Most Reverend Jerome E. Listecki
Archbishop of Milwaukee
 

Summer was a time in the neighborhood when baseball was played almost every day. It was either what we referred to in Chicago as softball, using a 16-inch ball, league ball with a regular hard baseball, or fast pitch using a rubber ball against the backdrop of U.S. Steel Mill’s concrete wall with a box drawn for a strike zone. Only an occasional rainout would stop the seasonal daily encounters. There was always someone in the neighborhood to play against. However, it was a contest to decide who would be the Chicago White Sox and what player you represented. We were Southsiders, and therefore the Cubs never entered the picture. Many non-Chicagoans do not understand the rivalry and separation that exists between the White Sox and the Cubs. It is embedded into the psyche of the north and south sections of the city. For me, to this day it is never a perfect baseball Sunday unless it is a double-header win for the Sox and a double-header loss for the Cubs. It is in the baseball DNA of a Southside White Sox fan to cheer against the Cubs. Therefore, it was very easy for me to declare my allegiance to the Brewers when I became the Archbishop of Milwaukee, because they played the Cubs.

Friday, July 23rd presented a dilemma. I was given five tickets to a baseball game pitting the Brewers against the White Sox. Four priests from the Archdiocese accompanied me to the game. They were all Brewers fans, but I was conflicted. Now you must understand that the Sox were the team of my boyhood. My favorite player was Minnie Minoso. It was his autograph that I asked for as a gift when receiving my First Holy Communion. The 1959 White Sox had won the pennant with a group of hitless wonders and conquered their nemesis the New York Yankees.

But the Brewers was Milwaukee’s team, and I was the Archbishop. The Brewers were always very good to us, and to me personally, inviting me to throw out the first pitch when I was named to the Archdiocese. Greg Counsel was still a member of the team, behind the plate as catcher. Now, he’s the manager. So what was I to do? Then I realized, this is a “win win” situation. How many “win win” situations do you have in your life? If the White Sox win then I affirm my boyhood affections, and if the Brewers win then well, I am the Archbishop of Milwaukee. I can’t lose. Of course, there is a future problem. Both teams are playing very well. So, could this turn out to be an I-94 World Series? I would welcome that dilemma.

I realized that there is another “win win” which appears as the motto on my coat of arms. My motto is, “Life is Christ.” In Philippians 1:20-24, Paul is pondering his situation. He is in prison, and might be executed. He is writing to the Philippians, a community that captured his heart. He is deliberating on what could happen. “My eager expectation and hope is that I shall not be put to shame in any way, but that with all boldness, now as always, Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me life is Christ, and death is gain. If I go on living in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. And I do not know which I shall choose. I am caught between the two. I long to depart this life and be with Christ, for that is far better. Yet that I remain in the flesh is more necessary for your benefit.”

When we understand Life is Christ, then no matter what confronts us in this world, we belong to Christ and are destined to be with Him. It’s a “win win”, for those who LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

Note: This blog originally appeared as the August 3, 2021 "Love One Another" email sent to Catholics throughout the Archdiocese of Milwaukee by Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki. If you are interested in signing up for these email messages, please click here.