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newlenoxpatriot.com LIFE & ARTS
the New Lenox Patriot | April 6, 2017 | 21
Former Cubs chaplain reflects on Provi, pro career, priesthood
Jon DePaolis
Freelance Reporter
God’s call could have
come at any time for Rev.
Burke Masters.
The 1985 Providence
Catholic graduate, who
loves baseball and had his
sights set on a Major League
Baseball career as a youngster,
had plenty of life-defining
moments growing up.
Could it have happened
when he converted to Catholicism
his senior year of high
school? Sure. How about
when after having the tournament
of his life, he went undrafted
by MLB teams? That
could have been the moment,
too. It even could have been
after a chance in the minors
fizzled, and he was working
as an actuary.
But God’s will doesn’t
have a home and away schedule,
and some things you just
have to take on faith and faith
alone. There were simply too
many things that needed to
happen — too many pitches
that needed to be thrown before
Masters was ready to
hear what was blaring from
the public address announcer.
Burke Masters wasn’t
meant to be a ballplayer; he
was meant to be a priest.
Intertwining faith and
baseball
Even from a young age,
Masters remembers he wanted
to be a Major Leaguer —
and it all started at Wrigley
Field.
“I went to a Cubs game
when I was a little boy, and
there was something about the
sounds, the smells and the atmosphere
— it was just kind
of electric,” Masters said. “I
thought to myself, ‘This is
what I’m going to do when
I grow up.’ Of course, not
knowing how difficult it was.”
Masters started playing
when he was 7. When it came
time to attend a high school,
Masters — who was not
raised in the Catholic faith as
a child — had a choice between
going to Joliet Catholic
Academy or Providence
Catholic in New Lenox.
“It was because of the
schooling and the baseball
programs,” said Masters,
who chose Providence.
There, he attended Catholic
mass for the first time and
took theology classes.
“As I started taking those
classes, I was intrigued, because
it was all new to me,”
he said. “Sister Margaret
Ann taught me freshman
theology, and she gave me
my first bible and encouraged
me to start reading one
of the gospels. I did, and as I
started to read the scriptures,
something just came alive in
me. I couldn’t get enough.”
During his junior year,
Masters went on a retreat with
some of the other students. It
was there that he received his
“first” communion.
“The priest had us gathered
around the altar, and
instead of us forming a line
for communion, he just
started going to each one
of us,”Masters recalled. “I
didn’t know what to do.
Now, we teach people that
if they just want to receive
a blessing to fold their arms
across their chest. But he
stood before me, and he said,
‘the body of Christ,’ and I
froze. I opened my mouth
to tell him I wasn’t Catholic,
but the words didn’t come
out, and so I received my
first communion.”
Comical moment aside,
Masters said it was a powerful
experience.
“I felt the power of God
go through me,” he said. “I
thought, ‘Wow, this is more
than just a piece of bread.’”
That moment — and a
whole host of others — led
Masters to decide to become
Pictured is Providence alum the Rev. Burke Masters and Chicago Cubs manager Joe
Maddon during the Cubs’ spring training. Photo Submitted
Catholic. With his parents’
blessing, when he turned
18 — and a week before he
graduated from Providence
— he was baptized, received
his “second communion”
and had the rites of confirmation
administered.
The power of baseball
compels you
After graduating from
Providence, Masters was able
to play collegiate baseball at
Mississippi State University
— the same school at which
his father played basketball.
At Providence, Masters
played second base and shortstop.
But at Mississippi State,
he played second and third.
“During my visit there,
they were playing Auburn
University, and Bo Jackson
was playing for Auburn,”
Masters said. “For Mississippi
State, they were playing
Will Clark, Rafael Palmeiro,
Bobby Thigpen and
Jeff Brantley — all future
big leaguers. It was 80 degrees
in February. I signed
on the dotted line.”
Over the course of his career,
he earned All-SEC honors,
as well as Academic All-
American Player of the Year
during his junior season.
In his senior year, Masters
played in the College World
Series in 1990.
During that regional to
qualify, Masters said he got
in the zone. In the first game
of the tournament, he went
4-for-5 against the University
of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign. Then, against
Brigham Young University,
he went 2-for-3. Against
Florida State University,
Masters went 6-for-6, and he
hit a grand slam in the last inning
to win the game. All of
those games resulted in victories
for Mississippi State,
and Masters was named the
Player of the Tournament.
On the way to Omaha, Nebraska
for the College World
Series, Masters recalls thinking
he would be drafted by
an MLB team. But he wasn’t.
“Pretty much all the other
starters on my team got
drafted except me,” Masters
recalled. “I was thinking,
‘What do I have to do?’”
Mississippi State finished
fifth in the country that season.
After finishing his time
at the school, Masters came
home to a call from a former
Providence coach who was
working for the White Sox
minor league system. There
was a need for an infielder,
and the tryout was in South
Bend, Indiana. Masters went,
had a great tryout and the next
day was given a contract.
But it was short-lived, as
the White Sox didn’t renew
his contract at the end of the
season.
“They told me I did everything
well, but nothing
great,” he said. “They were
looking for greatness.”
It was then that Masters
realized the dream was over.
Rounding first and heading
toward God
Masters eventually tried
his hand at being an actuary,
a career in which he made
good money but didn’t have
an attachment. He worked
as an actuary for 10 months,
before going back to school
to try and get into a baseball
front office.
He worked with the Kane
County Cougars in their
ticket office. After working
his way up to a ticket manager
and having conversations
with Florida Marlins
staff that had plans to hire
him for a job in Miami — as
well as a friend who worked
as a sports agent for MLB
players offering Masters a
job as a “numbers guy” —
something else happened.
“I had been dating someone,
and I had always wanted
to get married,” Masters recalled.
“She had invited me
to Eucharistic adoration at
the church. It was during that
quiet prayer that I started to
feel a call to the priesthood.”
Masters had two dream
jobs to pick from that involved
baseball … but God
was calling him.
“It truly is a calling, because
it wasn’t something I went
looking for and not something
I wanted at the time,” Masters
said. “But something in me
said, ‘This is what you were
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