July/August 2007
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God and the gridiron
Faith is more important than winning
to Michigan State University's head coach
By Todd Schultz | Photography by John
Gwillim, MSU Sports Information
 Mark
Dantonio said precisely what long-suffering Spartan fans wanted
to hear when he was introduced in November 2006 as Michigan State
University’s new head football coach.
Dantonio promised toughness, pledged to land top high-school recruits
and cast a vision of winning championships. Steely and serious,
he looked and sounded like the stereotypical Big Ten football coach.
But Dantonio’s first press conference also strayed
from the script long enough to provide a surprising peek into his
soul. He stared into the cameras and, without prompting,
declared his relationship with God was more important to him than
winning games.
“I’ll stand up here today and tell you that my faith
is very, very important to me,” Dantonio said at the time.
Today’s college football coaches live in a win-or-else world
where the paychecks and the pressure to produce are astronomical.
Rabid fans, influential boosters and cash-strapped school presidents
all want victories – and they want them now.
Dantonio, who earns $1.1 million annually at Michigan State, wants
to win as badly as anyone. He knows the scoreboard on Saturday afternoon
will ultimately determine his success with the Spartans
 But
Dantonio also keeps the pigskin in perspective. His Catholic
faith keeps him focused on Christ, his family and the long-term
welfare of his players and assistant coaches. It’s those relationships
– even more than the results on the field – that make
Dantonio passionate about his high-profile profession.
“Coaching is my ministry,” Dantonio said in
February. “It can’t be just about wins and
losses. The intense scrutiny that comes with this job – it’s
going to be there. I understand that. At the same time, it’s
got to be about how we can get our players to move forward with
their lives and do things correctly off the field. You’re
able to make a difference as a coach.”
Dantonio, 51, was raised as a Catholic in Zanesville, Ohio, where
he grew up attending weekly Mass with his parents, Justin and Maryann,
and his three brothers. Faith was as much a part of life
as football for Dantonio, who earned all-league and all-state honors
as a player at Zanesville High and went on to play at the University
of South Carolina.
“Faith just always was there,” says Dantonio, who earned
three letters as a defensive back at South Carolina. “It was
there at a young age. During college, I strayed this way and that
way. But whenever I went to church, I always felt a sense of calmness
that I’d be able to solve any problems.”
Dantonio can’t pinpoint the moment he accepted Christ.
But he knows his spiritual journey – and his life
– took a key turn in 1985 while he was working as a secondary
coach at Akron. That’s when he met his wife Becky, an Akron
native who was home after attending Ohio State.
“That’s when I started looking more at the big picture,”
he says. “I started learning more about my walk.”
The Dantonios have grown together in their faith through the birth
of their daughters – Kristen, 14, and Lauren, 12 – and
a long list of stops on the college coaching trail, including successful
stints as an assistant at MSU and Ohio State and his first head
coaching job at Cincinnati.
Mark considers Becky – who converted to Catholicism during
his six years as a Spartan assistant – his most influential
spiritual mentor. Married in 1990, the couple prays together every
morning and, win or lose on Saturday, worships at St. Martha Parish
in Okemos on Sundays.
“His faith was always important to him and a relationship
(with God) was there,” says Becky, who introduced her husband
at his first MSU press conference. “(But) it really took off
after we got married. There’s a time in life where you decide
what your faith is going to be and it’s no longer the faith
of your parents.”
 College
football is big business to universities and a religion to many
fans. But does God really care who wins and loses these games?
“I don’t think so,” Dantonio says, laughing. “But
there’s probably people praying on both sides.”
The Michigan State faithful have prayed for a savior for
the better part of 40 years. The perennially mediocre Spartans
haven’t won a national title since 1966 or a Big Ten Conference
crown since 1990. They last reached the Rose Bowl in the 1987 season.
Enter Dantonio, who was 18-17 in three seasons at Cincinnati before
landing the MSU job. Dantonio served as an assistant coach at Michigan
State from 1995-2000 and was thrilled when offered the school’s
top job. But before accepting, he gathered Becky, Kristen and Lauren
to pray – and to vote.
