Catholic Community 'On and Off' the Court: How Local Ministries are Fostering Faith-Filled Connections in Denver and Beyond
- André Escaleira, Jr.
- Jul 8
- 9 min read
The world can be a lonely place. Meaningful connection can be tough to come by, especially in a place as transient as Denver, which sees thousands come and go each year.
While true for the Metro area, the phenomenon is not reserved to Denver and is anything but new.
St. Teresa of Calcutta noted it in the 1970s, commenting that the greatest disease in the Western world is not a communicable one, but rather lies in a lack of community.
“The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved and uncared for,” she said. “We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread, but there are many more dying for a little love. The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty — it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality. There’s a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God.”
More recently, in 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General declared a national social and loneliness epidemic, warning of the profound levels of disconnection and solitude plaguing Americans and calling for meaningful solutions.
As the world scrambles for solutions, parishes, schools, ministries and individuals across the Denver Metro only redouble their courageous and creative work to create community and combat the loneliness epidemic all too prevalent in the Western world, on and off the court.
Catholic Sports
Paul Spotts was in the midst of a powerful collegiate conversion. As he came to know the Lord more deeply, he realized something else was missing: community.
Spotts was determined to find, even build, that community. Through the clouds of that collegiate loneliness, a ray of sunshine broke through, becoming a personal call to build community.
“I made it my personal mission. Every person that comes through the door, I’m going to know them,” Spotts explained. “I’m going to make sure they feel welcome, and then I’m going to introduce them to somebody else, because I just felt that was what was missing for me, because no one welcomed me for a year and a half.”
In short, Spotts added, “I didn’t want others to experience what I experienced. If I have this community, then I want to give it.”
He would spend the next several years building community in college and, later, as a FOCUS missionary. But, after graduation and time in ministry, he noticed a loneliness in the larger Denver Catholic community — one he remembered from college.
Just like that, his personal mission was rekindled, and, despite some initial reticence, Spotts began Catholic Sports with a simple kickball league that drew 150 people. Fifteen years later, the missional organization continues to bring young adults together in creative community through a variety of sports like ultimate frisbee, volleyball, wiffleball, kickball and more.
With core values of hospitable outreach and vulnerable intimacy, Catholic Sports aims to foster a sense of belonging for its participants by creating an environment where people can come together, build bonds and make meaningful connections.
“The beauty of sports is it’s a natural environment that allows people to come together. It’s non-threatening. I can just come out and I can just play,” Spotts said. “I’m there for basketball. Whether I’m good or not, I’m there to play a game, and this coming together for something to do takes all the pressure off of relationship.
“It’s just natural. You’re going to make friendships,” he continued. “If you’re surrounded by someone and you see them once a week for eight weeks, you’re going to build some friendships. Then, when you walk into a parish, you’re like, ‘I know you. I think I played against you earlier.’ It makes the Church smaller. It makes people feel more connected, and it makes them feel like they belong.”
Once one knows he or she belongs, everything changes, and the Holy Spirit can really get to work, Spotts said, pointing to Catholic Sports’ bible studies and small groups as ways the group fosters deeper connection beyond sports.
“I think that opens up the environment for the Holy Spirit to really transform the culture because we’re providing an environment that people can easily evangelize their friends,” he told the Denver Catholic, noting just how easy sports make it to build trust and share the Gospel. In fact, those activities are prime, privileged places for others to encounter the Good News; simply by courageously living everyday life with the spirit of the Gospel, we give witness to the world, leading them to ask, “What do they have that I don’t?”
“If someone has a hobby, that’s a source for evangelization,” Spotts explained. “I think oftentimes, our evangelization efforts are like, ‘How can I teach the faith?’ instead of how to build a space of deeper friendship in my life.”
Firefall
On any given Sunday, you might notice hundreds of young adults descend upon a Denver park for volleyball, soccer, ultimate frisbee and, most importantly, community.
Springing from the same need for connection that Spotts noticed, Firefall aims to bring people together with weekly casual events. With no sign-ups needed, it’s “easy to get connected in a Christ-centered scenario,” said Collin O’Rourke, the group’s volunteer coordinator.
“It’s about removing as many obstacles to connection as possible so that people, especially those who are new to the area or have a harder time branching out and meeting new people, can have plenty of opportunity to meet people and be as comfortable as possible doing that,” he added. “We’re trying to cast the net as wide as possible by making pick-up so easy to attend. It’s easy to show up and still have a very personal experience.”
Founded just two years ago, Firefall now counts over 700 regular, faith-filled participants in their pickup groups for various sports. For such a large group, O’Rourke said he’s amazed at the deep, meaningful connections that come to be formed each week.
“A lot of stuff happens, and I step back sometimes and just take a look at a very beautiful scenario and realize Firefall brought a lot of these people together,” he told the Denver Catholic. “The week after week interactions allowed them to feel comfortable enough to take a deeper step in friendship, trust or accountability. I feel very blessed when I get to be a part of so many things like that, and when I realize that God has used me to be a part of that.”
“It’s been incredible to see some of the varied fruits and the great things that happen when people have an opportunity to interface with each other,” added Matt Conner, one of Firefall’s founders.
