Fr. Nate Wills C.S.C. has served as the football chaplain for eight seasons. In his new book, “Pray Like a Champion Today: Sacred Stories from the Sidelines of Notre Dame Football,” he details his experience with the team and how it has shaped his faith.
Initially, Wills was surprised when Fr. Pete McCormick, C.S.C asked him to serve as the team's chaplain. “I said, ‘First of all, I'm honored.’ And, second, I said, ‘I don't know that much about football,’” Wills said.
McCormick assuaged Wills’ concerns. "[McCormick] said, ‘Nate, we pay a lot of people a lot of money to know everything there is to know about football. We don't need you to call plays. We just need you to point them to Jesus,’” Wills said.
Wills has received media attention for his work with a team, including an interview with ESPN Game Day in 2023. In the interview, Wills discussed prayer medals — small silver tokens with images of saints that players receive at team Mass before kickoff.
“[Prayer medals] are a more than 100-year tradition at Notre Dame, but it was really fun to be able to share that with people outside of Notre Dame. To say, you know, here are the good things that are happening at Notre Dame and to show them that there are all these paths to holiness,” Wills said.
While maintaining the longtime tradition, Wills has made a few tweaks to broaden the reach and representation of the saints featured on the medals.
“I thought it might be nice to get some more modern saints in there. For one of our bowl games, I ordered St. Josephine Bakhita, who is a great African saint, to try to just increase some diversity there,” Wills said.
He also started an Instagram page in 2020, @PrayLikeAChampionToday, where he shares the saint of the week by posting a picture of a player with the medal. “[It is] not just about the saint, but to have one of the players hold the medal as well, and to kind of honor them,” Wills said.
The title of the book was inspired by the Instagram page. "I suggested the title ‘Pray Like a Champion Today, Sacred Stories from the Sidelines of Notre Dame Football,’ and [the publisher] said, ‘Look, we never take the titles that the writers give us, but we actually like this one,’” Wills said.
On the football team, Wills interacts with people from a variety of faith backgrounds. In navigating denominational differences, he said he likes to lead by listening. As well as diversifying the saints represented in prayer medals, he shared that he added some who are more scripture-based, as those often resonate more with Protestant teammates.
Additionally, Wills aims to be an open resource for players to ask questions about the Catholic faith.
“I also really enjoy talking about the Mass and why we do what we do in the Mass. Sometimes, I will point out when there is a particular saint that resonates in the space where we are … often the Basilica is just a beautiful encyclopedia of our faith and the saints,” Wills said.
Due to his role as chaplain, Wills sits at a unique position to see the role of the church and the University intersecting through sports.
“I think Notre Dame has a really great opportunity to witness to the world how many different parts of our lives can be integrated in a really beautiful way that we are complete people that bring everything who we are to the world,” Wills said. “So our student athletes are not just athletes, they are student athletes, and I think Notre Dame is a great example of a university that says we will not sacrifice your education because we want you to play a sport. We want to bring those things together in student athlete's lives.”
Prior to his book, Wills had writing experience from his dissertation and preparing for homilies. He described the chapters as extended homilies with a story, a biblical connection and a call to action.
Mills said that his book came together quickly between October and February, after he had been thinking about his experiences while preparing for a segment for the Alumni Association’s Sacred Stories for Advent collection.
