Two men from the Philadelphia sports world, whose personal journeys through pain have refined their faith in Christ, gave fiery and emotional talks to the estimated 1,500 men who attended the annual Man Up Philly men’s spirituality conference March 8 at Cardinal O’Hara High School in Springfield, Delaware County.
Former Philadelphia Eagles safety and Pro Football Hall of Famer Brian Dawkins, and longtime commercial real estate entrepreneur and Delaware Valley Catholic lay leader Ed Morris, joined other men who took the stage to spotlight the Lord in their lives.
They gave impassioned, sometimes tearful talks revealing how God transformed their struggles – Dawkins from depression and the challenges of his early childhood, Morris from the recent loss of his son-in-law, NHL star Johnny Gaudreau who was from Salem County, New Jersey.
With a loud “Hallelujah!” as his first word, Dawkins gave the keynote address and joined a discussion with Man Up Ministries Chairman Eustace Mita before Mass led by Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez.
“In order for God to birth something in your life, there’s going to have to be things in your life that (have) to die, that have to be gotten rid of, that you have to move away from,” Dawkins said in a theme appropriate for Lent.
“You have to kind of tear some things down in order to build them up … when we give these things in prayer to God and our life to God, it is he that then begins to help chisel those things away from us.”
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As a responsive audience – some wearing number 20 midnight green Eagles jerseys – listened with fervor, Dawkins particularly focused on the roles that many of the attendees play in daily life, that of husband and father.
“It has to be you modeling the example of Christ in the home. Of being patient. Of being kind. Of being loving,” he said.
“My son Brian Jr. should be learning how to treat his wife from me … when my kids call me father, are they telling the truth?” he added. “It convicted me.”
Morris shared the theme of father-like influence in his morning talk before Eucharistic Adoration, interwoven with the themes of experiencing and learning from grief after Gaudreau, his son-in-law, was killed by an alleged drunk driver in August 2024 as his wife Meredith carried their third child.
In the initial days of grieving his son-in-law in prayer, Morris envisioned Christ on the cross – a place where in the hours of his death, Jesus asked the Father for help.
“So I said, ‘Are you asking me to help you?’ And he said, ‘Yes,’” Morris recalled. “And I made an agreement, a covenant, right there. ‘I will help you.’ (We) formed a partnership,” said Morris, who has spoken at many of Man Up’s 17 yearly conferences.
“When Jesus told me that he could not help me, he revealed to me, for the first time in my life, his human side … he’s just like us. He’s got challenges just like us. To me, he’s just a 33-year-old man right now that died for us, a buddy of ours, a human being.”
Hours after that moment of commitment, Morris said nearly a dozen of Gaudreau’s friends – including fellow NHL players – gathered with him at his home and learned of a rosary ring Morris gave Gaudreau during the growth of their father-and-son-like relationship.
“I show them the picture of the rosary ring on his Calgary (Flames) bag. They’re like, ‘Wow. I didn’t know about that. I didn’t know he had that kind of a faith,’” Morris said. Gaudreau spent more than eight seasons with Calgary.
“I’m talking to the friends, and I give them all rosary rings … they’re all happy, but they’re still crying,” he said.
Meredith did not initially get the chance to say goodbye to Johnny after he was killed, a deep point of grief for her. A few hours after Johnny’s friends left, the funeral home called Morris.
“They said, ‘Ed, the bodies are viewable. Meredith is going to get to say goodbye to John,” said Morris. “She hugs John for five hours, running her hands through his hair. She got to hug John.”
Morris marveled at that gift of grace. As soon as he made his new commitment to Jesus “and got to work for him, Jesus got right to work,” Morris said.
Both Morris and Dawkins ended their talks by calling for the men in attendance to take such active steps in faith within their own lives.
“Whatever you’re good at, how can you deploy it? How can you be part of the rescue mission? How can you do exactly what he wants you to do?” Morris asked. “We got to get to work.”
“Our lives should be an example,” said Dawkins. “The greatest example that there is of how to man up was Jesus Christ.”
In addition to the talks, Mass with Archbishop Pérez and eucharistic adoration, the men in attendance also had opportunities for the sacrament of penance, shared meals and time to build new friendships.
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