“This was a family decision,” Dantonio said. “It
was not a decision made by one person. Everybody had one vote and
one vote could have canceled us.”
In the end, the choice was unanimous.
“The girls kept telling me it was my dream job,” Dantonio
says with a chuckle. “I said, ‘Hey, it’s got to
be your dream, too. You’re the ones who are living it.’”
Dantonio’s dream is to restore gridiron glory in East Lansing.
Winning championships is definitely on his to-do list.
In fact, it’s No. 6. Dantonio says five other priorities come
first for his players, his coaches and himself:
1. Making the right decisions as people
2. Family
3. Graduation
4. Giving back to the community
5. Getting bigger, faster and stronger
“You can’t get to a championship without
getting to the others first,” Dantonio says with a shrug.
 For
Dantonio, faith is as fundamental to football success as blocking,
tackling and toughness. He’s attended weekly Bible
study at every stop. As the defensive coordinator at Ohio State
(where he helped lead the Buckeyes to the 2002 national title),
Dantonio even took breaks from the frenzied game planning for arch-rival
Michigan to meet with God.
“I came out of there with a calmness and perspective that
it’s not all about what happens in that stadium,” Dantonio
recalls. “It has to go beyond that, otherwise you’re
not going to be a very happy person because you can’t be on
top forever.”
When Dantonio formed his coaching staff at Cincinnati, he took a
spiritual inventory of the assistants he was interviewing.
“I asked them where they were at (in their relationships
with God),” said Dantonio, who brought most of the same coaches
to MSU. “The accountability (for coaches) has to
go beyond the accountability to me. I want coaches to care about
kids. That’s important to me.”
So is caring for his coaches. Though they log long hours during
the season, Dantonio encourages his assistants to make time to attend
recitals, ballgames and other can’t-miss events for their
children.
Dantonio spent his spring driving to Cincinnati to see Becky and
his daughters, who finished school before the family moved to East
Lansing. The Dantonios will be together this fall when Mark leads
Michigan State on to the field. They trust God to be with them.
“He’s given us all the good things in our life,”
Becky Dantonio said. “He’s guiding us. He brought us
to MSU and I don’t think he brought us here to fail.”
---
 Where
to find spiritual support in college
Most major universities have a Catholic presence on campus in the
form of a Newman Center and/or a student parish. Often,
even smaller schools have a campus minister. In the Diocese of Lansing,
there are student parishes at:
The University of Michigan – St. Mary Student Parish, 331
Thompson St., Ann Arbor, 734.663.0557, www.stmarystudentparish.org
Michigan State University – St. John
Student Parish, 327 MAC Ave., East Lansing, 517.337.9778, www.stjohnmsu.org
Eastern Michigan University
– Holy Trinity Student Parish, 511 W. Forest, Ypsilanti, 734.482.1400,
www.catholicsoncampus.org
What do I know?
Meet Father John Linden
By Marybeth Hicks | Photography by Tom Gennara
 On
June 9, the Diocese of Lansing gained a new priest with the ordination
of Father John Linden, 40. Father Linden will be assigned to St.
Francis Parish, Ann Arbor. He will serve as parochial vicar, working
with Father Jim McDougall, the pastor.
How did you discern that God was calling
you to the priesthood?
Looking back, I realize the Lord had been knocking
on the door for quite some time, but it took me quite a while before
I finally answered him!
I grew up in the Irish Hills in Jackson County, where I graduated
from high school. I went off to college, but didn’t complete
the first year. Instead, I came home and enrolled in community college
while working on a farm. I spent about 10 years not even practicing
the rituals of my faith. I always believed in God and I prayed,
but the only way I actually participated in my faith was to go on
an annual men’s retreat, which I did primarily to be with
my dad.
At one point, I decided that maybe God was calling me to use my
interest in music to touch people’s hearts.
But slowly, the Lord showed me that music wasn’t the way that
I would be serving him and his people. I went on my annual retreat
with my dad and this time I learned about the lives of the saints.
