UPCOMING

Golf tournament to support vocations to the priesthood

By Ambria Hammel | April 15, 2009 | The Catholic Sun

For some, whacking a dimpled white ball down a plush green fairway can be something of a religious experience.

Next month, Catholics will have a chance to share that religious experience with others. With every stroke May 7 at the Legacy Golf Resort, golfers will help the Phoenix Diocese’s 21 seminarians take a step closer to the priesthood.

The East Valley Serra Club’s annual golf tournament for vocations — now known as the Bill Folz Memorial Golf Tournament — is registering foursomes and accepting auction items through April 23. Nine parishes have already signed up.

Proceeds go to the diocesan Office of Vocations, which helps seminarians with books and tuition and supports the Phoenix Serra House of discernment. Funds also provide gifts, namely a Mass kit, to the newly ordained each June.

The tournament is a four-person scramble — or five for those with a priest or religious sister as a bonus member of their team.

Local Catholics can also talk to the Poor Clare Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. The cloistered sisters will be putting caddies.

The chance for a mulligan, dubbed the “Fr. Sullivan Mulligan,” is also new to this year’s tournament. Fr. Paul Sullivan, currently the assistant director for the diocesan Office for Vocations, is a rookie golfer, so organizers saw fit to name the do-over after him.

But Pat Kieney shouldn’t need one. He’s planning to defend his team’s title at this year’s tournament.

Kieney, a St. Timothy parishioner in Mesa and a regular golfer, won the Serra Club’s golf tournament last year along with Fr. Dennis O’Rourke, pastor of St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish in Cave Creek.

“We have a really good time playing,” Kieney said. He plays in eight to 10 tournaments each year.

Kieney enjoys the fellowship golf offers, especially with the priests. It helps remind him that priests like doing “regular people stuff” too.

Fr. O’Rourke considers golf a pastime, even when temperatures reach triple digits. He golfs with his elderly uncle weekly and with 12-20 parishioners during their summer league.

Fr. Michael Diskin, assistant chancellor and canonical pastor of St. Louis the King Parish in Glendale, and Msgr. Tom Hever, pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Scottsdale, have both enjoyed golfing on their days off for more than 45 years.

The two, who now golf together every week, can be quite competitive. Fr. Diskin finished second in last year’s Serra tournament along with staff from Catholic Cemeteries. He was one of 15 clergy involved.

“We have some avid golfers among our priests,” Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted said. Apparently, the laity can get quite spirited, too.

Aside from awards going to the top three scoring teams, each golfer will compete for other bragging rights, including the “I beat Fr. Don Kline” award for longest drive, a separate longest drive award for men and women, and a closest to the pin award.

“Some teams have been known to pray more than others during the round,” said Fr. Kilian McCaffrey, chaplain for East Valley Serra Club and parochial vicar at Queen of Peace Parish in Mesa. “Rosaries can be heard from the golf carts.”