The Rule of Saint Benedict and Sports and Faith

Patrick McCaskey 

"The Rule of  Saint Benedict has been a fundamental guide for monastic life for many centuries.   Saint Benedict lived around 500 AD and  Saint Benedict’s Rule has since served as a guide for those who wanted to live in community and in faith.  The term “ora et labora” (prayer and work) describes the Benedictine way in a nutshell.   Saint Benedict’s  Rule encourages community members to avoid idleness and directs them to spend their time in prayer, labor, and sacred reading.  The Rule advocates a balance in life that keeps people on task. "

"Of course, many Christians keep busy outside of monasteries.  We are not all meant to be monks, ministers, or other Religious, but we can forge a kind of life of prayer and labor.  Many of the best in sport have done just that.."

From: Patrick McCaskey's Sports and Faith: More Stories of the Devoted and the Devout.

Sports and Faith: More Stories of the Devoted and the Devout is the second book in Patrick McCaskey's inspired series on athletes, coaches, and administrators who lead exemplary lives. Sports and Faith Book 2 includes stories of current professionals like Jeremy Lin and Josh McCown, and legends like Stan the Man Musial and Bob Cousy. Spotlighted are teams such as Bob Ladouceur s De La Salle squad portrayed in the motion picture When the Game Stands Tall. Spend time with benevolent Tom Monaghan and faith-based institutions like Notre Dame, Ave Maria University, and Belmont Abbey College. The author dives into a few Bible stories and he reveals some McCaskey history. Humorous poems, which the author is famous for delivering, are included. Sports and Faith Book 2 takes on some sad developments the recent tragedy in Kabul where Dr. Jerry Umanos and John and Gary Gabel were killed in cold blood. All three died at the foot of the cross. Also examined is the Washington Illinois tornado and the people who remediated the suffering. Burke Masters (featured on cover), Matthew Lightner, and Grant Desme three promising athletes who decided on a role of lifetime service are spotlighted. McCaskey recalls the stories of those who strove to make the cut on and off the field.
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The Brown and White

Forty plus years in the making, The Brown and White is a fictionalized memoir that tells the story of Collin Callaghan's freshman year at a Chicago Catholic High School. Collin is a white boy who is living in turbulent times in a changing city. He clings to his neighborhood and his family as he heads out each day with his classmates on the Brown and White, the ancient school bus driven by free-spirited Willie. Memorable characters abound as this story unfolds. Collin's loveable family, especially his Irish Catholic policeman father and his Irish immigrant mother face life together. Collin and classmates blaze their own humorous and passionate trail through the late 1960s. A unique cast of terrific teachers are there to see the boys through. Laughs and life meet readers head on as they travel on the Brown and White.

Our Teachers Were Different!

Lawrence Norris

In the first week, we quickly learned about the real characters of the school: the teachers.  I cannot imagine there ever being a school with such a cast of unique and animated teachers.  Special care was taken to recruit only teachers who would stand out in a crowd and inspire young boys from many different backgrounds. Our cast would make the witches and other creatures who instruct at Harry Potter’s Hogwarts look dull.

Each teacher seemed quirky in a different way, but on the whole they were fascinating communicators and extraordinary people. We learned immediately that they were focused on learning and that we would either get on the stick or get the stick - it was our choice. While there were several teachers who were beginning to practice some of the more modern approaches to discipline, most of the teachers controlled the classes through sheer force of their personalities or intimidation. And no apologies were made for it.

The school had many jocks, many scholars, some scholar-athletes and a large number of somewhat slightly above average to average students.  Enrollment was kept relatively low at about 700.  When the teachers used intimidating tactics they probably figured they were dealing well with the diversity issue.  It did not  matter what color you were or what ethnic background you had, if you stepped out of line, “bam,”  you paid for it. Ironically, in the sixties, the bookshelves were full of best sellers on innovative educational approaches like open classrooms and self-directed learning.  But, if someone asked our teachers "Why Johnny Can't Read," they would have answered “because mommy and daddy and their teachers are too soft on them.” Our teachers were not going to make that mistake!

The school’s mission was established decades before my class ever saw the old brick buildings.  MSN  had a reputation for taking all kinds of  kids and making something out of them.  It was a “no child left behind” or in the case of problem students a “no child left with a behind” philosophy. Most educators today would say that the methods used were certainly primitive by modern standards.  Most MSM teachers had their own unique creative method of cruel and unusual punishment to foster discipline. It seemed to us that they dealt corporal punishment out unmercifully. But, for us, taking such medicine was a test of manhood that we were certainly willing to take. Like our dads, older brothers, and uncles, we wanted to make the grade more than anything else. We wanted to become men of Mount Saint Mary’s. The discipline methods were not just part of the school tradition; they were also a reason why parents were sending their kids to the school in the first place.  If a parent didn’t know their kids would face such methods, they hadn’t done their homework. 

