Love of baseball, chance to evangelize lead Iowa priest to do play-by-play

SIOUX CITY, Iowa — From the back, all the men in the press box at the Sioux City Explorers baseball game looked the same.

That is, until one swiveled in his seat to take a swig of his Pepsi and the white of a Roman collar appeared.

For the past decade, Fr. Craig Collison has been the play-by-play announcer for the Xs, whose home ballpark is Lewis and Clark Stadium in Sioux City.

“I got involved with the Xs, as I do with much of my public address activity, through a telephone call from them,” he explained. “It seems their regular public address announcer at the time got called up to active duty in the military and needed to leave. The general manager called me and asked if I would be interested in the position for the second half of their season that year and I consented.”

Fr. Collison commits to the home games of the Explorers for the season, with a particular caveat.

“The understanding is that anything with my priestly ministry comes first,” he told The Catholic Globe, newspaper of the Sioux City Diocese. “In other words, if someone would die and I would have a vigil service to lead and there happened to be a game scheduled, the Explorers would find a substitute for me at the game. The same holds true for weddings and wedding rehearsals that were scheduled.”
continue at Superior CH

Good article, worth the read.

No comments: