By Liz Sullivan |
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The Church ’ s liturgical calendar states it is Ordinary Time , but it was no ordinary event when the Diocese of San Jose held the 11 th Annual Revs vs . Sems Basketball Challenge on February 3 at Santa Clara University ’ s Leavey Center .
In front of a crowd of close to 2,000 faithful , the Sems defeated the Revs 45-34 to take an overall 7-4 lead in the series .
“ This is such a great blessing for all of us ,” said Father Joe Kim , the Director of Vocations for the Diocese . “ I felt like we all really won tonight .”
In addition to the Diocese of San Jose , also represented in the game were : Archdiocese of San Francisco and the dioceses of Oakland , Reno , Sacramento , Stockton and Monterey .
The Revs won the opening tip , but the Sems ran out to a 4-0 lead and never trailed in the game . For the Revs , the closest the team got was one point , 24- 23 , with seven minutes and 51 seconds left in the third period , when Father Michael Gazzingan , Parochial Vicar of Saint Frances Cabrini , sank a 3-pointer .
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Shortly after that the crowd started a “ let ’ s go Revs ” chant and Father Joe ran around the court several times encouraging them to do the wave .
“ It was great to see all of the young people out here ,” said Father Kim , with a broad smile on his face . “ This is what this game is all about .”
Bishop Patrick J . McGrath presented the Sems with the championship trophy and also handed out the trophies
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to the MVPs of both teams . Father Gazzingan earned the award for the Revs and Patrick Klekas , a third-year seminarian from the Diocese of Reno , also received the honor .
Before the game , and before he gave the blessing and said a prayer for Vocations , the Bishop was in a jovial mood and had some advice for both sides .
“ Congratulations to the seminarians ,” said the Bishop , “ for their kindness
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and compassion . There are two ambulances and a defib outside in case anything happens to the priests . Be nice to the priests because they are the ones who will do your evaluations . To the priests , remember the seminarians will be the ones picking out your retirement homes . Seriously , I am very delighted to be here and I congratulate both teams .”
To learn more about vocations in the Diocese , visit www . dsj . org / vocations .
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