Olympic gymnast
Simone Biles, 26, and a resident of Texas, having won 25 World Championship medals, is considered by many to be one of the greatest gymnasts of her era. Her seven Olympic medals tie her for the most Olympic medals won by an American gymnast. In 2022 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Joe Biden. Biles is a practising Catholic, who has written and spoken about the importance of faith in her life, about praying the Rosary and the Hail Mary, and about how she lights a candle to St Sebastian, patron saint of athletes, prior to competitions. Biles is married to the NFL player Jonathan Owens.
Former NFL great, politician and philanthropist
Matthew Birk, 47, is a former NFL player whose career spanned 14 seasons, mostly for the Minnesota Vikings. Before his NFL career, Birk graduated from Harvard University in 1998 with a degree in economics. He was the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor of Minnesota, running alongside Scott Jensen in the 2022 Minnesota gubernatorial election. In 2019, Birk founded a private Catholic high school in his home town of Burnsville, Minnesota. He is an outspoken critic of abortion and same-sex marriage.
Actor
Pierce Brosnan, 70, the Irish-born star of James Bond films and Mamma Mia!, lives in Hawaii with his second wife, Keely. After his first wife Cassandra Harris died from ovarian cancer in 1991, he spoke out about how important his faith is to him. A former altar boy, he was brought up by his mother and educated by the Christian Brothers. He stated: “My faith has been good to me in the moments of deepest suffering, doubt and fear. It is a constant, the language of prayer.”
Kansas City Chiefs placekicker
Harrison Butker, 28, is an NFL placekicker for the Kansas City Chiefs. In 2019 he led the NFL in scoring and won a Super Bowl with Kansas City. He is a two-time Super Bowl champion, having won LIV and LVII. He has been outspoken on Catholic issues. He publicly argued against Traditionis Custodes on the basis that he felt tradition-orientated Catholics were neglected by the Church. In 2022, Butker supported the Kansas Value Them Both Amendment, which aimed to overturn the ruling that the Kansas constitution guarantees a right to abortion. He recently gave a talk alongside First Things editor, RR Reno.
In 2024, he helped the Chiefs to a Super Bowl victory, breaking two records (longest field goal (57 yards) in Super Bowl history and most career goals (9) in the Super Bowl).
Actor
James Caviezel Jr, 54, is a film and television actor who most significantly played Jesus Christ in The Passion of the Christ. Recently, he played the main character in Sound of Freedom, a film which follows a former US government agent who embarks on a mission to rescue children from sex traffickers in Colombia.He was raised in a very close Catholic family in Washington state and has been a featured public speaker at numerous religious venues since the release of The Passion of the Christ. In 2005, he acted as the spokesman for the first Catholic Men’s Conference in Boston. When discussing his path to being an actor, he has stated: “God came to me in a movie theatre and told me to become an actor.”
Former tennis professional
Chris Evert, 68, is a retired American tennis player who held the position of world number one. During her career, she wore a crucifix while playing on the court. Evert secured 18 major singles titles, with a noteworthy seven French Open victories and a shared record of six US Open titles. Dominating women’s tennis in the 1970s and 1980s, she reached 34 major singles finals, earning recognition with the Philippe Chatrier Award and induction into the Tennis Hall of Fame.
In her later years, Evert transitioned to coaching and now serves as an analyst for ESPN. Having grown up in a devout Catholic household, Evert graduated from St Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale in 1973. Since 1989, she has contributed over $26 million to an ongoing campaign against drug abuse and child neglect in Florida. In June 2023, Evert presented that year’s French Open women’s tournament trophy to Iga Świątek at Roland-Garros in Paris.
Former NFL quarterback
Brett Favre, 54, is a former quarterback who played primarily with the Green Bay Packers. His career spanned 20 years and from 1995 to 1997 he was named Most Valuable Player three years in a row. At the time of his retirement, Favre was the NFL leader in passing yards, passing touchdowns and quarterback wins. Favre credits his Catholic faith for its influence in shaping and helping him face adversity throughout his life. The Brett Favre Fourward Foundation has donated more than $2 million to charities in Mississippi and Wisconsin.
Head coach, Notre Dame University
Marcus Freeman is an American football coach who has gained fame as the second African American head coach for the University of Notre Dame. He briefly played as a line-backer in the NFL before retiring in 2010 due to an enlarged heart condition, and since then he has found success as a coach for a number of college football teams. Freeman became a Catholic in 2022 at St Pius X Church in Granger, Indiana. He has said that part of his team’s pregame strategy is “making sure we spend some time for reflection in Mass”.
