By Susan Seabrook
When you ask Father Santa Teresa of Saint Joseph Catholic Church, in Somers Point, to describe his earliest Phillies memory, he’ll tell you all about being huddled with his family around the living room TV. The smell of his mom’s famous shrimp scampi filling the room. Hearing names like Curt Schillig, and John Kruk being yelled out. His mom, aunts and grandparents, cheering on the 1993 team during their World Series run.
Father’s love for baseball runs deep. He not only loves the game but the story behind the sport. He loves baseball history and learning about the beginnings of the different ball clubs. Just as his love of baseball runs deep, so does his love of Saint Joseph Church and Saint Joseph Regional School. He has always been a lifelong Philly’s sports fan, but first and foremost, he is a priest. He leads by example and shows the students that God always comes first.
On a typical day, you will find Father greeting the students of Saint Joseph Regional School as they get off the bus with a fist pump or a hi-five. You’ll see him helping out at school lunch and recess and smiling in the hallways. Laughter follows him wherever he goes. He’ll ask you about your family or more recently, if you caught the game last night. He’s a fixture at our school, and a breath of fresh air for students and parents alike. To say, he adds so much to the fabric of our school’s culture, in his time here since July 1, 2021, is an understatement.
Our school has been supporting the Phillies by having dress down days in their honor. If you know a Catholic School child – you know the importance of a dress down day. I must tell you, everyone is embracing the Phillies spirit, from the teachers and staff to our Principal, Dr. Fipp, to the students and families. The Phillies fever is contagious, probably because Father Santa Teresa leads us in all the fun.
Father was at the National League Championship game earlier this week. You could find him in section 113, decked out in his beloved Harper Jersey and red Phillies baseball cap cheering along with 45,484 of his brothers and sisters. As a priest, he will tell you of the parallels he finds between faith and baseball. He says, “Baseball is the only sport where we acknowledge errors, but when a player does something big, those errors don’t matter, it’s all about the victory. Just as Christ’s victory destroyed sin and death, so can late inning heroics erase memories of an earlier error and lead the team to a win”. Father has felt that baseball has helped him forge relationships. Whether that be with family, friends, brother priests, parishioners, students or strangers on the street. It truly is a sport of unity that has brought people together for the last 146 years.
In the lobby of the school, you’ll find a giant Philly Phanatic inflatable decoration, followed by a mirage of red and white as we sport our team colors. At Saint Joseph Regional School, we root for our team and each other. Just like this 2022 Phillies team has something special, so does our school. It’s easy to rally around a team, when you have a priest like Father Santa Teresa having joined our Saint Joseph Regional School family. Like Bryce Harper, he too is giving our children ‘something to remember’. With faith, family, and the fightins on our side – we truly are unstoppable.
