MOSAIC Spring 2016 | Page 38

Mascot Rory the Lion joins the Sacred Heart Lions as the team prays before a basketball game. Coach Fr. Ryan Ford leads the prayer as he does before each game. Grant Eternal Rest to These Sacred Heart Alumni Kenneth Reigner SHHS 1967 R.I.P August 8, 2015 Joseph Oullette SHHS 1964, SHS 1968 R.I.P. September 21, 2015 Alexander Morrison SHHS 1964, SHS 1968 R.I.P. October 10, 2015 Fr. Loren O’Dea SHHS 1946, SHS 1950 R.I.P. October 14, 2015 Seven Wins and Lessons for Life Fr. Ryan Ford, first-time coach, led the eighteen men of the 2015-16 Sacred Heart Lions basketball team to a more-than-commendable 7-6 record. The record includes competitive runs at the tournaments at Mundelein Seminary in January and the Pontifical College Josephinum in February. Msgr. Todd Lajiness asked Father Ford, Sacred Heart alumnus (2011) and priest of the Diocese of Marquette, if he would coach the team after former coach Fr. Charles Fox was assigned to Rome last summer to study for a doctorate in theology. Father Ford had just returned to Sacred Heart to earn his Licentiate in Sacred Theology and serve as a seminarian spiritual director. “I was happy to do it,” Father says of the short-notice invitation. Father Ford credits the Lions’ winning record to the seminarians’ “teamwork and hard work.” “Basketball is great for learning how to be unified as a team,” Father believes, while the virtue of teamwork learned on the hardwood translates into the virtues required of priestly ministry. “In the heat of battle, the men gain something even in failure. There’s always another ‘game’ down the road; another spiritual battle to wage.” Bardeleon “Bardy” Jaddou says one of the great blessings of playing on the basketball team is the “fraternity with my brother 36 seminarians.” Basketball, says the third-year theologian from the Chaldean Eparchy of St. Thomas, provides a great opportunity for team-building. “Basketball is by no means incidental to our seminary formation,” Jared Holzhuter maintains (Theology III, Madison). “Few things push a man to be his best—or discover his own weaknesses—than striving together with your brothers.” Cory Baumgartner, a second-year collegian from the Diocese of Madison, respects Father Ford’s emphasis on collaboration. “We leaned on him and he leaned on us throughout the season. He was always open to suggestions as well as making the calls as coach.” “We grew as brothers through healthy competition,” Father Ford says. “We had to work together—which we did.” Bishop Joseph Imesch SHHS 1949, SHS 1953 R.I.P. December 22, 2015 Msgr. Edward Baldwin SHHS 1947, SHS 1951 R.I.P. January 8, 2016 Fr. John Canavan SHS 1951 R.I.P. January 19, 2016 Theodore Zerwin SHS 1959 R.I.P. February 2, 2016 Joseph Janes SHS 1959 R.I.P. February 10, 2016 Fr. Louis Grandpre SHHS 1953, SHS 1957 R.I.P February 20, 2016 For up-to-date news about the seminary, mosaic.shms.edu. Fr. Edward Konopka SHHS 1938, SHS 1942 R.I.P. February 27, 2016 Sign up for our monthly e-newsletter. Msgr. Russell Kohler SHS 1967 R.I.P. March 25, 2016 Sacred Heart Major Seminary | Mosaic | Spring 2016