Colts player and wife encourage teenagers to make right choices in life
Indianapolis Colts center Jeff Saturday and his wife, Karen, of Carmel, Ind., praise the teenage peer mentors for the archdiocesan A Promise to Keep: God’s Gift of Human Sexuality chastity program for their volunteer service as role models during an annual awards luncheon on April 15 at the Archbishop O’Meara Catholic Center in Indianapolis. (Photo by Mary Ann Wyand)
By Mary Ann Wyand
Christianity—not football—defines who he is as a person, Indianapolis Colts center Jeff Saturday told teenage peer mentors for the archdiocesan chastity education program on April 15 at the Archbishop O’Meara Catholic Center in Indianapolis.
Saturday and his wife, Karen, were the keynote speakers for the archdiocesan Office of Catholic Education’s A Promise to Keep: God’s Gift of Human Sexuality annual volunteer recognition luncheon honoring the high school students who present the Church’s abstinence education curriculum to middle school students at Catholic grade schools and parish religious education classes.
Their presentation on “Living Out Marriage as Christian Men and Women of Faith” focused on the importance of living a moral lifestyle dedicated to Christ, family and service to others.
They are the parents of three children—Jeffrey, Savannah and Joshua—and members of Every Nation, a Protestant faith community in Carmel, Ind.
“We wanted to be here to be an encouragement to you,” the Colts’ offensive lineman told the teenagers. “We’re so proud of each and every one of you for being here, and for what you stand for. We just want to tell you, from our hearts, how grateful we are for you [as chastity peer mentors]. We pray to God that our children act like you act. This is where we want our children to be sitting in the next five to 10 years. This is truly what we want our daughter and two sons to be a part of, and to understand how important what you’re doing is. We’re behind you 100 percent.”
His job as a member of the Super Bowl XLI championship NFL team “doesn’t really have anything to do with what defines me” as a person, Saturday said. “That’s what I do for a living. I’m so thankful and grateful to God for what my job is. I love to go out and play football. … But what truthfully is important to me is that I have a purpose with which God gave me the platform. … That is what defines me—that I’m willing to get up and share my faith in Christ. You’re not ever just defined by what you do, but as who you are.”
During his freshman year at Shamrock High School in Atlanta, Saturday said, an ultimatum from his coaches convinced him to make the right choice to reject peer pressure from the wrong kind of friends then work hard as a student and athlete.
That defining moment in his life led him to become a student-athlete at the University of North Carolina, he said, and later a Christian, husband, father, community volunteer and member of the National Football League.
“I made the choice to live [the] right [way],” Saturday said, “and I thank God every day that I made it.”
Jeff and Karen Saturday have been friends since high school, dated for seven years and were married in 1999. They urged the teenagers to search for and wait for a loving and faithful spouse.
As a teenager, she said, “I didn’t have any role models. I didn’t live a Christian life. I didn’t have Christian parents. I didn’t have Christian friends. … When Jeff and I decided to change our lives and live for Christ, our friends changed.”
She urged the high school students to set moral boundaries and stick to them.
“Know where you’re headed in life,” she said. “There is grace under Christ. Hold on to your faith and your boundaries. … Your role models need to be teachers, principals, and people like us who have been there and can tell you it’s worth it to wait. … Your spouse should share your morals and goals in life.”
Think about your future when you make important decisions, he said. “You have to set a goal of what you want to look like in 10 years and work to meet that goal. You can’t let other things distract you. You have to be bold and strong in your stance. … Everybody here knows that when you start drinking, you make bad decisions. … You need to have people around you that encourage you to live right.
“The Bible talks about how brief our lives really are in the whole scheme of things,” he said, “but if we think eternally, how Christ wants us to think, sharing our witness and our faith with other people, how important our lives can be. … The Bible talks about how we can only serve one God, one master.”
Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein also thanked the teenage peer mentors for their volunteer service to younger students.
“I want to thank you personally for your [Christian] witness,” Archbishop Buechlein said. “I want to tell you that I’m proud of you, and your commitment to the virtues of purity and chastity. That’s a marvelous gift to our local Church. I want to encourage you to support each other as peers, and surround yourself with like-minded people. We’re thankful for what you’ve done for our local Church. You’re very important. I pray for all of you.”
Chastity peer mentors from several schools also addressed the teenagers.
“I think it’s too easy for younger kids to be bombarded with media influences that tell them that having sex before marriage is the norm, and drinking or doing drugs is a part of ‘living up your high school experience,’ ” Roncalli High School senior Lauren Ezell of Indianapolis explained. “As mentors, we are literally a physical, in the now, example of how you can abstain from these things and stay true to your values, and still have many friends and be well-liked and have a great high school experience.”
Bishop Chatard High School senior Cassie Bormann of Indianapolis said the A Promise to Keep program “teaches great wisdom and morals,” and she has “enjoyed telling others why it is important to remain chaste in actions, clothing and thoughts. … It is important to stay true to your values and yourself. This educational program has helped me and others to be strong when making decisions and deciding what is important in life.”
Cathedral High School senior Kristin Probst said the A Promise to Keep program “is so important and needed nowadays because of all the [bad] peer pressure we see on television, in magazines and from those among us. … It is important to remember to love and respect ourselves, others and this amazing gift [of sexuality] that God has given us.” †