I began to wonder if I could make a total gift of myself to God’s
service and finally I perceived that God was calling me. I started
reading the Scriptures and realized there were some scary lines
in the Bible! At least, they seemed scary to me because they seemed
to be speaking to me. Lines like, “Sell all that you possess
and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven”
and “Come, follow me.”(Luke 18:22)
How did you get from realizing that God was speaking to
you through some scary verses of Scripture and deciding to make
a total gift of yourself to God?
You could say I “backed into” the priesthood –
I discerned my calling by process of elimination or via negativa.
I just kept taking away the things that God was not calling me to
do until I finally realized the direction he was pointing.
I felt a commonality with St. Francis and, in fact, I first discerned
religious life at a Franciscan community. But, while God was calling
me to the priesthood, he was not calling me to that particular order.
The questions, then, became how and where did God want me to pursue
my vocation?
God put the idea of becoming a diocesan priest into my mind.
When I finally entered the seminary, I was 33 years old. I had to
earn my bachelor’s degree as well as my master’s in
theology, which is why it took me seven years to be ordained!
What would you tell your younger self?
I would tell my younger self not to be so fearful – to be
a little more faithful and trust in the Lord. He has the plans that
work and he has the ability to repair the plans we make for ourselves
so that we can ultimately serve him as he wants us to.
When have you seen true wisdom?
I’ve seen true wisdom in people who are willing to admit their
faults and accept that they aren’t perfect. Perhaps Pope John
Paul II exemplified this most beautifully. He wasn’t afraid
to show his weaknesses, especially at the end of his life, so he
was most inspiring when he was physically weakest.
When have you seen true justice?
I think justice is revealed in the mercy of God. True justice isn’t
the justice of this world – the idea that we must always pay
every last penny for what we have done. God was merciful enough
to call me to the priesthood and in this he shows that he calls
sinners to help sinners – this is what he sees as just.
What have you learned about people?
How much they’re like me! We all struggle with the same things.
For so long, I thought I was so unique, but over the years I’ve
learned we all face similar issues in life even if our circumstances
are different. Knowing this is helpful as I set about writing homilies.
What is your greatest joy?
My greatest joy is seeing people at moments when they are having
an experience of intimacy with God; when they are obviously touched
by God’s love expressed in others. Those moments of relationship
with God inspire me and I hope to have many, many more of them throughout
my priesthood. Finding joy in God’s presence means we can
have it at happy times but also in times of heartache and sorrow.
What question would you ask God if you could?
I’ve learned not to be so quick in asking questions of God.
I think oftentimes we’re not ready or able to hear the answers
to our questions. It’s his mercy that keeps us from knowing
more than we need to know. God is Abba – our papa. He is the
loving father who protects us from things we don’t need to
know or that we may not yet be ready to handle.
When you get to heaven, what do you hope God will say to
you?
I hope God says, “My son, how long we’ve awaited you.”
The price of priesthood
How the Bishop Albers Trust
helped fund Father Tim’s seminary education
 The
guidance counselor at Flint Central High School called Tim MacDonald
into his office and asked, why, since he was sixth in his class,
he hadn’t submitted any college applications. “I told
him that none of them seemed to fit me,” Father Tim says now.
“But just his pointing it out made me realize that if I was
being called to the priesthood, I needed to do something about it.”
MacDonald was halfway through his senior year in high school before
he had even started thinking much about his faith, let alone the
priesthood. “I began taking ownership of my spiritual life,”
he says, “praying more and getting more involved in church
activities.”
It wasn’t long before thoughts of the priesthood entered his
mind. He attributes that partly to the subtle influence of the joy
and simplicity of Father Matt Fedewa, his pastor at St. Michael’s
in Flint. And to his brother, Adam: “A guy I used to fight
with over little things, now in seminary, and very happy being there.”
Father Adam is a Divine Word missionary.
So MacDonald talked to the diocesan vocations director, Father Mark
Inglot. “That fall, I entered college seminary at Saint John
Vianney (St. Paul, Minn.), to further discern my vocation,”
he says. “After being there a couple of months, I felt the
hand of the Lord upon me, kind of like someone knocking on my door.
I had a growing sense that this was the path for me. The seminary
rector and the brotherhood of the other guys, who were in the same
situation as I was, were very influential.”
Before entering seminary, Father Tim did have one dilemma –
where the money would come from. Since his father is a teacher and
his mother was a housewife, he had no way to pay for his education.
