In Phoenix for the Super Bowl: full stadium, empty church

From The Boston Globe: 

Forgive the Franciscan friars at St. Mary’s Basilica if they wonder what exactly is being worshipped at the giant, gleaming temple across the street.

An extra point away from the elegant old church’s doors, the NFL Experience is open for business. All week, fans in football jerseys have filed by the thousands into the towering Phoenix Convention Center that’s hosting an 850,000-square-foot NFL theme park. Giant portable televisions blare on nearby street corners. Gleaming cream-colored SUVs, each emblazoned with the logo of a different NFL team, line a section of North Third Street covered in artificial turf.

American Sundays are defined for many by two things: church and football. Fans fidget in the pews as kickoff looms. Players pray before and after games. Many even believe in a sort of God of the Gridiron, surveys suggest — a great handicapper in the sky who decides the outcome of sporting events.

But that has not meant a boom in business for the six friars and 800 or so parishioners who spent months planning for an expected deluge of fans sparing a few minutes for their faith at the church across the street, which has stood there since Phoenix was just a few dirt roads in the desert.

Hoping to raise a little money for the parish and its charitable endeavors, they obtained a permit from the city to sell hot dogs on the street. They scheduled organ recitals and tours of their beautiful Mission Revival-style church, which boasts the largest stained glass collection in the area and is celebrating its centennial next month. They bought boxes of rosaries with beads shaped like footballs to pass out.

But it hasn’t worked out the way they’d hoped. Read more. 

Photo: St. Mary’s Basilica in Phoenix via Wikipedia Commons