Excerpt from: Lawrence Norris The Brown and White Copyright Sporting Chance Press.

Forty plus years in the making, The Brown and White is a fictionalized memoir that tells the story of Collin Callaghan's freshman year at a Chicago Catholic High School. Collin is a white boy who is living in turbulent times in a changing city. He clings to his neighborhood and his family as he heads out each day with his classmates on the Brown and White, the ancient school bus driven by free-spirited Willie. Memorable characters abound as this story unfolds. Collin's loveable family, especially his Irish Catholic policeman father and his Irish immigrant mother face life together. Collin and classmates blaze their own humorous and passionate trail through the late 1960s. A unique cast of terrific teachers are there to see the boys through. Laughs and life meet readers head on as they travel on the Brown and White.

Chicago South Side Kennedy Park and The Brown and White

Lawrence Norris

"One of the greatest things about Kennedy Park was the huge cement drinking fountain that was shaped like a birdbath that stood at attention on the northeast end of the park. It sent a healthy shot of cold water constantly into the air that served park patrons and everyone else who walked past the park on Western Avenue. The fountain was gigantic and round and the bubbler was as thick as a garden hose. No one could walk past the fountain without taking a drink. Even the biggest kid in the neighborhood could get his fill in about 20 seconds.  And it was cold wonderful Lake Michigan water.  

       The fountain also served as a meeting place for groups of guys and girls. As I glanced toward the fountain, I thought about a couple summers back. My buddy, Tom “the Pope” Adams posed a big question right there to Susie “the Matchmaker” O'Halloran in a boy-girl gathering on a warm summer evening. Tom took Susie to one side and asked in a hushed tone, “Can you find out if Renee Smith would consider hanging out.”  This move took a lot of guts since Tom was a stout pimply 5'5” and Rene was a sleek blond of 5'9".  Tom was my best friend and he had more guts than anyone at St. Sean’s. Although small, he would fight anyone at the drop of a hat so his stature among the guys was huge.  Tom was also unique in that he was the last white boy who moved out of St. Leonard’s parish, the parish my dad had grown up in... "

Excerpt from: Lawrence Norris The Brown and White Copyright Sporting Chance Press.

Forty plus years in the making, The Brown and White is a fictionalized memoir that tells the story of Collin Callaghan's freshman year at a Chicago Catholic High School. Collin is a white boy who is living in turbulent times in a changing city. He clings to his neighborhood and his family as he heads out each day with his classmates on the Brown and White, the ancient school bus driven by free-spirited Willie. Memorable characters abound as this story unfolds. Collin's loveable family, especially his Irish Catholic policeman father and his Irish immigrant mother face life together. Collin and classmates blaze their own humorous and passionate trail through the late 1960s. A unique cast of terrific teachers are there to see the boys through. Laughs and life meet readers head on as they travel on the Brown and White.

Skip the Leading This and That and Toss Out the Whopping, too!

I was researcing one of those now-common job titles, "Customer Success Manager," trying to figure out just what these people do for a living. And I found some research where people with this title  from a number of different companies talked about what they did.  But what was interesting is that all the people who had this job title worked for companies that were self-described "leading providers." It was unanimous. They didn't just work for marketing companies, sales companies, product and service providers--they were working for companies that were all leading providers--100%. 

I am often amazed at just how much American business copies from each other. I wondered how you might want to trump you job title by being a leading person in your craft at a leading company in your industry. 

"Hi, I am Stuart, the Leading Customer Success Manager from Temportie  Inc. the Leading provider of fast fusion foods in the  energy lossenges market."

It all sounds so stupid.

I remember as a college student stopping in to the a little restaturant that was in fact a double wide trailor just a short distance from the Missiouri River in a tiny town in Missiouri.  The restaurant was called the Whopping Big Cheeseburger Diner. It was late at night, but there was a big crowd of locals, probably hard-working men from the Rockwell Plant and other like businesses nearby. We were very hungry, but we were also foolish college students who needed to grow up a bit.

