin’ Mets won the World Series and turned and exciting, a dramatic missionary growth that expresses us all into believers? The “Miracle Mets” still move the the missionary identity and nature of our Church from hearts and emotions of generations of Long Islanders. Elmont to Montauk and around the world. The 1969 Mets won the World Series against all the In short, Ya gotta truly believe and deeply believe in odds and pre-season predictions. “Amazing” things are what we believe as Catholics. While we acknowledge still possible in the seemingly diminished world of 2019 in realistically the challenges of a culture that is becoming which cynicism, disillusionment, polarization and despair increasingly unfriendly to religious views as well as all the often seem easier to come by than inspiration and hope. challenges of the times, we also acknowledge that to give Why would a Catholic bishop write a Pastoral Letter on up on dramatic missionary growth is to forget the power of the 1969 New York Mets? God at work in our hearts and in the world around us. The world of sports is a critical part of the human The call to proclaim Christ to the world flows from the experience. Look at the struggle and hard work of the very nature of the Church, established to share and be athletes and the passion of the fans. It should be no surprise the presence of the Lord Jesus who continues to heal and that the masterful preacher and evangelizer Saint Paul reconcile the world. used insights and imagery from sports in his letters – he In a sense, each one of us is called to take on the role spoke of “running the race” and “fighting the fight” (2 of Mets catcher Jerry Grote and to see what might appear Timothy 4:7). He admired the discipline and perseverance impossible and know that “all things are possible with of athletes and held them up as a model for Christian God!” discipleship (1 Corinthians 9:24-26). Each one of us – lay Catholics, religious, deacons, priests Pope Francis, commenting in a document entitled Giving and bishops on Long Island -- need to rediscover and re- 4 ya gotta believe! “SAINT PAUL USED INSIGHTS AND waters of Baptism to be a living sign to the world of the presence of the Holy Spirit. IMAGERY FROM SPORTS IN HIS LETTERS — In the sign of children whose parents and catechists HE SPOKE OF ‘RUNNING THE RACE’ AND have brought them to the moment of celebrating the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist in First Holy ‘FIGHTING THE FIGHT.’” Communion, their first encounter with the Bread of Life that will carry and feed them throughout their believe that dramatic missionary growth on Long Island is lives.