Mike Piazza, who reportedly once attended a Trump rally that must match the Catholic such as…
The Catholic tradition teaches that human dignity can be protected and a healthy community can be achieved only if human rights are protected and responsibilities are met. Therefore, every person has a fundamental right to life and a right to those things required for human decency. Corresponding to these rights are duties and responsibilities–to one another, to our families, and to the larger society. (via CCSW)
….anyway Mike wasn’t at another Trump rally, he was at Man Up New York.
Interestingly Man Up New York isn’t an organization in which baseball players are encouraged to play better and stop complaining to the media, instead it is a group that urges “Catholic men to “man up” for stronger leadership of their families, with godliness and humility.”
Piazza shared that, while growing up about 30 miles northwest of Philadelphia, his father, Vincent, guided him in baseball. But it was his mother, Veronica, who nurtured the Catholic faith in their five sons.
“Her values and her strength, and the example she set, had an amazing impact on my life,” Piazza said. “And she took us to church every Sunday morning, whether we felt like it or not.”
He recalled misbehaving at Mass as a young boy, which disgusted his mother.
“She said, ‘Is there not one hour of the week that you can’t dedicate to God?’” he said. That question ‘just had a lasting effect, like it was tattooed in my memory.”
Piazza’s performance as a catcher and slugger for the Los Angeles Dodgers earned him the National League’s Rookie of the Year title in 1993. At age 23, he fell into the L.A. party lifestyle, but he felt empty.
“I heard this message from people close to me: ‘You got to party, you got to conquer women, have fun, dude.’ But it was a joyless quest for joy,” he said.
Piazza’s Catholic faith gave him a reset. Later, while on the roster of the New York Mets, he prayed at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan and rededicated himself to God.
“This incredible sense of peace came over me and said, ‘Just embrace it, man. You’re here for a reason. Embrace it.’ In 1999, we had a great team and almost went to the World Series; in 2000, we went to the World Series.”
However, God works in mysterious ways, and wanted Roger Clemens and the Yankees to win that year.
(before you get all mad at me, I’m a Catholic so send complaints to editor@amazinavenue.com)
