{{short description|Hockey team made up of Canadian Roman Catholic priests}} {{Notability|1=Sports|date=May 2026}} <!-- {{Infobox hockey team | team = Flying Fathers | colour = | colour text = | logo = | logosize = | city = | league = | conference = | division = | founded = {{Start date|1963}} | operated = | folded = | arena = | colours = | owner = | GM = | coach = | captain = | affiliates = | parentclub = | farmclub = | website = {{URL|https://flyingfathershockeyclub.com/}} }}
-->The '''Flying Fathers''' are a group of Canadian Roman Catholic priests who regularly tour North America as an ice hockey team, playing exhibition games against local teams to raise money for charities. The team had the motto "praying and playing".<ref name="Given">{{cite news|url=https://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2020/02/14/flying-fathers-catholic-priest-ice-hockey|title='Praying And Playing': The Story Of The Flying Fathers|last=Given|first=Karen|publisher=WBUR|date=14 February 2020|access-date=24 March 2021|archive-date=6 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506103531/https://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2020/02/14/flying-fathers-catholic-priest-ice-hockey|url-status=live}}</ref>
==History== The organization was founded in 1963 by Brian McKee and Les Costello, two priests from Northern Ontario. Costello was a former professional hockey player, who played for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1940s, last playing 15 games during the 1948–49 season<ref name="ESPN">{{cite news|url=http://www.espn.com/classic/obit/s/2002/1210/1474994.html|title=Costello dies from injury at charity hockey game|publisher=ESPN|date=16 December 2002|access-date=30 March 2021}}</ref> before his ordination as a priest.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/former-maple-leaf-led-flying-fathers/article4140695/|title=Former Maple Leaf led Flying Fathers|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=11 December 2002|access-date=23 March 2021}}</ref>
Costello was in North Bay in 1963 when he heard stories about a boy who had lost use of one eye, with his single mother unable to cover medical costs.<ref name="Given" /><ref name="Hoegler">{{cite news|url=https://www.catholicregister.org/features/featureseries/item/26639-flying-fathers-next-generation-of-hockey-priests-ready-to-hit-the-ice|title=Flying Fathers: Next generation of hockey priests ready to hit the ice|last=Hoegler|first=Meggie|newspaper=The Catholic Register|date=10 January 2018|access-date=23 March 2021}}</ref><!-- the stories are inconsistent; some say the boy lost an eye, others that he lost some teeth --> He organized some priests to play a charity game against "guys who were in worse shape" to raise funds for the family.<ref name="Given" /> From the game's revenues, the team donated about CA$5,000 ({{inflation|index=CA|value=5000|start_year=1963|fmt=eq|}}) to the mother.<ref name="Given" />
The original team had no name, with the members eventually choosing between "Flying Fathers" and "Puckster Priests".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/article-the-flying-fathers-how-a-group-of-catholic-priests-playing-hockey/|title=The Flying Fathers: How a group of Catholic priests playing hockey – and having fun – became an international sensation|last=MacGregor|first=Roy|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=29 June 2018|access-date=24 March 2021|archive-date=27 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127202612/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/article-the-flying-fathers-how-a-group-of-catholic-priests-playing-hockey/|url-status=live}}</ref> A 1987 article in the ''Chicago Tribune'' described the team as "[trying] to do for hockey what the Harlem Globetrotters did for basketball".<ref name="Tribune">{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1987-07-17-8702220279-story.html|title= The Flying Fathers, bless 'em, are going by the boards|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|date=17 July 1987|access-date=23 March 2021}}</ref> By 1987, about 100 priests had played at least one game as a member of the team.<ref name="Tribune" />
In December 2002, Costello fell to the ice during the pre-game warmup of a Flying Fathers game after a puck got caught in his skates. He hit his head on the ice, skipped that night's game and the subsequent game, soon fell into a coma, and died six days later when his family took him off life support at St. Michael's Hospital.<ref name="ESPN" /> The team disbanded in 2009 from a lack of hockey player priests.<ref name="Hoegler" /> In the early 2010s, seminarians from St. Augustine's Seminary in Toronto organized an eight-team tournament that was soon referred to as the "Father Costello Classic".<ref name="Ehrkamp">{{cite news|url=https://grandinmedia.ca/next-generation-flying-fathers-hits-ice-mission/|title=Next generation of Flying Fathers hits the ice with a mission|last=Ehrkamp|first=Andrew|newspaper=Catholic Alberta|publisher=Grandin Media|date=7 March 2019|access-date=24 March 2021|archive-date=5 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205001729/https://grandinmedia.ca/next-generation-flying-fathers-hits-ice-mission/|url-status=live}}</ref>
The team was re-formed in February 2019 for three benefit games in Ontario and Quebec with the hopes of a more long-term revival.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/18/sports/flying-fathers-hockey.html|title=In Canada, a hockey revival|last=Rush|first=Curtis|newspaper=The New York Times|date=18 February 2019|access-date=11 April 2019|archive-date=11 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190411190705/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/18/sports/flying-fathers-hockey.html|url-status=live}}</ref> It consisted of 12 priests drawn from the dioceses of Hamilton, Kingston, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, and Toronto.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/sports/hockey/2018/01/21/father-john-macpherson-joining-the-flying-fathers-in-ennismore-on-jan-29.html|title=Father John MacPherson joining the Flying Fathers in Ennismore on Jan. 29|newspaper=Peterborough Examiner|date=21 January 2018|access-date=23 March 2021}}</ref> The re-creation of the team was ascribed to several purposes: the Canadian cultural attachment to the game; evangelizing for the Roman Catholic Church in Canada, and to provide insight into the priesthood.<ref name="Ehrkamp" />