He would receive scholarships from the university, along with government
grants and loans, and planned on summer employment, but he still
needed help.
He learned from Father Inglot about the provision that the diocese
had for helping – the Bishop Joseph H. Albers Trust Fund.
“Fortunately, the diocese long ago had the foresight to anticipate
and plan for the increasing cost of seminary education,” Father
Tim says. “Had there not been an Albers Fund, I don’t
know if I would be a priest today. It was a great relief for me
and my parents to know that a lack of finances wouldn’t keep
me from God’s calling. I saw this as a confirmation of my
vocation.
“Looking back now, eight years into my priesthood, I am eternally
grateful to the benefactors of the Albers Trust for their investment
in my future. I owe my priesthood to their support, and I plan to
repay that debt by serving the churches across the Diocese of Lansing.
“One of my efforts is to let prospective seminarians know
that the Albers Fund is available. After all, the initial expense
of college seminary makes these men and their parents very nervous.
I also try to inform people in the diocese that the fund needs more
donations if it is going to be there far into the future to help
young men.
“I tell my parishioners that if you pray for vocations, you
also need to be willing to pay for vocations. We can spend our money
to build great, beautiful churches to worship in, but without priests,
come Sunday morning, we will just be sitting there twiddling our
thumbs.”
Father Tim is the pastor of Holy Redeemer in Burton. Prior to that,
he served as pastor of Most Holy Trinity, Fowler. While in Fowler,
he began a weekly eucharistic holy hour for vocations from the parish
and the diocese. Four young men from the parish have joined the
seminary since then, including identical twins. “The Albers
Fund helps answer prayers for vocations.”
Father Tim also notes that, “Although some parishes don’t
have anyone in seminary, it is still important for them to contribute
to the Albers Trust Fund if they can, because every parish needs
a priest. “We are a universal church, so this is a shared
commitment to our future.”
The Albers Fund isn’t meant to be a way for the diocese to
pay someone to become a priest. What it does is take some of the
pressure off the undergraduate seminarian so that he is free to
pray and study and discern without the worry of paying bills. “That’s
what it did for me,” says Father Tim.
---
 What’s
the good news and bad news about the Albers Trust?
Good News: Andrew Brinkman (Christ the King, Ann
Arbor), Neil Atzinger (St. Andrews, Saline), and Ben Pohl (St. Mary,
Westphalia) are three of the 21 college seminarians from the diocese
who will be enrolled at the University of St. Thomas/St. John Vianney
Seminary in St. Paul, Minn., this fall. Just four years ago, those
three would have equaled the total number from the diocese.
Bad News: The cost to Andrew, Neil, Ben, and the 18 others
currently enrolled in undergraduate seminary will be approximately
$25,000 per student per year.
Good News: Back in 1962, Lansing’s first bishop,
Joseph Albers, saw the need for supporting prospective priests and
allocated a substantial amount of his estate toward that purpose.
In 1972, Bishop Alexander Zaleski and Auxiliary Bishop James Sullivan
established the Joseph H. Albers Trust Fund as an ongoing source
of financial help. Bishop Zaleski was one of the first to make a
significant contribution to it. The fund has helped support most
of the seminarians since.
Bad News: Since the trust fund is a self-supported endowment,
only the earned income in the form of interest and dividends are
available as grants to seminarians. Mike Kelterborn, treasurer of
the fund, says that legacy gifts have been a big part of building
up the fund, but that none have been received in the past five years.
Good News: Kelterborn, who is also a CPA, pointed
out that there are numerous ways of giving large gifts, such as
through a will, an estate gift, a life insurance policy, an IRA
or other pre-tax retirement plans. In some cases, these may not
only provide tax benefits, but also a steady stream of income to
the donor while still living.
Recent changes in the federal tax code now provide that the age
70 1/2-required-distributions from Individual Retirement Accounts
(IRAs) and other pre-tax retirement plans may now be satisfied by
directing such distributions directly to charities. This direct
donation method provides not only a convenient means of making such
contributions, but can also provide the donor direct tax benefits.
