I received this email from one of our Deacons here in the Archdiocese of New Orleans and it is too amazing not to pass on. Deacon Eddy serves at the local parish where head coach Sean Payton and his family worship. This is a beautiful story that contributes to the body of evidence that the Saints have a special Catholic connection; from the relationship between the Saints and Archbishop Aymond and Archbishop Hannan, from the prayers of nuns on the Northshore in cloister, to the weekly masses and prayers offered by chaplain Tony Ricard and now this:
Statue of Blessed Virgin Mary carried to Miami for Super Bowl XLIV
New Orleans Saints’ Head Coach Sean Payton and his wife have two children. The Payton’s are members of our Parish, Mary, Queen of Peace (MQP) in Mandeville , LA. , and the children attend Mary, Queen of Peace Catholic School. The Second Grade Children at MQP have a tradition they practice regarding a statue of Mary, Mother of God. During the school year each Second Grade student has the opportunity to bring the statue home for a week to share with their family.
Prior to leaving for Miami and Super Bowl XLIV Sean Payton’s son, a Third Grade student at MQP, recalling the Second Grade tradition, requested permission to take the Second Grade student’s Statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary with him and his family as they traveled to the Super Bowl. Once obtaining the permission of the Second Grade Students, Coach Payton’s son obtained the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, which Coach Payton placed in the Saints’ Locker Room at Sun Life Stadium during the game.
Earlier in the year, on the Friday before the Monday Night Game (Monday, November 2, 2009) in the Super Dome against the Atlanta Falcons, MQP School held a fundraiser for our Youth Director’s Family. Our Youth Director and her husband have five children, the youngest, at 8-months, had been diagnosed with cancer and had been hospitalized for several months. The fundraiser was a flag football game between the students and faculty. The students had been practicing and were more organized, having their own coaching staff and played together in several games. The faculty was not as organized and lacked the know-how of an experienced coaching staff.
Coach Payton, with the New Orleans Saints six-game winning streak on the line and poised to step onto the national spotlight on Monday night spent Friday afternoon at the MQP Fundraiser coaching the faculty. When the game ended the students had prevailed and Coach Sean Payton’s MQP Faculty Team had lost a closely contested gridiron battle, all in the best interest of giving. Following the Game the faculty and student body at MQP gathered around Coach Payton and let him know that this was the only game he could lose all year!
I hope you enjoyed reading these two stories about the Sean Payton Family as much as I have enjoyed sharing them.
Deacon Eddy Beckendorf
Great story
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