Golf and Priestly Formation

So I’ve taken up golf this past year in Austin.  I have mixed feelings about this development in my life.  Yes, I am enjoying the game… but I still can’t shake the feeling that this is somehow a natural progression of my priestly formation.  Priests and golf seem to be so synonymous that I wouldn’t be surprised if the bishop handed me a seven iron right after putting the oils on my hands during the ordination service.

This development in my life makes me wonder what will be coming next.  Seriously, it CAN’T really be wearing cardigans.  So many priests I know wear cardigans, but that can’t be allowed to happen.  Catholic teachings on the sanctity of life aside, I am really going to have to find some trusted friends who will agree to give me the business end of a Colt 45 if I ever start to wear cardigans.  (Okay, maybe I’m being  extreme, but I would would hope that someone would at least slap me.)

But in the area of golf, I suppose if the President of the United States has also taken to golf recently—someone who regularly plays basketball with pro players and had Jay-Z at his Inauguration—then maybe it’s safer to move into this new form a recreation than I originally thought.

KS_Golf_2Still, I do see direct links between the game of golf and my impending priesthood… most notably in the area of prayer.  For example, a few weeks ago I walked up to the first tee and pulled the driver out of my bag.  After setting the ball, I took a moment and blessed myself with the sign of the cross.  I didn’t necessarily hit the shot of my life, but the ball did not do the wildly to the right like it usually does, so I decided to keep up my petitions for Divine intervention throughout the day.

But after crossing myself for a few more holes, I began to ponder what I was doing.  I was saying—through my actions—that what I was about to do was actually “in the name of God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.”  And I realized that what I was doing was actually for MY glory, not God’s.  I felt bad about this… not so much because I was doing something for my own glory—after all I’m a human being and human beings have a tendency to seek their own glory from time to time—but because through my prayer I was suggesting that pursuing my own glory and God’s glory were the same thing.  I had gotten the two confused…. always dangerous ground.

Still, a few holes later, I found it hard to break the habit of prayer before taking a big shot.  I had been shooting the ball well and after an incredible drive I now had an opportunity to put for my first ever eagle!

So I approached the ball on the green.   This ball was ten feet from the hole.  I crossed myself once again.  From the deep recesses of my soul, I heard God respond.

“Tom, I really have better things to do.”

Father Tom Gibbons was ordained a Paulist priest in 2012. Prior to becoming a priest, he spent time as a Jesuit Volunteer in Phoenix, AZ, working with immigrants in El Paso, Texas, and Juarez, Mexico. He's also worked as a graphic designer and web developer, serving nonprofits like Success For All Foundation, Baltimore City Head Start, and Catholic Relief Services. He previously wrote a blog entitled “Kicking and Screaming” for Busted Halo. After serving as a deacon at Holy Trinity Parish in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., Father Tom was sent to St. Peter’s Church in Toronto, where he first served as Associate Pastor and then as the Parish Administrator. In 2016, he produced a documentary on the founder of the Paulist Fathers, entitled “Isaac Hecker and the Journey of Catholic America” – featuring celebrity voices of Martin Sheen, Matt McCoy, and Bob Gunton. Father Tom is currently at work on a new documentary investigating the complicated legacy of the Catholic Church in California with the film “Junipero Serra: Statue of Limitations,” scheduled for release in 2022. In addition to his work as Vice President of Paulist Productions, Father Tom also performs pastoral work at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church and Transfiguration Catholic Church in Los Angeles, CA.