These benefits can include reducing the amount of their Social Security
income subject to taxation, and may also lower taxes for taxpayers
who are unable itemize deductions.
Kelterborn suggested getting legal advice for the plan that best
fits a donor’s needs and desires.
Bad News: At present, because of the increase in
college seminarians and the amount of principal in the Albers Fund,
grants to Andrew, Neil, Ben and the others need to be capped at
$5,000 per student per year. The Albers Fund is the main source
of aid that college seminarians receive from the diocese. Tuition
for students in major seminary at Sacred Heart in Detroit is covered
by the Diocesan Services Appeal.
Good News: Fr. Jerry Vincke, vocations director for Lansing, says
that the students and the diocese regularly search all other possibilities
for meeting the cost of education. That includes scholarships at
the university, government grants and loans and contributions by
parents. He said that many Knights of Columbus councils give $500
a year to each student to help cover the cost of books, transportation
and personal items.
And college seminarians are able to work during their summers to
make money.
“One reason for the large expense is that they are paying
out-of-state tuition,” Fr. Vincke says, “but we believe
they are getting the best education and formation possible at St.
John Vianney. And the school does give them a 35 percent reduction
in tuition.
“When it comes to helping the seminarians financially, we
are probably more generous than most dioceses. When parents and
students find out about the Albers Fund, it gives them some relief.”
More Good News: Kelterborn points out that the
permanent corpus of the Albers Fund is invested in the Ave Maria
Family of Mutual Funds, so the holdings are made with companies
whose activities and policies are consistent with Catholic values
(for example, companies with no ties to the abortion or pornography
industries). Furthermore, he says that the legal, administrative
and investment services necessary for managing the trust are volunteered.
The trustees for the fund are always looking for anyone willing
to promote the trust by organizing golf outings or other fundraising
activities.
good-cheer smoothie
Michelle Sessions DiFranco | Photography by Phillip
Shippert
  One
hot summer day, my husband David came into the house with an ice-cold
smoothie he had picked up on the way home. He placed it
on the counter and went downstairs to find a tool. I gazed at the
smoothie. It gazed back. It taunted me and tempted me. So I took
a sip. In a word, it was perfect. And in a minute it was gone.
But as I set down the now- empty cup and gazed out our kitchen window,
I noticed our elderly neighbor, Emily, sitting on her porch in the
sweltering heat, fanning herself with a newspaper. It was common
for her to sit and watch passersby and hope for a neighbor to strike
up a conversation. She lived alone. However, I knew she wouldn’t
be getting many passersby that day, thanks to the heat.
I suddenly felt both pity and guilt. I bet she would have
loved some of that smoothie. But then it hit me; I could make her
one! I quickly gathered all the ingredients I could: a banana, frozen
berries, yogurt and a bit of orange juice and honey. I threw all
of the ingredients into the blender and pureed them. I removed the
lid and filled a large glass with the pink concoction. I walked
out the door and headed straight toward Emily. I truly felt I had
made her day by such a simple gesture as giving her a smoothie and
chatting for a little while. I can also honestly say that I think
I got more out of making her happy than she got out of the friendly
gesture and conversation.
As I was happily returning to my house, my husband stepped outside
with a perplexed look on his face and his empty smoothie cup.
“What happened to my drink?” he asked. Before I could
answer, Emily, from across the street, lifted her glass up in the
air as if to make a toast and shouted, “Thank you for the
smoothie, David.” I didn’t want to ruin the sense of
contentment he must have felt at that moment for making Emily so
happy, so I just stayed quiet. A little charity is good for him,
too.
 The
good-cheer smoothie:
• 1 banana (cut up)
• 2 cups frozen mixed berries
• 1 cup vanilla or berry yogurt
• 2-3 tablespoons orange juice (for slight tartness)
• 1 teaspoon honey
Directions: Throw wet ingredients into the blender
first (OJ, yogurt and honey) and blend for 5 seconds. Add banana
and half of the frozen mixed berries and blend for another 5 seconds.
Add remaining frozen berries and blend until smooth.
Give to an elderly or homebound neighbor who needs some cheering
up on a hot summer day. Double the recipe so you can try it for
yourself!
veggies.
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