By now the entire world knows who Sister Jean is, and we learned of Kansas’ bootleg Jean, now we have another holy person. Villanova has a Father Rob, who seems like a great Father, but let’s be honest, he’s no Sister Jean).
From the New York Times:
As far as Sister Jean, Father Hagan laughed at the idea of any rivalry between the spiritual leaders of teams that could ultimately meet for a national title. On the contrary, he said he loved the attention Sister Jean was bringing to her faith and her mission.
“It’s brought a lot of awareness and enthusiasm to Loyola and to the order of the B.V.M. sisters, the work that they do, the mission, the people they serve,” he said, referring to the Sisters of the Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. “I couldn’t be happier for her and her order. It’s really great to see.”
Father Hagan does, however, have one thing he can brag about: Unlike Sister Jean, who only had her Ramblers reaching the round of 16, Father Hagan had a bit more faith in Villanova.
“I picked these guys all the way,” he said. “Every year.”
… it seemed proper to dial up Father Ben Hawley, S.J. He’s from St. Mary on the campus of Michigan, and one of his parishioners is Wolverines coach John Beilein. When Beilein said the other day, “We have some prayers on our team, too,” Father Ben is one of those he had in mind.
Then the Father had a bit of his own confessional, and came forward with the truth.
“To tell the truth, no, not particularly. But the head coach is in my parish. So yes, I love basketball. And more to the point, I love Michigan.”
Sister Jean is one of a kind. We can throw all the religious folks from every university into a bracket, and Sister Jean wins out every time. Father Rob does perhaps a little more strength than Jean, physically speaking, so he’s handy when it’s time to clean up.