TV host
James Kimmel, 56, is a TV host, comedian and producer. He is the host and executive producer of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, a late-night talk show that premiered on ABC in January 2003. In 2018, Time named him as one of the world’s 100 most influential people. Kimmel is the longest-working of all current late-night talk show hosts in the US, following Conan O’Brien’s retirement. He was raised Catholic and, as a child, was an altar server. He is a practising Catholic today and has publicly defended his faith and the Church.
Olympic swimmer
Kathleen Ledecky, 26, is an American competitive swimmer. She was a USA Olympic team member in 2012, 2016 and 2020. She has won seven Olympic gold medals and 21 World Championship gold medals, the most in history for a female swimmer. Ledecky is a devout, practising Catholic. She credits her faith to a strong Catholic formation, which included attending Little Flower Catholic School and Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda.
Community relations vice president, New York Giants
Frank Mara is vice president of community relations for the New York Giants. His wife Lynn is an artist. They have four children, attend Mass at St Paul’s Church in Greenwich and are active supporters of Catholic causes.
Former NFL quarterback
San Francisco resident Joe Montana, 67, is a former NFL player who played for the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs. He is regarded as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. During his career, Montana won four Super Bowls and was the first player to be named Super Bowl Most Valuable Player three times. Montana retired in 1995, finishing his career with 31 fourth-quarter comeback victories and ten play-off appearances in his 11 full seasons as a starting quarterback in the NFL.
In 2000, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Montana comes from an Italian Catholic family, his surname having been anglicised from the Italian Montani. He attended the University of Notre Dame where he played football, and his children attended De La Salle High School near San Francisco. He has generously donated to several charities, including the Make-a-Wish Foundation.
TV host
Conan O’Brien, 60, is known for hosting several late-night talk shows since 1993, including Late Night with Conan O’Brien, the Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien and Conan. O’Brien comes from an Irish Catholic family that came to America in the 1850s. A DNA test in 2019 revealed that he is 100 per cent Irish.
Former Major League Baseball player
Mike Piazza, 55, is a former baseball player who played for the New York Mets and the Los Angeles Dodgers. In 2013, he was inducted to the New York Mets Hall of Fame, and in 2016 he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Piazza manages the Italian national baseball team. He is a devout Catholic and appeared in the documentary Champions of Faith, which explored the intersection between the faith and sport. Recently, Piazza appeared on the Fox reality challenge series Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test.
Former relief pitcher, New York Yankees
Mariano Rivera is a Panamanian-born retired New York Yankees relief pitcher, 13-time All Star and five-time World Series champion. He is the only man ever to be elected unanimously by the Baseball Writers Association to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
Co-CEO and chief content officer, Netflix
Theodore Sarandos, 58, is the co-CEO and chief content officer of Netflix. He was involved in the production of dramas such as House of Cards. He previously held many senior positions at several video distribution firms including Arizona Video Cassettes West, East Texas Distributors and West Coast Video. He comes from a Greek Catholic background and identifies as a Catholic.
Golfer
Scott Scheffler, 27, is a professional golfer playing on the PGA Tour who, as of January 2024, was the world number one in the World Golf Ranking. He was the winner of the 2022 US Masters. A confirmed Catholic, Scheffler has spoken of his Catholic wife Meredith’s encouragement in his faith, and of his recent success he said: “I’m trying to glorify God and all he’s done in my life.” Scheffler and his close friend and fellow golfer Sam Burns co-host an annual retreat with members of the College Golf Fellowship, a faith-based ministry.
Director
Martin Scorsese, 81, is a film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. He is the recipient of many accolades. Silence, his 2016 production, follows two 17th-century Jesuit priests as they travel from Portugal to Japan in an attempt to spread Catholic Christianity. Scorsese had identified as lapsed; however in 2016, following the release of the film, he seemed to reaffirm his faith when he stated: “I am most comfortable as a Catholic. I believe in the tenets of Catholicism.” He is widely considered to be one of the greatest influences on modern cinema.
