All Diocesan Articles

Meet the Catholic Chaplain to the Washington Nationals

Posted on October 23, 2019 in: News

Meet the Catholic Chaplain to the Washington Nationals

By Matt Hadro

Washington D.C., Oct 22, 2019 (CNA).- A professional baseball clubhouse might not be considered a particularly religious place today, but one chaplain says the Catholic priesthood is needed—and desired—as much as ever there.

“When I walk in the [clubhouse], they kind of light up a little bit,” Monsignor Stephen Rossetti, a chaplain to the Washington Nationals professional baseball team, told CNA. “It’s not me,” he clarified, “it’s that they see a Catholic priest.”

“I think that the priesthood continues to be a sign that God is with us,” he said. “You see ‘okay, despite how secular this world is, there is a need in all of us to have God as part of our lives’.”

Monsignor Rossetti, who is also a research associate professor at The Catholic University of America’s School of Theology and Religious Studies and former president of the St. Luke Institute in Silver Spring, Maryland, said he has been a chaplain to the Washington Nationals for 10 years.

In that decade, Rossetti has observed the organization from the inside during its low point of floundering last-place finishes in 2009 and 2010, its ascendancy to one of the winningest clubs in Major League Baseball from 2012 through 2019, four disheartening first-round playoff exits, and now the pinnacle of success.

The Nationals are facing the Houston Astros in the “Fall Classic” as they  play in their first World Series game since the organization moved to Washington, D.C. from Montreal in 2005.

The television broadcast of the Nationals’ World Series-clinching win last Tuesday evening showed Monsignor Rossetti in the General Manager’s booth, intently watching the game.

What is it like being a chaplain to a professional sports team? One thing that must be considered, Rossetti told CNA, is that the 162-game baseball season from April through September—not counting the October playoffs or Spring Training which runs around six weeks in February and March—is a “grind,” and the players are “human beings” with needs like everyone else.

“It’s a lot of pressure. These guys, most of them are in their twenties, and the world’s watching them,” Rossetti said. “I just try to be supportive.”

Catholic players may have their home parishes elsewhere, but as they spend much of their time at or near the stadium during the season, Rossetti administers the sacraments as any parish priest would, celebrating Sunday Mass, hearing confessions, baptizing babies, or teaching marriage prep.

However, he also seeks to evangelize any way he can, whether through speaking an encouraging word, asking players about their families, or giving them blessings.

“If you’re waiting for people to come into your church, some will, but most people won’t,” he said. “So I think that a key point is that we try to go where people are and bring Church to them.”

Rossetti has found that the players to whom he ministers, Catholic or not, love to receive blessings. “They want to be blessed, and they can feel like it’s a sign that God still loves them and supports them and wants to give them His help,” the priest said.

“God blesses people through the Church,” he said. “They want to be prayed with, they want to be prayed over.”

Rossetti is the author of the book The Priestly Blessing: Rediscovering the Gift, in which he writes about the history and power of priestly blessings, what the Church teaches about blessings and sacramentals, and the importance of rediscovering blessings and sacramentals as a part of everyday life.

Priestly blessings, he said, are a key part of the mission of the priesthood—yet one that might be overlooked by many Catholics today.

“Despite our weaknesses as a Church,” he said, “there still is this notion—which I think is true, the Vatican Council supported it—there is a ‘sacred power’ to the priesthood.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph 1667 says that sacramentals “are sacred signs instituted by the Church,” which “prepare men to receive the fruit of the sacraments and sanctify different circumstances of life.”

This last line, the sanctification of everyday life, is a characteristic that needs to be rediscovered today, Rossetti said.

Priestly blessings of persons, objects, or places, or sacramentals such as the sprinkling of holy water, are a concrete way “to realize that God wants to be part of our everyday lives, not just Sunday for an hour,” Rossetti said.

Holy water fonts, crucifixes, and prayers before meals used to be more common in homes, he said, and showed that “our total lives were lived in the presence of the Lord” without “compartmentalizing religion.”

One genius of Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical on ecology “Laudato Si” was that “it recognizes the sacramentality of creation, the fact that we need to care for it, and it becomes taken up and transformed in some way,” he said.

As the Nationals now turn their attention to the 2019 World Series, Rossetti is excited to be watching - and cheering them on. He described the atmosphere in the clubhouse as nothing short of “electric.”

The 2019 Nationals season has been a roller coaster ride, from the team’s woeful 19-31 record at the beginning to their red-hot finish.

An unofficial team motto is “Stay In the Fight,” adopted from an oft-spoken mantra of team manager Davey Martinez. It fits this year’s team, Rossetti said, because it is often viewed as an underdog to juggernauts like the Dodgers, Yankees, or Astros. “Just when you think they’re down and out,” he said, “they come from nowhere.”

