As Super Bowl LX Sunday approaches on 8 February, the anticipation stretches far beyond stadiums, sports bars and living rooms.
This year, the game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara also reaches into chancery offices – where a familiar and friendly tradition continues between two archbishops whose dioceses now share the sport’s biggest stage.
With the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks set to face off, Archbishop Paul D Etienne of Seattle has joined his counterpart in Boston, Archbishop Richard G. Henning, in an annual Super Bowl wager – one rooted not in pride or prediction, but in charity.
The agreed-upon terms are simple: a $500 donation to Catholic Charities, with particular attention given to ministries that care for and support immigrants.
The decision to proceed was not automatic. The two prelates debated “whether or not to go through with a wager given the gravity of everything going on in our world today,” Archbishop Etienne said.
“However, we recognize the ability that sports have to unify communities.” Archbishop Henning noted the big game is “hopefully a moment for people to gather to be with friends and family” but “we don’t want to forget there are other realities in our world and suffering” to be “attentive” to as well.
