By Joe Winter
Catholic Herald correspondent
Packer-Viking game creates dilemma for churches
HUDSON -- Church officials around Wisconsin reacted in different ways to what some saw as a need to reschedule services on Dec. 24 because of a conflict with a 2 p.m. Packer football game.
St. Bernard Parish, several miles from Lambeau Field, the site of a crucial contest with the bitter rival Minnesota Vikings that had playoff implications, opted to move its two 4 p.m. Masses to 6 p.m. Its pastor said that the decision prompted plenty of debate and was not unanimous.
Parishioners at Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, where Packer coach Mike Sherman worships in Green Bay, decided to stick with its usual schedule. A nearby parish took the reasoning that a 1 p.m. Mass would end by kickoff time.
St. Croix County parishes, which are nearest to the Border Battle, have taken the same approach as the one in Ashwaubenon and stayed the course, not changing Mass times.
However, musicians, singers and other key participants had to miss part of the game to prepare and rehearse for 5 or 6 p.m. services.
At St. Bridget's Parish in River Falls, there initially was difficulty finding someone to videotape the service from among the usual volunteers, but this was rectified, a spokesperson said.
Crucial to debate at many parishes was whether changes amount to caving in and making football a god, or if they are way to ensure people are in the pews.
Dorothy Cardarelli, a longtime parishioner at St. Patrick's Parish in Hudson and a Viking fan, said she thinks the scheduling is "horrible." She was to attend the 4 p.m. children's Mass, although there is a small part of her that would have liked to see the game.
Ideally, Cardarelli said, she'd like to be able to do both.
Earlier in the holiday season, Cardarelli attended an annual performance of "The Messiah" that has drawn acclaim and large audiences, locally. There was also a Viking game that day, and Cardarelli remembers wondering about the score around halftime. She was actually a bit relieved to find that the Vikings choked and lost the game to the upstart Chicago Bears -- because Minnesota didn't score a point in the second half.
Kathy Valento, Cardarelli's sister-in-law, said she recalls a time about 25 years ago when a game was scheduled for Christmas Day. She said there was such an uproar that the Minnesota Legislature passed a bill, which has since been rescinded, outlawing such games on Christmas Day.
The women in a relationship usually want to sacrifice and attend services, but it is their spouses that balk and pull away to see the game, Cardarelli said.
It's that aspect -- that fathers may choose football over family -- that concerns Fr. Jim Brinkman, pastor at Immaculate Conception Parish in New Richmond. In particular he is concerned about families with young children, who are tied into children's Masses or Christmas programs, that are usually at about 4 p.m., and don't have the option for other services.
"I think Jesus should come before football," Brinkman said. "It's all about money."
Brinkman said he was partially hoping that the games for both teams in the weekend before Christmas would end in losses. That way, the Christmas Eve contest would be less crucial to playoff possibilities and interest fewer people, he reasoned. It turned out the Vikings won and the Packers lost, meaning that they are in a virtual tie for first place in their division.
"We're ignoring (the game situation)," Brinkman said about Immaculate Conception staff, adding that there was never any consideration of changing Mass times.
Brinkman questioned how this would affect the families of the players, who after plane flights didn't see their fathers and husbands until the wee hours of the morning. Likewise for people in western Wisconsin who traveled to the Metrodome in Minneapolis to see the contest, and after fighting postgame traffic might not get back until almost 8 p.m.
Some pastors said that having the game as scheduled might be a blessing in disguise, since there tend to be a glut of people at the 4 p.m. services. The presence of football might mean the attendance was more evenly spread over the evening's services, which often include a second service at about 7 p.m. and a third at around midnight.
"We recognize that there may be some shift in attendance times," said Dennis Nelson, senior pastor at Bethel Lutheran Church in Hudson.
© Superior Catholic Herald, 2004