For some reason, we couldn't get over the fact the place had "whopping big" cheeseburgers.  We walked past a lot of  crowded tables and sat at the counter.  A waitress came over after a few minutes to take our order.  We could all see by the look on her face that the diner likely didn't have time for  students at this place--so she said in a loud voice, "what'll be boys, it's getting late so we need take your order right quick." The plates from the previous dinners who had the seats before us hadn't been removed yet. My friend Schmitty from Peoria was the first to order and he looked up and said, "I'll take a whopping big cheeseburger and a whopping big order of fries with a whopping big coke." Down on the dirty plate in front of Schmitty was a whole piece of bacon that the previous dinner had not eaten.  Schmitty picked it up and ate it and smiled at the waitress.

After each of us had placed a similar order--everything "whopping big," the waitress had enough of us and she threatened to throw us out of the restaurant if we said one more annoying word. 

We were hungry, we complied. But I learned a language lesson that night. 

A "leading provider" overused makes about as much sense as everything "whopping big" in a diner--it is tacky and doesn't fool anyone. If I was your Customer Success Manager and you were leading anything, I'd suggest that you drop it!

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The Brown and White

Forty plus years in the making, The Brown and White is a fictionalized memoir that tells the story of Collin Callaghan's freshman year at a Chicago Catholic High School. Collin is a white boy who is living in turbulent times in a changing city. He clings to his neighborhood and his family as he heads out each day with his classmates on the Brown and White, the ancient school bus driven by free-spirited Willie. Memorable characters abound as this story unfolds. Collin's loveable family, especially his Irish Catholic policeman father and his Irish immigrant mother face life together. Collin and classmates blaze their own humorous and passionate trail through the late 1960s. A unique cast of terrific teachers are there to see the boys through. Laughs and life meet readers head on as they travel on the Brown and White.

John R. Powers Motivated Me to Write The Brown and White

I am one of those Catholics who loves his faith and the culture surrounding it.  Being a good Catholic is not so easy and most of us do struggle.  But I think struggle, suffering, prayer and to a certain degree, laughter is what our faith and our lives are all about. 

Back in the day, John R. Powers was for many of us, the voice of Catholicism.  Powers wrote a number of books about Catholics that were funny and captured the times.  His  books brought a lot of us together at a very tough time. It was post Vatican II, Vietnam raged on, civil rights struggles were everywhere, and life was just changing too fast for a lot of people.  Powers books looked back a few years to a time that might not have been better, but a time that was in a lot of ways more innocent.  I think in reaction to his books, many of us Catholics felt more connected and we came to appreciate our past more.  John wrote The Last Catholic in America about his grade school days and he wrote Do Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up about his high school days. He wrote other books as well, but these two are the ones most of us would rememeber. 

I was so taken by John and his stories that I took up writing my own Catholic book called The Brown and White (high school) and I have a grade school eBook called Callaghan Goes to St. Cajetan. 

Powers Last Catholic was a great read and when we got a copy at home, everyone read it within a few weeks.  When he published Patent Leather Shoes, it became a favorite again and a few years later a play was written based on the book. The Patent Leather Shoes went on and on for decades. It played in Chicago and other parts of the country as well.  I know several people who read Last Catholic and Patent Leather  every year.  I've read Last Catholic several times and listened to the recording of it in my car during the Christmas season.  

In Power's Last Catholic he writes about life in the Seven Holy Hills nieghborhood in Chicago and at St. Bastion's Grade  School.  One of the episodes from the book is an account of St. Bastion's Pastor, Fr. O'Reilly, and Garbage Lady Annie. Fr. O'Reilly is a larger than life take charge pompous pastor who is leading his parish to construct a new church on property that is adjacent to a bag lady and  garbage picker called Garbage Lady Annie.  Some parishioners believe the priest should back plans to destroy Annie's house--he doesn't and has his reasons. Powers shows Fr. O'Reilly in one light, yes funny, and then finishes the story off showing a heroic side of him and a heroic side of Gargage Annie at the same time. Powers characters act the way you might expect them sometimes and then display a different side.  And in many ways, that is Catholicism to me. The faithful has high asperations, often unmet in funny ways, but we understand our humanity as well. 

The Brown and White

In The Brown and White,  I go back to end of the 1960s and show another side of Catholic culture and our faith.  

I Am a Big Jack Higgins Fan and He Has New Book Coming Out

Higgins Latest

I spent a lot time in my car each day and that went on for decades. Getting the latest Jack Higgins book on tape listening on my commute and reading parts of the books in print in the late evening was a real treat for me.  

At my job at a publishing company I was reading complex business documents and writing about professional authors, book schedules, and other tasks on a tight timeline.  I worked on indexes on New Years Eve and we had deadlines that often ran right through the Christmas season each year--it was all about time and money.  