Actor
Martin Sheen, 83, is an actor best-known for roles in films and TV shows such as Apocalypse Now, Gettysburg, The West Wing, Grace and Frankie and The Way. He was raised Catholic but fell away from the faith in his early career. He returned to the faith in 1981, yet he later described himself as Catholic only in a spiritual sense. Sheen supports the Catholic Worker Movement and opposes abortion, euthanasia and capital punishment. Sheen has been awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Dayton and from Loyola Marymount University, both for his commitment to Catholic values.
Golfer
Jordan Spieth, 30, is an American professional golfer on the PGA Tour and former world number one. Having won three major titles and the 2015 FedEx Cup, he has accrued $53 million in tournament earnings in his young career. He was born and raised in a Catholic family and attended St Monica’s Catholic School and Jesuit College Prep in Dallas. He continues to practise his faith and attends the PGA Bible Study.
Singer and musician
Bruce Springsteen, 74, is a singer, songwriter and musician. He has sold more than 150 million records worldwide and more than 64 million albums in the United States, making him one of the world’s bestselling artists. He has earned numerous awards for his work, including 20 Grammys, two Golden Globes, an Academy Award and a Special Tony Award. His best-known albums include Nebraska, Born in the USA, The River and Born to Run. Springsteen was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama in 2016 and awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Joe Biden in 2023. Born into a Catholic family, Springsteen attended the St Rose of Lima Catholic school in Freehold, New Jersey. “It’s pretty overt,” Springsteen has said of Catholicism in his work. “It informed my language”. This Catholic language was influenced by the Traditional Latin Mass, in which he participated as an altar boy. Nick Ripatrazone wrote for the Catholic Herald in 2021: “For one born and raised in the faith like Springsteen, there’s no leaving it behind. From his first album to his latest, Springsteen has confessed to the congregation: he’s a sinner. His songs are his penance, and the beauty of such art is that we get to feel the hard-worn grace ourselves.”
NFL coach
Benjamin Steele, 45, is a former tight end for Green Bay Packers and offensive line coach for the Denver Broncos in the NFL. Steele played college football at Fort Lewis College and Mesa State College. He is a devout Catholic who encourages his men to be champions of the Rosary on and off the field.
Film producer
Douglas Urbanski, 66, is an American film producer. He has been nominated twice for an Oscar, once for a Golden Globe and has won a Bafta for motion picture producer. In addition to his Academy Award-winning films Darkest Hour and Mank, along with his other films, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Social Network and Nil By Mouth, his films have received 21 Oscar nominations, ten Golden Globe nominations and 33 Bafta nods. He is executive producer for Paolo Sorrentino’s upcoming Naples-set film and the Apple TV+ series Slow Horses. He serves as a Eucharistic minister at St Victor’s in West Hollywood.
Actor
Eduardo Verástegui, 49, is a Mexican-born actor who has appeared in CSI Miami, See You in Miami and Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2. In 2023, he produced the film Sound of Freedom which follows the story of Tim Ballard, a former US government agent who embarks on a mission to rescue children from sex traffickers in Colombia. Raised in a Catholic family, he rediscovered the faith through the example of his English-language coach. He is committed to going to Mass daily, reading the Bible, saying the Rosary and going to Confession once a week. He voiced Jesus in the Spanish dubbing of Son of God. He is actively involved in the pro-life cause through his movement Manto de Guadalupe.
Rookie shortstop, New York Yankees
Anthony Volpe, 22, is the 2023 Golden Glove-winning rookie shortstop for the New York Yankees. He attended Delbarton School in New Jersey and Vanderbilt University.
Actor
Mark Wahlberg, 52, is an actor, producer and director of many films. He co-funded the recent religious movie Father Stu, about a boxer turned priest, in which he stars with Mel Gibson. Wahlberg is also the executive producer of several series on HBO, including Entourage, and the co-owner of the Wahlburgers fast-food chain. He has stated that the Catholic faith is the most important part of his life. He wakes up daily at 3:30am, in part to ensure he has time for prayer. He is active at the Good Shepherd Center for homeless women and children in Los Angeles.
Former Olympic swimmer
Kate Ziegler, 35, is a former competitive swimmer who specialised in freestyle and long-distance events. Ziegler won a total of 15 medals in major international competition, including eight golds, five silvers and two bronzes. She retired from swimming in 2016 and has since earned an MBA. She is a devout Catholic who, when asked of her success, said: “God is faithful and so good, and He helped me.”
This article first appeared in the February 2024 issue of the Catholic Herald magazine. To subscribe to our multiple-award-winning magazine and have it delivered to your door anywhere in the world, go here.
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