c. 2008 Religion News Service

HANOVER TOWNSHIP, N.J. _ It is a weekly ordeal at the Rev. Donald Mossa’s church.

The moment the youth choir sings its last note, a swarm of parents descends to rush their kids to soccer games. Or they call to say they’re skipping Sunday services because of a tournament.

“The anxiety of `Do I go to church or do I take my kid to the soccer game?’ is a weekly ordeal,” said Mossa, a pastor at the Presbyterian Church of Whippany. “It’s letting the team down versus letting God down.”

Mossa is part of a group of pastors from eight local churches that is asking township officials to ban sports games on Sunday mornings.

The group, called the Hanover Township Interreligious Council, approached the township committee last month for help in “restoring sacredness to the Sabbath.” The holy day, the group contends, is crucial during a time when divorce rates and substance abuse appear to be on the rise.

The group represents all the churches in town and spans five denominations, serving more than 5,000 parishioners. This week, the pastors also planned to e-mail 63 churches in nearby counties to ask for their support.

The conflict between religion and sports is a long-fought battle that gained the spotlight in the late 1990s when Pope John Paul II urged Catholics to “swim upstream” and keep their Sundays “sanctified” from other activities. New York’s late Cardinal John O’Connor also criticized Little League baseball and children’s soccer leagues for scheduling Sunday morning games.

Earlier this year, Ireland’s Roman Catholic bishops asked local communities to postpone Sunday games until the afternoon, but the Gaelic Athletic Association said ending morning plays was not feasible.

In Prospect Park, N.J., officials enforced a ban on Sunday work and play activities for nearly a century until the early 1990s, when the American Civil Liberties Union filed a suit alleging that the law was unconstitutional because it violated the separation of church and state.

Still other churches have tried to accommodate busy Sunday schedules by adding weekday and summer services for families.

In Hanover, township officials praised the pastors for their proposal but questioned its feasibility.

Mayor Ron Francioli said he agreed with the idea of more family time, but felt that banning Sunday sports would place Hanover kids at a disadvantage against outside teams unless other municipalities also enforced a ban.

A more realistic approach, he said, might be to enforce a half-day rule on Sunday. Games could begin at 12:30 p.m., for instance, giving families time to attend church in the morning.

Recreation director and committee member Judy Iradi also said that with more than 600 kids participating in recreational sports, a Sunday ban could create a field shortage. The township currently has 18 playing fields, according to the recreation department.

“It should be pursued, but in reality it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to achieve,” she said of the proposed ban.

However, some township residents are already supporting the ban. Karen Melvin, whose 9-year-old son, Stephen, plays baseball, says they miss between three and four church services every season because of game conflicts.

On those Sundays, choosing between church and the game can be agonizing, she says.

“In those cases where we went to the game, you feel guilty,” said Melvin, 51. “But he’s my one and only, and he lives for baseball.”

Mossa, the pastor, plays on the Whippany fire department softball team and said even if banning Sunday sports does not bring back churchgoers, he hopes families can at least spend a quiet day together.

“We’re not against sports. We’re really in favor of trying to provide a time of rest for this culture,” he said. “How are you going to bring families back together?”

(Leslie Kwoh is a staff writer for The Star-Ledger of Newark.)

KRE/JM END KWOH