Denver Catholic

13 DENVER CATHOLIC | APR-MAY 2024 Although it feels like the Church has been playing defense a lot lately, part of that is due to its "meat and potatoes" style offense and porous offensive line. What I don't have time or space to get into here is the other team the Church is facing. For our purposes, the Church has three clear enemies that seem to collaborate as a team: The World, the Flesh, and the Devil. Our defense is built to defend against these attacks. DEFENSIVE LINE The Family CORNERBACKS THINK TANKS lINEBACKERS Parishes We begin this side of the ball by looking at the most important part of every defense, the defensive line. Defen- sive linemen are generally broken into two positions: Defensive tackles and defensive ends. Defensive tackles typically fill gaps in the offensive line and try to stop the run. Defensive ends are more responsible for setting the edge and rushing the passer. The defensive line is the family. St. Pope John Paul II once said, "As the family goes, so goes the nation, and so goes the whole world in which we live." Many coaches would say something similar about defensive lines. When the life of the family is centered on Jesus Christ and the family has made their home his home, the Church's defense is nearly impenetrable against the enemy's ground game. By procreating and raising children in the faith, the family rushes the passer and puts constant pres- sure on the enemy. Remember, the enemy's strength and bandwidth are limited, and the more saints he has to deal with, the more difficult it is to execute all the plans for their damnation. One of the other key responsibilities of the defensive tackles are that they keep offensive linemen from reaching the linebackers. Strong families make the linebackers' jobs easier by keeping these blockers out of their faces, allow- ing them to clearly see the field, make adjustments and when the time comes, make tackles. The linebackers in the Church's defense are the par- ishes. Linebackers are at the heart of the defense and most defenses are designed for linebackers to make the majority of the tackles. They typically also call the defense, mean- ing they are responsible for communicating the defensive play and ensuring that the defenders are all lined up cor- rectly and in position. As linebackers, our parishes are stable communities of the faithful, animated by the Eucharist, where sins are forgiven in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The Church is designed for parishes to eliminate threats from the enemy because of the strength of the sacraments and the com- munion of the faithful. Linebackers are a very versatile position and depend- ing on the defensive scheme, the roles of linebackers and linemen can blend. This is fitting as the parish at times depends on its stability and at other times blitzes and puts pressure on the enemy through missionary initiatives. This versatility is reflected in Pope Francis' writings: "The parish is not an outdated institution; precisely because it possesses great flexibility, it can assume quite different contours depending on the openness and missionary cre- ativity of the pastor and the community." Every year in the NFL draft, corners are coveted by every team, and no one questions their value. For exam- ple, when the Broncos selected Patrick Surtain II, every- one applauded the choice. Even though they had needs at quarterback, even though Micah Parsons went a few picks later, everyone knows the Broncos got a great player at a premium position. This speaks to the values of cor- nerbacks, who in this analogy are the think tanks of the Church. Corners cover receivers whether it is in man or zone coverage. They read the quarterback's eyes and anticipate throws, but generally are responsible for a single threat in either an opposing player or a zone in the defense. Like- wise, think tanks are often dedicated to a singular problem plaguing society or the Church. They raise awareness of the threat and aim to stop the atrocity and contain its damage. Think tanks are usually way ahead of the rest of the Church on particular threats. They were the people writing about the problems in Ukraine a decade before the war or warning of the evils of gender ideology throughout the early 2000s. ⊲ DEFENSE 13 DENVER CATHOLIC | APR-MAY 2024

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