“I’ve never experienced something like this before,” Rossetti said of the clubhouse atmosphere after the team clinched the National League pennant. “The place is on fire.”


Most Viewed Articles of the Last 30 Days

Join Bishop Reidy for a Youth Hike!

Posted on June 17, 2025 in: News, Events

1647

Join Bishop Reidy for a Youth Hike!
Middle School and High School youth are invited to a special hike with Bishop Reidy on Saturday, July 19th at 10:00 A.M. at Hurd State Park in East Hampton. Hurd State Park provides the perfect backdrop for a meaningful outdoor adventure, blending fun, exercise, scenic views, and moments of spiritual reflection. The park's flexible trails, peaceful riverside spots, and stunning overlooks make it an ideal place to connect with nature and one another. What to bring: Comfortable shoes, water, and a picnic lunch. Parents are welcome, and Youth Groups are encoura...

Read More

Now Hiring: Faith Filled Educators

Posted on June 17, 2025 in: News, School News

1213

Now Hiring: Faith Filled Educators
There are several current job openings for educators in our diocese.  The positions are updated weekly, so be sure to bookmark this page in your browser-  NorwichDiocese.org/Employment Click Here to See the Current Open Positions  All candidates must complete the official professional application to be considered for a teaching position or principal position and submit it to the Diocesan School Office. Applications are available on the employment page of the website. Visit NorwichDiocese.org/Employment to view all of the open jobs in the di...

Read More

Prayer for Our Nation

Posted on July 03, 2025 in: News

1103

Prayer for Our Nation
  Prayer for Our Nation   God our Father, Giver of life, we entrust the United States of America to Your loving care. You are the rock on which this nation was founded. You alone are the true source of our cherished rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Reclaim this land for Your glory and dwell among Your people. Send Your Spirit to touch the hearts of our nation’s leaders. Open their minds to the great worth of human life and the responsibilities that accompany human freedom. Remind Your people that true happiness is r...

Read More

Pray for the Pope: Join the Sacred Heart Novena June 19–27
Knights of Columbus Launches Sacred Heart Novena for Pope Leo XIV New Haven, Conn. — The Knights of Columbus have announced a special novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for the intention of Pope Leo XIV, beginning June 19—his anniversary of priestly ordination—and concluding June 27, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart. Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly is encouraging Knights, their families, and all people of goodwill to participate in the novena and to submit personal prayer intentions, which he will personally bring to Rome later this Jubilee Year. P...

Read More

Clergy Appointments

Posted on July 09, 2025 in: News, Vocations

858

Clergy Appointments
July 3, 2025 The Most Reverend Richard F. Reidy, Bishop of Norwich, has made the following clergy and diocesan appointments in the Diocese of Norwich   DIOCESAN APPOINTMENT Rev. Msgr. Leszek T. Janik, JCL, Vicar General of the Diocese of Norwich, while continuing as Pastor of Sacred Heart Church, Norwichtown, and Saint Joseph Church, Norwich. Effective: June 5, 2025. Very Rev. Ted Tumicki, STL, JCL, Judicial Vicar for the Tribunal Office of the Diocese of Norwich. Effective: June 5, 2025.   CLERGY APPOINTMENT Reverend Francis Gi...

Read More

St. Vincent de Paul Place Norwich Celebrates New Elevator
On June 24, St. Vincent de Paul Place (SVdPP) in Norwich held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to unveil a new elevator, enhancing accessibility for clients and streamlining the movement of donations. Bishop Richard F. Reidy, at right, blessed the elevator and attendees, and SVdPP Executive Director Jill Corbin emphasized the project as a shared commitment to “accessibility and dignity.” The $3.3 million project, which began over two years ago, was funded through a combination of state support, in the form of $1.7 million from Connecticut’s Department ...

Read More

Annual Catholic Appeal

ACA DONATE

English

Español

 

Latest Articles
Bishop Reidy to Take Part in Annual Stonington Blessing of the Fleet
5 Ways to Sanctify Your Summer Vacation and Evangelize
Pope Leo Meets with Supreme Knight, Supreme Chaplain
Clergy Appointments
Parishes Need to Launch 'Revolution of Care' for the Elderly, Pope Says
The Role of Spirituality in a Caregiver’s Life
Saints — Men and Women of Holiness
Recently Added Galleries
Click to view album: Episcopal Ordination of Bishop Richard F. Reidy
Click to view album: Students Called to Feed the Hungry
Click to view album: 40 Days for Life 2024
Click to view album: Blessing of the Fleet 2024
Signup for Weekly Newsletter

     

    Roman Catholic Diocese of Norwich
    201 Broadway
    Norwich, CT 06360-4328
    Phone: 860-887-9294