Maroon 5 sugar story behind12/13/2023 She brings the same energy to our pregame prayers.” “Her consistency is incredible,” said senior forward Tom Welch, 22. On a break, the players on the men’s and women’s teams took turns shaking her hand. So, I just feel I have a lot more work to do,” she said.ĭuring a recent practice, she watched from the sideline in her wheelchair. “I know that God will call me when he wants me. “And during those life skills, you’re also talking about faith and purpose.” Her motto: “Worship, Work, Win.” “Sports are very important because they help develop life skills,” she said. The role, she writes in her memoir, became “the most transformational and transcendent position” of her life. In 1994, she was asked to help student basketball players boost their grades – “the booster shooter” she called herself, and later that year she was named chaplain of the men’s basketball team. The school became affiliated with Loyola in 1991, and Sister Jean was hired to help students with the transition. She went on to teach at Catholic schools in Chicago and southern California, where she also coached girls’ basketball, before she ended at Mundelein College - on the Chicago lakefront -in the 1960s. She followed her calling to the order’s motherhouse in Dubuque, Iowa, where she made her vows. “I guess God listened to me on that one,” she writes. Brimming with admiration, she would pray every day: “Dear God, help me understand what I should do, but please tell me I should become a BVM sister,” she recounts in her memoir, co-written with sportswriter/broadcaster Seth Davis. She was in third grade when she met a kind, joyful teacher who belonged to the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Her religious calling, she said, came at the age of 8. She witnessed the impact of the Great Depression, World War II and the building of the Golden Gate Bridge, which she recalls crossing on foot when it opened in 1937. “There’s not a single unkind bone in her body and she represents our values… she’s the embodiment of compassion.”īorn in San Francisco in 1919, Sister Jean grew up in a devoutly Catholic family. “Everyone loves Sister Jean,” Baeten said later, recalling that she first met the nun during a tour of Loyola when she was in high school. “And also because of you,” she told the nun. Before a pizza lunch at the nearby cafeteria, she met other students.Ĭatharina Baeten, a 20-year-old-junior, told Sister Jean she had decided to attend Loyola because of its excellent programs in psychology and women-and-gender studies. In her office - surrounded by bobbleheads, posters and pins with her image - she studied game stats carefully in preparation to meet with the team at practice. I will be there in prayer and in spirit and bless your hands virtually.” “Our next game will be challenging, but just keep working hard. “I believe this was a turning point and that we’re now in a winning streak” she wrote. and by then, she had already written her usual scouting report and emailed the players on the team to congratulate them on a victory. “She knows more about basketball than me,” Grebener said. They then talked about their shared love for the Loyola Ramblers. Samuel Grebener, a 19-year-old freshman, told her he was thinking about medical school. “What’s your dream?” she asked some of them. She smiled warmly and waved to prospective students and shook hands with current students, asking them about their classes. She wore purple Nike Air Max sneakers with the words “Sister” and “Jean” written on the back, and her maroon and gold Loyola scarf that often gets compared to Harry Potter’s. She arrived in a wheelchair for the interview at her office in the university’s student center. “They’re the ones who keep me going because they bring such joy into my life - and they keep you updated on what’s happening in their world.” “I love life so much and enjoy being with young people,” she told The Associated Press. Among her priorities, there’s little that she enjoys more than talking with young people. She sees the attention as a holy opportunity to tell her story and share what she’s learned to help others wake up with purpose. Her likeness appears on socks, bobbleheads, even a Lego statue at her gallery in Loyola’s art museum. Her NCAA news conference, she was told, had more journalists than Tom Brady drew at the Super Bowl. She has been featured by newspapers and TV stations across America. The beloved Catholic nun captured the sports world’s imagination and became something of a folk hero as the chaplain for the Loyola Chicago men’s basketball team that reached the NCAA Final Four in 2018.
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