Скачать или смотреть Irish Illustrated Interviews: Our Conversation with Notre Dame Football Chaplain Fr. Nate Wills

Listen to Our Conversation with Notre Dame Football Chaplain Fr. Nate Wills.
Episode No. 3 of the Irish Illustrated Interviews podcast series features the Notre Dame football team chaplain, Father Nate Wills, who has served the program in this role since the 2018 season. He is also an associate professor who serves on the faculty of the Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program, within the Alliance for Catholic Education.

The most public-facing aspect of Wills' job as the team chaplain comes on home game days during the season. Just before kickoff, he kneels with the entire football team inside the locker room and leads the "Our Father," which a production crew broadcasts on Notre Dame Stadium's video board. Then he cries, "Our Lady, Queen of Victory!" and the entire locker room and stadium shout back, "Pray for us!"

Of course, there's much more to being the team chaplain than leading prayer in front of more than 70,000 people. In the episode, we discuss what goes into his responsibilities and how he got the gig. We also dive into the more than 100-year tradition of presenting the players with prayer medals before each game and some of his favorite memories from the last seven years.

Much of this is also covered in his new book, "Pray Like a Champion Today," where he offers behind-the-scenes stories and personal anecdotes from his time as the Notre Dame football team chaplain. We chat about the book, as well, which comes out today, Friday, Aug. 22.

Full disclosure: my wife and Wills are on the board at Ave Maria Press, the publisher of Pray Like a Champion Today.