In early 2020, the Ontario State Council of the Knights of Columbus proposed that its local councils financially support the re-creation of the team so that it could embark on charity tours within the province, and later internationally to support local charities. The funds would be used to pay for tour travel expenses, which are otherwise covered by gate receipts.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.catholicregister.org/item/31207-knights-earn-an-assist-for-flying-fathers|title=Knights earn an assist for Flying Fathers|newspaper=The Catholic Register|date=1 March 2020}}</ref>
==Charity== Originally intended as a one-off event, the Fathers became a popular phenomenon and were active until 2009. The Flying Fathers had played over 907 games, losing only 6 of these,<ref name="Ehrkamp" /> and had raised over $4 million. Their single-game fundraising record is $240,000 at a game in Toronto.<ref name="Hoegler" />
Some of the charities to which the revenues from exhibition games were donated included the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, Habitat for Humanity, and the Salvation Army.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/flying-father-hockey-star-dies-of-cancer-1.605474|title=Flying Father hockey star dies of cancer|publisher=CBC News|date=16 January 2006|access-date=23 March 2021}}</ref><ref name="Ehrkamp" /> The team has played exhibition games against local and recreational teams to raise funds for local parishes, retirement homes, hospices, and pregnancy crisis centres. It has also played high-school teams to raise funds for their schools.<ref name="Ehrkamp" />
==Games== According to Reverend Kris Schmidt, the games featuring the Flying Fathers are intended to be more "entertainment than playing a real hockey game", incorporating gags and other antics throughout the game, but the game must also exhibit the skill of the players.<ref name="Ehrkamp" /> Many of the antics common during their games were established in their first game.<ref name="Given" />
The first player to score for the opposing team would result in the Flying Fathers holding a faux ordination for that player, then counting his goal for the Flying Fathers instead of the opposing team.<ref name="Given" /> They would also have referees assess a penalty to opposing players for "acting like a Protestant".<ref name="Given" />
Backup goaltenders for the team included two horses, named Patience and Penance, who were mounted by a clown and wore goalie pads.<ref name="Given" /> One of the player priests would ask the horse "Why are we going to win?", with the horse's response to kneel as if praying.<ref name="Given" />
Every game would feature the appearance of Sister Mary Shooter, in which one of the player priests would don nun's habit and would play very aggressively, including cross-checking and slashing opposing players.<ref name="Hoegler" />
==Legacy== The team is the subject of the book '' Holy Hockey: The Story of Canada’s Flying Fathers'' written by Frank Cosentino.<ref name="Ehrkamp" />
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== *{{cite news|url=https://www.thoroldnews.com/local-news/the-return-of-the-legendary-flying-fathers-1610264|title=The return of the legendary Flying Fathers|last=Liddycoat|first=Bob|newspaper=Thorold News|date=27 July 2019|access-date=23 March 2021}} *{{cite magazine|magazine=Blue Banner|url=https://www.stmichaelscollegeschool.com/uploaded/Alumni/Blue_Banner_Archives/Blue_Banner_Fall_2008.pdf|title=Still flying high on a wing and a prayer|pages=28–29|volume=5|date=Fall 2008|publisher=St. Michael's College School|access-date=1 April 2021}} *{{cite book|title=Holy Hockey: The Story of Canada's Flying Fathers|last=Cosentino|first=Frank|publisher=Burnstown Publishing House|date=2018|isbn=978-1-77257-187-5}} *{{cite magazine|url=https://www.kofc.org/en/columbia/detail/resurrection-of-the-flying-fathers.html|title=The Resurrection of the Flying Fathers|last=Hoegler|first=Megan|magazine=Columbia|publisher=Knights of Columbus|pages=8–12|date=April 2019|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211120232813/https://www.kofc.org/en/columbia/detail/resurrection-of-the-flying-fathers.html|archive-date=20 November 2021}}<!--https://issuu.com/columbia-magazine/docs/columbiaapr19en?mode=embed -->
==External links== * [https://flyingfathershockeyclub.com/ The Flying Fathers Hockey Club] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303113303/https://flyingfathershockeyclub.com/ |date=2021-03-03 }} * [http://www3.sympatico.ca/flyingfathers/flyingfathers/home.html Flying Fathers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120210005918/http://www3.sympatico.ca/flyingfathers/flyingfathers/home.html |date=2012-02-10 }} * {{cite news | url=http://www.canoe.com/Slam021211/col_kernaghan-sun.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030312004931/http://www.canoe.com/Slam021211/col_kernaghan-sun.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=March 12, 2003 | title=Flying Father really had wings on his feet | first=Jim | last=Kernaghan | newspaper=London Free Press | access-date=2007-12-28 | date=11 December 2002 }}
Category:Ice hockey teams in Canada Category:20th-century Canadian Roman Catholic priests Category:21st-century Canadian Roman Catholic priests Category:Charity in Canada Category:Sports entertainment Category:1963 establishments in Ontario