The Mission Field: Dominican chaplains help student-athletes navigate the challenges of D1 sports
The Mission Field: Dominican chaplains help student-athletes navigate the challenges of D1 sports
By Michael Hagan ’15, ’19G
On the sideline of Lennon Field stands Rev. Dominic Verner, O.P., assistant professor of theology and athletics chaplain. A penalty against the visiting team has created an opportunity for the Friars field hockey team to score in a three-part combination play. One athlete inbounds the ball just outside the D-shaped shooting circle around the net. A second athlete traps the ball past the 16-yard perimeter, and a third takes a powerful shot on goal. It is one of field hockey’s most tense and frequently decisive moments. At the first loud crack of stick against ball, Father Verner nervously grips the field hockey stick he brings to each game, given to him in gratitude by former team captain Lisa McNamara ’23, ’24G.
Father Verner is the chaplain for PC Athletics and one of 11 Dominicans ministering to student-athletes as a team chaplain. While he had never seen a field hockey game before joining the college, his four-year tenure as chaplain has taught him much, including the strategy behind critical penalty corner set-ups.
“I’ve learned enough to be just as frustrated as parents, players, and coaches sometimes,” said Father Verner, who also is chaplain to men’s basketball. “I had to learn the rules. I always want to know if justice is being done for our athletes or not.”
Dominican friars in their distinctive white habits have long been a fixture at sporting events. Rev. Ambrose Howley, O.P. was the college’s first athletics director; Rev. Aloysius Begley, O.P. ’31 was the longest serving. Rev. Robert Morris, O.P. ’46, ’82Hon. maintained lifelong friendships with men’s basketball players, Rev. Gino Bondi, O.P. ’50 traveled with the men’s hockey team, and Rev. David Folsey, O.P. ’57 was a regular at men’s soccer games. In more recent years, Rev. Mark Nowel, O.P. was the long-serving men’s basketball chaplain. Rev. John Vidmar, O.P. is known to generations of student-athletes for his encouraging presence in the stands (as well as his History of Sport class).
Beginning in the 2017–2018 academic year, each varsity team was assigned a Dominican chaplain. The initiative was championed by Rev. Peter Martyr Yungwirth, O.P., the student chaplain at the time; Jill LaPoint, senior associate vice president, deputy athletic director, and senior woman administrator; and John Rock, senior associate director for health and wellness. They recognized the role that Dominicans could play in supporting the mental and spiritual well-being of the college’s 300 student-athletes. The athletic chaplaincy program was adopted as part of the “You’re Never Alone in Friartown” campaign by PC Athletics.
Chaplains now attend every home game, travel with the team when possible, and minister to the spiritual needs of student-athletes and coaching staff in ways that suit each sport, team, and coaching style. Depending on the sport, this can mean an encourag¬ing presence in the stands or joining each team huddle.
“I’ve learned enough to be just as frustrated as parents, players, and coaches sometimes,” said Father Verner, who also is chaplain to men’s basketball. “I had to learn the rules. I always want to know if justice is being done for our athletes or not.”
Among the chaplains are administrators, like executive vice president and chief operations officer Rev. Thomas More Garrett, O.P.; longtime faculty members, like Father Vidmar, associate professor of history; newer faculty members, like assistant professor of English and associate alumni chaplain Rev. Jordan Zajac, O.P. ’04; and representatives from Campus Ministry, including Sister Mary Cecilia Goodrum, O.P. ’06G, campus minister, and Rev. Gregory Santy, O.P., associate student chaplain.
Not all chaplains are athletes or even sports fans from the start, but “it’s like mission territory,” Father Verner said. “You go, you learn, you figure it out, you see how you can serve, and you become their biggest fans. Everyone is 100 percent on board and excited to do it. It is a volunteering of time and service, which of course the Friars are eager to do.”
The chaplains are as involved as a coach wishes them to be. Women’s basketball coach Erin Batth, who was drawn to Providence because of its holistic approach to the development of student-athletes, sees chaplain Rev. Simon Teller, O.P., who is also assistant vice president of campus ministry, as essential to her squad.
“He comes to our practices. He comes to team dinners. He’s jumping off the bench during big moments at games,” Batth said. “He’s a whole slide in my presentation to prospective players.”
Batth recalls with gratitude how Father Teller would visit during her first year as coach to check in after a tough loss. When Father Teller plays recreational basketball, players from the women’s team go to cheer him on.
“When he hoops, we’re there,” Batth said.
In addition to finding a Dominican to serve as chaplain to each varsity team, Father Verner has expanded the program with three major initiatives: a speaker series, a student-athlete Bible study group, and an annual pilgrimage. He relies on outside donations for all programming.