Higgins was refreshing. It was a thrill to step into my car and get started each day. Often his novels were read by Patrick Macnee the former star of the Avengers--and he hammed it up big time, but it was fun.  I especially loved the Sean Dillon series, about the smallish man with an IRA background come to fight the wrongs that often faced the United States and Great Britian. 

Here's the publisher's description of the new book:

“The bell rings at midnight, as death requires it.”—Irish proverb

In Ulster, Northern Ireland, a petty criminal kills a woman in a drunken car crash. Her sons swear revenge. In London, Sean Dillon and his colleagues in the “Prime Minister’s private army,” fresh from defeating a deadly al-Qaeda operation, receive a warning: You may think you have weakened us, but you have only made us stronger. In Washington, D.C., a special projects director with the CIA, frustrated at not getting permission from the President for his daring anti-terrorism plan, decides to put it in motion anyway. He knows he’s right—the nation will thank him later.

Soon, the ripples from these events will meet and overlap, creating havoc in their wake. Desperate men will act, secrets will be revealed—and the midnight bell will toll.

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Larry Norris is the author of  The Brown and White. 

The Brown and White and the South Side of Chicago

Patrolman John Norris

Jim "Skinny" Sheehan and Mike "Houli" Houlihan are the kind of guys I grew up with on the South Side of Chicago. In fact, I knew Jim's family and his mom taught me at Saint Cajetan's Grammar School.  I also attended Mount Carmel High School where Houli had gone a few years before me. I did not have the pleasure of going to school with any of the Houlihans, but maybe that's best.  I was on the famous Skinny and Houli Show a few months ago talking about my book, The Brown and White. 

The South Side experiences were so affixed to my soul that I had carried around a manuscript on my high school days with me for the better part of 40 years and worked on it periodically. I went to Benedictine College in Kansas and after graduation I started a publishing career. Time passed, decades went by, and finally, I  published The Brown and White. 

We all had some tough times during the late 1960s when The Brown and White takes place.  I was born in 1953 and many of us who were raised in Chicago during those years of the 50s, 60s and 70s, recall memories of a world that could be a little stingy, overcrowded with fellow Baby Boomers, and Catholic. Those who look back at the time with joy, and there are many who do, get past the worts in their own lives and see a genuine and funny  time, not necessarily one they would sign up for again.

As you get older, you realize that certain events can knock you off the rails. Living in those days, if you were "chubby," you were probably called "fat." If you were bad at your schoolwork, you were probably thought of us "dumb." And if you weren't very good at sports, some people would have said you "stunk." If you looked around your classroom and figured out that although you might fit into one of those categories, about 90% of your classmates did as well. If you realize that, you might have been able to laugh it off. And that's a great secret in life. Most of us are not supermen or superwomen especially in high school. And in part, that's what The Brown and White is all about. It's a time of insecurity and laughs, a book to which many people can relate and have a good laugh and maybe a good cry. [It's $12.50]

On the other hand, there are some people who cannot relate to it at all.  I have to wonder if it is because there lives were so different or because they look at their lives through rose-colored glasses.

My Dad was an Irish Catholic Chicago cop.  My parents rolled out a plan to have a bunch of kids like their parents and never seemed to worry about the problem with finances--until it was too late. That was not uncommon and I'd have to say that in most ways we did not suffer, although at times, life could be embarrassing. I remember my dad working 2 and 3 jobs.  We started jobs early ourselves:  Lawns and show shoveling at age 12, restaurant work at age 14, and retail at 16.

We had a neighbor who was a lieutenant on the police department and I had cut his lawn for a few years. He and his wife came to the restaurant where I worked.  He told me one night that my dad (a patrolman) could never do anything for me, but if I needed help, come and see him.  In an awkward way, he was trying to give me the message that he had clout--I could see him if I decided the police force was in my future. I mentioned the conversation to my mother, and she grew very angry.  It was a very frustrating petty time in many ways. Sometimes you felt like you were in a caste system in Chicago--no escape.

I was off the rails on the job issue for a while, but in other ways I was especially loved by  my parents.  And I think much more love than the lieutenant showed his kids. My dad almost died when I was in high school, but the Good Lord took pity on us. But we had tragedies as well. And our faith was important and a beacon although at times things got a little foggy. But that was part of it, too. Our faith was there and strong at times, but sometimes we nearly fell off the rails and life was not neat and tidy--it was messy. And again, that's the theme of The Brown and White.

My high school years were tough in Chicago.  Race riots, insecurity everywhere, and war protests. But we clung to our neighborhood, friends, family and faith--and we rode it out the best way we could. It was messy and imperfect.  It's in The Brown and White.