ON 365 DAYS of the year, Fr James McCarthy will don his priestly vestments, celebrate Mass, and talk to his parishioners about the Church and God.
But on 22 Saturdays every summer, Fr James will wear his grass-stained whites, run around after a cricket ball, and talk about batting orders, inswingers, and that huge six he hit over cow-corner.
The Sydney-based Catholic priest isn’t exactly the average cricketer; nor is he the average man of the cloth.
Most priests like to use their Saturdays for gardening or for chores around the house. Fr James prefers to spend the day trying to hit a cricket ball into outer space.
Then, in a rapid transformation akin to that of Superman, while the rest of his teammates finish the match, Fr James suddenly appears at his parish in his priestly attire to say the Saturday evening Mass.
The cricket-playing priest has been involved with the aptly named Papal Bulls cricket team in the NSW Churches cricket competition for more than a decade.
He says he has always enjoyed playing cricket and believes it can be a good priestly ministry.
“It’s good exercise and it’s a good team sport,” he says. “For people to see a priest doing normal things is a good thing, and it sometimes gives people opportunities to talk to a priest and to talk about things they may not have talked about otherwise.”
A left-arm fast bowler, Fr James often fields at first slip, where his conversations with teammates seem to have benefits all-round.
“After chatting with a number of other people who are relatively young and switched on with society and their faith, I sometimes will modify my Sunday homily based upon some of the discussions I have sitting at slip,” he says.
The Papal Bulls is a Catholic team in the NSW Churches competition, taking on teams from a variety of Christian denominations including Anglican, Baptist and Uniting Church sides.
The competition was established in NSW more than 110 years ago and has a unique rule that allows priests or pastors to be replaced during a match if church duties necessitate an early departure.
It’s just one of many advantages of playing in an inter-faith competition for the fast bowling priest.
“I think it’s a very good thing to have a Church competition,” he says. “It’s a good opportunity to connect with people of different denominations and to break down some of the barriers that exist there at times.
“Just the other day we played against a team which is from a [branch] of the Anglican Church. I had never really had much contact with these people before so I had a bit of a chat with some of their team about what they believe and what their faith is.”
While the competition prides itself on playing the game in the right spirit at all times, Fr James says there are occasional flare-ups, sometimes even involving himself.
“Sometimes there are good attitudes towards Catholics and towards Catholic priests and sometimes there are things that are not so pleasant,” he says.
“Getting hit in the head when I was batting by a person who knew I was a priest was not the best experience, although I’m sure the bloke didn’t intend to hit me in the head. I’ve learnt to put the helmet on now.
“I’m not always perfect, sometimes I get overly aggressive and I think that’s not always a good thing. At times I feel like I want to bowl a short ball and I think ‘Is this the right thing to be doing?’”
Although he generally steers clear of bowling “chin music”, Fr James says the cricket pitch is not necessarily the place for acts of mercy.
“It’s important to try our best but we have to realise that at the end of the day it’s just a game and we’re there to have a bit of fun,” he says.
As a Catholic team, prayer is an important part of the Papal Bulls’ preparation. At the beginning of each game, Fr James leads the team in prayer, ending with a blessing.
According to teammate Justin Faehrmann, achieving victory is not the prayer’s intention.
“It’s usually just to help us to play to the best of our abilities,” he says.
“We don’t ask to win… it’s more about enjoying ourselves and giving glory to God through putting in the best performance you can. If that does result in winning that’s great, but that’s not the main focus.”
Several Papal Bulls players are seminarians, and the whole team often makes its way to the Good Shepherd Seminary in Homebush for a post-match barbeque.
Fr James says the gathering has become somewhat of a tradition, and one that has numerous advantages.
“Young men can see that the seminary exists and you don’t have to have three heads to be the sort of person to go to the seminary,” he says. “Even for people who are not thinking about the priesthood, I think it’s important for young men to see that faith should be a part of everyone’s life.”
Mr Faehrmann says Fr James has made a significant contribution to the club, both on and off the field.
“He’s someone who’s very passionate about his sport, and he definitely shows that in all facets of the game,” he says.
“He’s also a faithful priest… whose ministry comes onto the cricket pitch as well, playing with young people and showing that they can give glory to God through participating in sport.”
The 22-year-old wicketkeeper says a Catholic cricket team has a different outlook on the game compared to that of a standard local club.
“Our mindset and our focus is channelled towards giving glory to God rather than just personal satisfaction and desire to achieve a personal goal,” he says.
The Papal Bulls cricket club was established in 1999, going through its first season undefeated to win the premiership.
Fr James began playing cricket at the age of seven, and continued to do so through his school days, before being a major part of the 1999/2000 premiership side.
When he joined the seminary to study for the priesthood, he continued playing, even taking his love of the game with him to Rome in 2004 when he was sent to the North American College.
“We convinced NSW Cricket to give us a cricket kit so we could play cricket in Rome, which was good fun,” the 31-year-old recalls.
“We had a few games in Rome, and I taught some Americans how to play cricket as well.”
Whatever Fr James taught his fellow seminarians and priests in Rome, it worked. Earlier this month the Vatican announced that it had set up a cricket team that would begin playing competitively in November.
It’s no coincidence, then, that the idea for a Vatican cricket team came from Australia’s ambassador to the Holy See, John McCarthy, who is also Fr James’ dad.
Mr McCarthy, himself a former cricketer, hopes that the Vatican’s team will play against teams from other denominations, in much the same way that the NSW Churches competition operates.
Although cricket has never been generally regarded as a “Catholic” game, the Vatican’s endorsement of the sport suggest there may be some Catholic links to the game.
“There’s pretty strong evidence historically… from about the 13th century in England, of monks playing a game that’s quite similar to the concept of cricket, using a thing similar to a bat with someone bowling a ball,” Fr James says.
There are other intriguing connections, too. It’s been claimed that the three stumps and the two bails represent the Trinity and the two natures of Christ – human and divine – respectively.
Perhaps of more substance is the unique number of players on a cricket team. Eleven players take the field, with a 12th man permitted to field, but not to bat or bowl. This unusual set-up has been said to replicate the 12 disciples, with the 12th man likened to Judas Iscariot.
Links aside, there is no doubt that sport can be an aid to the Christian life. Pope Francis recently described sport as a “noble vocation”, and Fr James said cricket has the capacity to foster virtues in those who play the game.
“You can have one good player in a cricket team and you will not be a successful team,” he says.
“The best teams I’ve always been a part of have been where everyone encourages everyone else to achieve their best. If you bring the best out of everyone, the team will be successful.”
It’s a theme that has put the Papal Bulls on the front foot for many years, and one that could help the Australian side, although Fr James isn’t so confident.
“I think Australia needs a lot of prayers for the upcoming Ashes,” he says.
As for the Vatican cricket team, which will have an ample supply of divine intervention, Fr James says he is “genuinely excited” about its establishment.
“It’s a reminder to me, and hopefully all priests and seminarians, that we occasionally have to leave our expected routines and be sent into the deep, to the boundary fence to be ready to receive a catch for Christ and his Church,” he says.