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CV NEWS FEED // In a Feb. 24 interview with the Diocese of Lansing, a Super Bowl champion invited Catholic men to the IGNITE Men’s Conference in Michigan.
A former starting center for the Baltimore Ravens and father of eight, Matt Birk told the Diocese that, just as in football, men need fraternal support in pursuing a deeper faith life as Catholics living in the modern world.
“I think it’s accurate to say that we live in a culture that’s anti-Christian, certainly anti-Catholic in many areas, but it is in that darkness that the light burns even brighter and a lot of guys are drawn to that light, they want to go deeper,” Birk said in his interview, “But we weren’t built to do it on our own, we were built for communion.”
According to a 2013 NFL article, after Birk’s team won the Super Bowl that year, President Barack Obama invited the team to visit the White House. Birk was the only team member who declined the invitation, ultimately deciding not to attend because the President had said in a speech just several weeks previously, “God bless Planned Parenthood.”
When questioned by NFL reporters Birk explained his decision.
“I am Catholic, I am active in the pro-life movement and I just felt like I couldn’t deal with that,” he said. “I couldn’t endorse that in any way.”
Birk, who has remained a pro-life advocate, shared in his recent interview that family life and work may feel like a distraction from one’s faith life, yet they can be actually the very means through which God calls men grow.
“When you look at them through the lens of the faith you realize that everything — going to work, taking kids to practice, whatever — is all part of your calling as a man, part of your vocation to marriage,” he said. “That realization brings a whole new meaning to your daily life.”
As CatholicVote previously reported, the IGNITE Men’s Conference, which is cosponsored by the Knights of Columbus, aims to “spark [a] burning zeal for the Lord that will help you become the man you are called to be in your home, parish and workplace.”
The Diocese reported that Craig Pohl, the director of the Office of New Evangelization, expressed that the aim of the conference is to surround attendees with other Catholic men who are serious about their faith and authentic masculinity.
