By Jay Sorgi • Posted April 3, 2025

“Holy Spirit, come down upon us today,” Father Jason Buck utters to his team in the huddle.

He’s the Ted Lasso-like head coach of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary’s soccer team, offering prayer just seconds before their first game of the 2025 Vianney Cup held Saturday, March 29 on the seminary’s soccer fields in Lower Gwynedd.

The yearly tournament brings together Catholic seminarians from the East Coast and Mid-Atlantic states, with each hosting the tournament in a rotation. This year, seminarians came together from Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C.; Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, and D.C.-based Theological College, which hosted the tournament at the National Mall last year.

“We’ve been part of this tournament or some form of it since the early 2000s, and some of the teams have changed over the years, but it’s been going strong,” said Bishop Keith Chylinski, the rector of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, which makes him the de facto general manager of what one of his seminarians calls the “Borromeo Bears.”

“Sports are always a great opportunity to learn some important life lessons, what it means to truly play together as a team with all of our differences, with our different strengths and talents—when we truly put them together and be a team, it’s really a sign of what it means to be a member of the Church.”

“What’s so beautiful about the Catholic faith (is) that you can pray and have fun and be a big family,” said Father Buck, the Dean of Men and the assistant director of Apostolic Formation, describing the day’s “fraternal competition.”

Unlike most world-class or pub league soccer competition, these men got to experience a rarity in pregame preparation – a Mass with their opponents and fellow seminarians inside the seminary’s Immaculate Conception Chapel. Bishop Chylinski’s homily touched powerfully upon the unity of these men and where they find meaning in their calling.

“The brotherhood is really rooted in our identity in Christ,” said Transitional Deacon Daniel Roberts, a seminarian from the Diocese of Pittsburgh studying at the Theological College. “And it’s fascinating to be able to meet seminarians, even a bunch of guys here that I’ve never met before.

“We just know instantly that talking to each other, we already have that common connection, that call that we’ve all experienced in some way to follow God and to follow where He’s calling us to go … that unites us and helps us even in the midst of competition  (to) sharpen each other and build each other up.”

They also find unity on the soccer field beyond what has been called “the beautiful game.”

“The four seminaries represented are from a lot of different regions, and the seminarians are not just from all over the nation, but also internationally,” said Deacon Roberts. “There’s guys on our team right now who are from Vietnam and Africa as well who have come to study for the priesthood in the United States.”

“Seminarians reflect the Church,” Father Buck added, “and the Church is very diverse, filled with all types of people from backgrounds, ethnicities, cultural divides. Jesus Christ brings us all together, and he brings us together as these men.”

With the Eucharist inside these men, they quickly changed into their soccer jerseys and sprinted out to the fields alongside Gwynedd Mercy University.

Some of the guys, like St. Charles Borromeo seminarian Michael Fairorth, played like they at least belonged on a college soccer field. Others resembled skill sets more similar to a beginner’s league, leading to games with more turnovers than a Tastykake factory.

Their teamwork, fostered through months of practice, leads to encouragement filled with blessed double entendre.

“Good cross, Mick!” one teammate yelled in the morning shadow of the seminary.

“Mark 25. Mark 25,” a Dominican House defender called out to tell a teammate to guard number 25 for Mount St. Mary’s. (Note: There are only 16 chapters in the Gospel of St. Mark.)

It may be the only soccer tournament where a coach wears a cream-colored religious habit, but it draws fans including high school visitors discerning the priesthood as well as invited fans from around the East Coast.

“A brotherhood of sport, a brotherhood of friendly competition, a brotherhood of recognizing each other’s gifts and talents and strengths and weaknesses and all that sport encompasses,” said Deb Mirenda, a regular Vianney Cup attendee.

“God did not make us amoebas. We need to move and challenge ourselves, and friendly competition is the most excellent way to do that. We’re brothers before we start, still brothers when we end.”

St. Charles Borromeo knocked off Theological College in their first-round game, 4-0, then shut down Mount St. Mary’s in the championship final, 1-0, to earn the 2025 title.

But that wasn’t the priority.

“Are you guys having fun?” the Bears’ captain, seminarian John Millevoi, asked to a resounding answer of yes.

“God blessed us with a great day.”