It’s a new basketball rivalry, but organizers are billing it as a millennia- old contest: “Catholics vs. Jews.”
A Boulder rabbi and priest have organized the first basketball game pitting Catholic students at the University of Colorado against their Jewish schoolmates.
It’s slated for Sunday — Palm Sunday for Catholics and not long before Passover begins Monday at sundown.
The game’s purpose, organizers said, is to involve students with their faith families, whatever the venue.
“We do a lot of events, and of all the student events we do, I’ve never gotten so much attention from alumni and parents,” said Rabbi Yisroel Wilhelm, the Orthodox Jewish director of the Chabad at CU.
The Rev. David Nix, parochial vicar of the St. Thomas Aquinas Spiritual Center, is the Catholic counterpart in this matchup.
Nix said he and Wilhelm were only half joking about colliding on court, but their students were so thrilled by the idea, they started to take it seriously.
“We were surprised by the joy, even the laughter,” Nix said. “It brought people every time we mentioned it.”
Wilhelm said he paused when creating fliers that read “Catholics vs. Jews” but went ahead. It’s good to be alive in a time when this can be a friendly competition, he said. “We hope the game will be good-natured throughout.”
The event’s genesis goes back to when the Chabad was moving into a building near the Catholics’ campus center almost a year ago.
Wilhelm made an effort to get to know his neighbors. He said St. Thomas’ pastor, the Rev. Kevin Augustyn, suggested a get-acquainted game of hoops.
It stuck in Wilhelm’s mind, and many months later he and Nix acted on it.
A team captain has been recruiting from the estimated 2,000 Jewish students on campus. About 800 students are active in the Chabad, which Wilhelm started in 2005.
The Jews’ team captain held tryouts and many practices over the past month. “We made it clear from the beginning we wanted it to be a good team,” Wilhelm said.
Nix said he has been trying to scout the other team — without success.
He acknowledges that Catholics have been taking strategems from the Jewish playbook of life — the Tanakh, or Written Torah — for millennia. Christians call it the Old Testament.
“Yes, it’s a matter of outreach to bring people to Mass and Shabbat,” Nix said. “It’s an ecumenical game of fraternal charity, but we must win.”
CU’s Catholic student population — the pool of potential players — is estimated between 3,000 and 7,000, Nix said.
Nix said he hopes Wilhelm isn’t already coming up with a handicap.
Both teams will be uniformed in blue and white, but some T-shirts will have crosses and others Stars of David.
T-shirts and Kosher hot dogs will be available for purchase. “Jewish events don’t take place without food,” Wilhelm joked.
Electa Draper: 303-954-1276 or edraper@denverpost.com
“Catholics vs. Jews,” a hoops showdown
The event will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday in the gym at Boulder High School, 1604 Arapahoe Ave. Admission is free.