In its short existence, Firefall has seen a group of young men come together to start a men’s group to support each other in faith and discernment. It has also seen vulnerable and faith-based conversations taking place on the sidelines of the volleyball court or soccer pitch — for Catholics and non-Catholics alike.
“It has absolutely blown my mind what the Lord is doing. We talk about sometimes asking the Lord for confirmation of our own plans instead of trying to discern his plans and what he’s inviting us into, and I think the growth we’ve seen is an example of what happens when we catch a word from the Lord,” Conner said.
“The community, the friendships go deeper, and Firefall allows a continuity to it. They deepen beyond Firefall, beyond sports, and become lifelong friendships that are at the parish,” O’Rourke said.
Week after week, the warm, welcoming environment around Firefall’s sporty hearth draws young adults together in fun, faith-based community — one ablaze with love for God and neighbor.
“The love, positivity and welcome, this feeling actually seen and known isn’t a common thing,” O’Rourke said. “It’s a simple but profound thing.”
“We can help them to know that they’re not on this journey alone,” Conner added.
Highlight Catholic Ministries
The community-building, evangelistic power of sports reaches beyond the Denver Catholic young adult community, even involving families and children across the Denver Metro.
In fact, there’s a unique opportunity to form future saints by ministering to young families and children through sports, said Ryan O’Connor, founder of Highlight Catholic Ministries. Through his work to build up a healthy, virtuous culture on Highlight’s Frassati and Badano Sports teams, the young participants hone their athletic skills while building Christian community and growing in virtue.
“We’re trying to inspire them to grow not only in their skills as basketball, baseball, soccer and tennis players but also to learn how to grow in virtue through sport,” O’Connor said.
“We need to break down the distortion in a child’s mind that his faith life is separate from the rest of his life,” he continued. “So, it’s a unity of life approach where kids, if they start out in our program, they’re four years old, they join our soccer league, they’re learning from the beginning that this is not separate from their faith life. They’re out there training before the game, and they’re glorifying God by the way they play. They’re trying to overcome their selfishness and laziness by becoming a better player, a better teammate. This is not separate from their faith life. Everything we do is for the glory of God.”
The more they do so, the more other teams take notice, O’Connor added.
“We have unique opportunities to witness to the greater culture and we want to basically love each other,” he explained. “We want the other team to be saying, ‘There’s something different about this team. Look at how the fans, players and coaches love each other.’”
Even as they evangelize others, Highlight’s teams build community among kids and families, drawing them into a “really beautiful Catholic culture,” O’Connor said.
For Alexandra Montano and her family, that culture has been transformational.
“Highlight has blessed our family without us knowing that it was going to do that,” she said of the encouraging, positive community. “It’s given us all the opportunity to have a much larger Catholic community, part of our core friends and our kids’ core friends as well.”
In fact, at a recent event at her children’s Catholic high school, she noticed that most attendees were clad in Frassati Sports shirts. That realization led to an eye-opening conversation with one of her daughters in which they realized all her friends had come through connections made at Highlight.
“These are friendships my family personally would not have made,” she continued. “It just becomes their friendship circle supernaturally because of how they’re trained up, with the adults there and how they mentor them.”
Catholic Schools Athletic League
Within the Catholic Schools of the Archdiocese of Denver, community is a core part of the curriculum, thanks to the Catholic Schools Activities League (CSAL), which organizes sports leagues and other extracurricular activities like art fairs, spelling bees and robotics events for Catholic school students.
“CSAL’s mission is to support the mission of each school and parish. That’s what we attempt to do in every offering that we have, and to meet schools where they are at,” said Mark Strawbridge, CSAL’s director.
By bringing together students from the dozens of archdiocesan Catholic schools across Northern Colorado, CSAL offers opportunities for the students to continue their formation in community with other Catholic students and families. The league prides itself on making these opportunities accessible to families, too, with affordable costs and reasonable time commitments.
“Our goal is to challenge the students where they’re at. We’re not the same level for everyone,” Strawbridge continued, noting that all Catholic school students are welcome to participate in CSAL’s activities, regardless of their skill level. “We try to meet them where they’re at and provide them an experience that is easy to have and more affordable to have for mom and dad.”
For mom, dad and students alike, the events, leagues and other activities are a blessed opportunity to come together in community with families in their own school and beyond — and provide a space for people to form friendships and deepen bonds.
“I like to believe that there are relationships being developed because of their children playing,” Strawbridge said. “These are great opportunities for families who are quite often new to our schools, where they get a chance to meet other parents within their school as well.”
While extracurricular activities may not be unique to Catholic schools, the spirit of faith-filled connection that CSAL is imbued with certainly is, Strawbridge said.
“That experience, we hope, is to connect their faith with activities, whether it be athletic or academic. It’s also to provide an opportunity for community, to provide a deeper relationship from classmates to teammates,” he explained.
In short, he said, “Really, our hope is always to make sure that it’s an invitation to experience Christ. And that’s what we’re wanting to present when we offer as many of the activities as we do to our schools.”
By recognizing God’s presence before and after practice and games, allowing faith to inform conversation between players, coaches and fans, and fostering faith-filled community, CSAL is forming students and parents in community and faith.
“It is always an invitation to bring Christ to the center of what we do,” Strawbridge concluded. “It’s incumbent upon all of us to bring him in accordingly.”
