(LifeSiteNews) — NFL kicker and Super Bowl champion Harrison Butker has said that the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) has “really transformed” his life.
In a recent interview with EWTN journalist Montse Alvarado, the Kansas City Chiefs kicker was asked about his devotion to the TLM. “The Traditional Latin Mass has really transformed my life, understanding the liturgy that the Church has celebrated for so many centuries,” he said.
.@buttkicker7: “The Traditional Latin Mass has really transformed my life. … I’ve had a great relationship with the [FSSP] and they’ve been able to provide priests for all the away games, Saturday night before the games in the hotels…”
Deo gratias! pic.twitter.com/GYzQVnAGdC
— Matt Gaspers (@MattGaspers) March 19, 2024
“Understanding all the traditional sacraments has been amazing for me. I just decided if I really do believe that Jesus is number one in my life, that the Church is number one in my life, then I need to make the Mass the priority of my life.”
Butker told Alvarado that he has a great relationship with the Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP), who has “been able to provide priests for all the away games Saturday night before the games in the hotels to celebrate this beautiful liturgy.”
“Last year, we went to our first ever ordination in the traditional rite, and I was there with my four-year-old son at the time, and he’s witnessing these young men become priests,” the NFL star recalled. “And then the next day after ordinations we went to one of the young priests’ first Mass and just looking down and seeing my son who, you know, he talks about becoming a priest all the time. And that could be him one day.”
“The majority of Catholics do not attend the traditional Latin Mass,” Alvarado said.
“Without going back to the pre-Vatican II Mass, what are some things you would say to lay Catholics, to priests, to Catholic communities, to really keep a spirit of reverence and proper worship in the new Mass, in the Novus Ordo?” the journalist asked.
“I think if there’s anything that a priest could adopt who is celebrating the Novus Ordo, I would encourage ad orientem,” Butker replied. “I think it promotes a situation where the priest is the leader, just as the man needs to be the leader in the household. It promotes the priest dying to self, not allowing his personality to come through in the Mass because we should be at the Mass to worship God.”
“The worship of God is through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass,” he continued. “It’s not through the priest being the funny guy up there making jokes, being relatable. There’s a time and place for that, but I would say the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is not the place for that.”
“I think also what’s been powerful for me is receiving our Lord kneeling on the tongue. And that’s something that any layperson can do at a Novus Ordo Mass.”
Butker is the kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs, who in 2024 won their third Super Bowl championship in five years. He is known for being an outspoken, pro-life Catholic. In 2022, he said he would rather quit being a professional football player than be coerced into taking the COVID shot. Butker, who attends the Traditional Latin Mass, also called on Pope Francis to stop the persecution of traditional Catholics. When he kicked the Super Bowl-winning field goal last year, he was wearing a Brown Scapular and gave “all glory to God” in the postgame interview.
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