Kansas City - Kansas City Chiefs player Harrison Butker is celebrating more than just his winning field goal and the team's Super Bowl victory. For the devout Catholic, his success on the field is a platform for sharing his faith and the message of God's love.
“I want to be a saint. And that’s the most important thing, and that’s why I’m here on this earth,” Butker recently told EWTN News In Depth’s Colm Flynn.
“I’m not just making kicks so that I can make money and I can puff myself up as this great person that people want to be like one day. I’m making kicks because God wants me to have a platform, at least for right now, to share this message of faith, of growing in virtue, of growing closer to the sacraments and of being a saint.”
Butker, 27, also an altar server at Traditional Latin Masses, has been open about his pro-life convictions and his love for the Traditional Latin Mass, which he says "really entices a lot of young people who are looking for answers."
He is also known for wearing a brown scapular around his neck, a sign of devotion to Mary in the Carmelite tradition. While he has been wearing it since college, he only began wearing it during games after an injury earlier this season. During the Super Bowl, the scapular popped out of his jersey during his game-winning kick, providing a "great witness" to his faith.
Butker credits his daily prayer and meditation on God's grace for helping him stay grounded amid the fame and fortune that come with being a successful professional athlete. He reminds himself that he is ultimately "ashes... dust" and that his job is not to kick a football, but to be a child of God and to serve his vocation as a husband and father.
During his off-season, Butker plans to spend time with his family and in prayer, rather than traveling and partying like many of his fellow teammates. He believes that if an activity does not glorify God or bring him closer to sainthood, then it is not worth doing.
Butker's game-winning field goal in the Super Bowl was the culmination of a plan he believes God set in motion at the start of the football season. Despite missing an earlier kick, he reminded himself that everything was part of God's plan and that his suffering was a way for him to grow in virtue and faith.
Butker's teammates and coaches have not given him any negative feedback about his Catholic and pro-life views, and he hopes that his example can inspire others to grow closer to God.
For Butker, football is just a means to an end - a platform for sharing the message of faith and growing closer to God. He hopes that others can see the joy and peace that come from a life centered on Christ and be inspired to follow in his footsteps.
Butker said he typically prays a Hail Mary as he runs out onto the field before a kick.
“Praying is something I always do on the sideline to remember that, yes, football is so important, but it’s not the most important thing. I need to calm down. Number one, it’s good to realize I’m a child of God. Think about my life outside of this world, think about my beautiful wife, my children, and then think about the talent that God has given me. And I have this opportunity on this massive stage to glorify him. Me thinking about the what ifs, if I miss this, if I make that make the kick, that’s not going to help me succeed and glorify him. So I try to just kind of get in my own bubble,” Butker said.
“Whether God wants me to make it, whether he wants me to miss it, I want his will to be done because his plan is always going to be better than mine,” he said.