Through the Faith and Sports Speaker Series, Father Verner invites guests to campus to speak about the integration of faith and athletics in their lives. Friar ice hockey alumnus Jon Barry ’19 shared his witness with student-athletes in September 2025. In February 2026, the speaker series welcomed former NBA star and Butler University alumnus Gordon Hayward, who drew a crowd of hundreds of students to ’64 Hall in Slavin Center.
“There are figures in the world of athletics who are witnessing to their faith and trying to make an offering of their talent to the glory of God,” Father Verner said. “We wanted to bring them to our campus to provide an opportunity for them to share their message with our student-athletes and the entire student body.”
Father Verner said the weekly Bible Study is a way to develop student-athletes in their spiritual lives and to give them an experience of Christian fellowship and friendship.
“It became evident to me in leading the study that student-athletes were hungry for the experience of sharing their faith with others. It’s so refreshing to be able to talk about the challenges you face and what God is doing in your life,” Father Verner said.
The Bible Study provides a way for student-athletes to meet players from other teams, and because of its open, welcoming nature, for Christians who are not Catholic to gather with their peers in a spiritual, reflective practice. Seven student-athletes who took part in the Bible Study were among the more than 70 students who received sacraments during the Order of Christian Initiation for Adults Mass in St. Dominic Chapel in April 2026.
One was Luca Meola ’27, from Ossining, New York, a member of the lacrosse team. Meola began attending Mass with teammates during his first year at PC, especially enjoying homilies by the lacrosse chaplains at the time, Rev. Damian Day, O.P. ’15 and Rev. Clement Dickie, O.P.
Meola joined the OCIA program during his junior year. Chaplains, campus ministers, and student peers prepared him to receive the sacrament of confirmation. His group met weekly, considering Christian teaching and practice “from the ground up, the what and the why of it all.” Sister Mary Cecilia Goodrum facilitated. When the day of his confirmation came, Meola chose Sebastian — patron saint of athletes — as his confirmation name.
“I’m grateful for how the college creates ways for each student to approach the faith even when we’re busy, even when we’re just beginning to figure it all out. We’re not pushed; we’re invited. I got to answer the call for myself,” Meola said.
In May 2026, Father Verner led 11 student-athletes on a pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago — the Way of Saint James — in northwestern Spain. Their roughly 160-mile walk in summer heat led them to Santiago de Compostela and the basilica that houses the remains of the martyred apostle James. Father Verner had walked the Camino once before while he was discerning his entry into the Dominican Order. On this pilgrimage with student-athletes, he celebrated the 10th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood.
The student-athletes paid only for their flights, with other expenses covered by athletics chaplaincy benefactors. One such benefactor, John Barry, joined the pilgrimage, along with Erich Miller ’20Hon., president of My Brother’s Keeper. Barry is the father of two Friars, Jon Barry ’19 and Hope Barry ’25, ’26G.
On their second day, the pilgrims arrived at the Cruz de Ferro, a wooden pole topped with an iron cross believed to date to the 11th century. Traditionally, pilgrims bring stones from their homeland to leave at the cross to represent burdens they carry to the Camino. Several student-athletes were emotional as they contributed to the great mountain of small stones.
“It was a visible sign that none of us must carry our burdens alone. It was a moment of deep solidarity,” Father Verner said. “We lived that solidarity throughout the journey, learning to trust in God’s providence and to lean on him. We all wondered if we were up to the task at one point or other. But that’s a holy moment, when you discover your need for God and realize his strength in you and in your brother and sister.”
Sometimes, the athletics chaplains feel out of their depth — when the team suffers a devastating loss, players are frustrated with their mistakes, the referee makes a bad call. At those times, chaplains trust in what is known as the Dominican grace of preaching.
“In the ups and downs of games and team schedules, there’s not always much time to think of what you’re going to say,” said Father Zajac, chaplain to the volleyball team and to the men’s and women’s golf teams. “We pray that the Lord will give us something meaningful to offer.”
As a student, Father Zajac would wait outside the Amica Mutual Pavilion in downtown Providence to get a front-row seat in the student section for men’s basketball games. He has prayed for student-athletes — “often desperately” — for 27 years.
“I thought that was as good as it gets. But to get to watch Friar athletes compete from the bench alongside their coaches and teammates — it’s a joy and a privilege,” Father Zajac said.
Father Zajac is an avid golfer but had little knowledge of volleyball. He worked to learn the sport and now watches it on television. At all matches, he is a constant presence on the sideline, in timeout huddles, and in locker room debriefs. Staff incorporate his messages into their coaching, and Father Zajac incorporates coaches’ immediate and long-term priorities into his ministry.
Notes, team photos, memorabilia, and sports equipment from grateful student-athletes and coaches are a reminder of the role the athletics chaplains play in helping students navigate the rigors of NCAA Division I athletics. The field hockey stick that Father Verner carries is a sign of the blessings enjoyed by the chaplains, who, much as in religious life, have joined a mission-based community that shares its own joys, burdens, and victories.
“It is no token role,” Father Zajac said.
