Welcome Coach Dan Duddy

In the Guidance Department:

Coach Duddy will serve as a student mentor and will be providing assistance in the following areas:

leadership/academic/career programs and NCAA eligibility.

As the Pastoral Minister for Athletics:

Dear Griffins-

We begin the 2011-2012 school year with exciting news that advances our mission as a Catholic School. Joining our community is Dan Duddy who has been hired as Pastoral Minister for Athletics. Dan is no stranger to our Griffin Community; he has served as head football coach for several years and is a member of St. Joseph Parish. He comes from a family of strong Catholic values. His faith was cultivated in a family. Blessed John Paul II called the family the domestic Church where faith was passed on, practiced and lived out daily. Blessed John Paul II said, “Marriage is an act of will that signifies and involves a mutual gift, which unites the spouses and binds them to their eventual souls, with whom they make up a sole family - a domestic church.” Dan and his wife Maura have passed the faith to their children and, through the Virtue program, Dan successfully integrated Catholic faith and values into the football program. This has garnered him local and national attention. This past year he received a national award in Chicago for his efforts. He has been invited to speak across the nation on faith, values and athletics.

Blessed John Paul II said, “Jesus Christ is the answer to every human question”. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is at home in every culture and environment including athletics. In recent years there have been greater efforts in the Catholic community to bring Gospel into athletics.

The Second Vatican Council taught in the document Gaudium et Spes, “Christ fully reveals man to himself and brings to light his most high calling.” With this same sense of joy and hope, Dan will endeavor to expand the virtue program beyond football and into every athletic endeavor of this Catholic school.

Our Mission states we educate our students to “live their faith”, that faith is to be lived out in every aspect of our school culture including athletics. Dan adds another dimension to our commitment to building an atmosphere of faith. He will work alongside our Campus Minster and Priest Chaplain to further advance our Mission as a Catholic school. Jesus commands us, “Go Teach”.

I pray Dan will echo these words of Blessed John Paul II spoken to young people, "Ask yourselves, young people, about the love of Christ. Acknowledge His voice resounding in the temple of your heart. Return His bright and penetrating glance which opens the paths of your life to the horizons of the Church’s mission. It is a taxing mission, today more than ever, to teach men the truth about themselves, about their end, their destiny, and to show faithful souls the unspeakable riches of the love of Christ. Do not be afraid of the radicalness of His demands, because Jesus, who loved us first, is prepared to give Himself to you, as well as asking of you. If He asks much of you, it is because He knows you can give much."
— Pope John Paul II (The Meaning of Vocation)

In His Peace – Fr. John Bambrick, Director