Harrison Butker
Off the field
It’s that time of year when we’re subjected to a lot of Super Bowl hype. It’s hard to avoid it and we’re not here to add to it - in fact, the following is hopefully a bit of a respite.
The on-field success of 28-year-old Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker is already legendary. Of course statistics have little to do when speaking of one’s character.
Pictured above, Butker - who wore a white tuxedo jacket to last year’s Super Bowl - has said he feels “my best self” when dressed up, but here is some of the important stuff to discover and know about the two-time (soon to be three?) Super Bowl champion.
He is on a mission, indeed, many missions. One example: in a time when churches are aging and parishes merging, Butker is concerned about Church property - enough to do something about it. MD Keller, “a values-based diversified family of companies aimed at changing the world,” a firm he cofounded, is partnering with others1 to address the future of properties as parishes close, merge; buildings age, etc. And his reasons are spot-on. He is quoted on the company’s website:
“When discussing Church real estate, we are talking about more than just physical buildings. We are talking about our patrimony and it is essential that we work together to ensure that the work of generations of Catholics before us was not done in vain.” - Harrison Butker
There’s more: A devout Catholic, Harrison, an Atlanta native, married his high school sweetheart; together they have three children. He and his family founded the Butker Family Foundation to support causes important to them. He serves on the Board of Directors of Regina Caeli Academy, an accredited and national PK-12 Classical homeschool hybrid academy, and is the current Honorary Chairman for the Dream Factory of Greater Kansas City, an organization that makes dreams come true for critically or chronically ill children.
And this: Remember the TV ads for Disney World where Super Bowl champions supposedly go after the big game? In an interview last May he told The Athletic where he went following last year’s Super Bowl victory: a week-long retreat at St. Michael’s Abbey, a Norbertine monastery in Southern California to “get away from distractions of the world. And to focus on what was most important — the spiritual and heavenly things.”
An industrial engineering major in college, Butker is known for his precise approach to practice, nutrition, studying game films, etc. He is equally precise in other ways:
Butker practices his faith assiduously, saying the rosary on the sideline whenever the Chiefs defense is on the field and holding it during interviews. He quotes saints on Twitter and prays daily in the chapel he had built in his home, reading and re-reading “The Baltimore Catechism.”2
Much of this, it seems, is the result of the advice of a college friend:
For as long as he can remember, Butker went to Catholic Mass on Sunday with his family. As he matured, it felt like he was going through the motions. In middle school, he was impressed by the way Muslims dressed, worshiped, prayed and fasted and considered changing his religion. Butker eventually stopped attending Mass. Then a teammate at Georgia Tech convinced him to visit the university’s Catholic center, where he witnessed a more traditional approach. The congregants wore veils, recited prayers in Latin and knelt to receive the Eucharist. The traditional Latin Mass spoke to him, and he returned to his faith.3
There has been no shortage of bad press on the NFL and some of its players, and while I’m not a big fan of pro football, I’m glad I learned this about Harrison Butker. It’s not only encouraging, but inspiring.
Notre Dame’s Church Properties Initiative (CPI), a unit of the school’s Fitzgerald Institute for Real Estate.
https://theathletic.com/4482291/2023/05/16/harrison-butker-chiefs-nfl-faith/
Ibid.
Now I am definitely rooting for KC! Thanks Jim good info.