'A Powerful Sporting Tradition among Canadian Basilians': Early Twentieth-Century Catholic Priest-Coaches at St Michael's College. Issue 4 (21st June 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hoven, Matt
• Is Part Of: International journal of the history of sport. Volume 39:Issue 4(2022)
• Page Start: 366
• Page End: 384
• Publication Date: 2022-06-21
• Subjects: Ice hockey -- muscular Christianity -- Catholicism -- Canada -- masculine; Sports -- History -- Periodicals; Sports -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Games -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 306.483
• DOI: 10.1080/09523367.2022.2066079
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0952-3367

Abstract

Abstract: Catholic examples of muscular Christianity have received less research attention than Protestant counterparts and require further exploration. One instance is the early sporting roots of an Anglo-Catholic religious community, the Basilian Fathers, and its prominent educator Father Henry Carr (1880-1963), who established the Basilian sporting tradition at St Michael's College in predominantly Irish-Catholic Toronto in the early 1900s. This tradition, through a particular approach to boys in a Canadian Catholic boarding school setting, produced national and provincial championships in ice hockey and American football through its emphasis on amateur ideals of self-discipline, gentlemanly play, character development, and school spirit. St Michael's also, in a uniquely Catholic way, tried to mitigate the rise of professional ice hockey and the College's working-class male student body with more 'feminine' features of the faith. The College's tradition overall reflected boys' boarding school sporting ideals typical at US Protestant schools and found support from the Vatican and other international Catholic sporting organizations during a period of increased industrialization. The College produced several priest-coaches through mentorship, who shared a philosophy and an education of sport that spread the tradition throughout schools and colleges in Catholic North America.