CYO honorees make sports and faith a winning combination
Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin poses for a photo with the 2015 recipients of the St. John Bosco Award, the highest honor of the archdiocese’s Catholic Youth Organization. The recipients in the front row are Marni Fey, left, and Amy Stimpson. The recipients in the back row are Ken Troy, left, John Kistner and Steve Battiato. The recipients received their awards on May 6 in the SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis. (Submitted photo)
By John Shaughnessy
If one defining moment can capture a person’s approach to life, Steve Battiato may have provided his by what he did after he learned that he would receive the highest honor of the archdiocese’s Catholic Youth Organization (CYO).
The coach and member of St. Barnabas Parish in Indianapolis wrote a 2 1/2 page e-mail saluting many of the people who have influenced his 49 years of life, beginning with his single mother who worked three jobs and kept a loving home for her nine children.
By the end of the e-mail, Battiato had listed 44 people by name. Then he sent the e-mail to those influential people in his life who are still alive. And for those who aren’t, he sent the e-mail to their families.
The father of three grown children began his e-mail by writing, “On May 6, the CYO is honoring me with the St. John Bosco Award. Why me? I haven’t done anything extraordinary. I have done what I thought was expected of me as a son, a parent, a Catholic, a member of the community.”
Here’s what Battiato has done for nearly 20 years as a CYO coach.
“Every team he has ever coached has volunteered at places like Anna’s House and other organizations,” says Ed Tinder, the CYO’s executive director. “Every team is expected to attend Mass as a group to provide witness and example to other teams. He uses sports to teach how our faith is a part of every aspect of our lives. He has been a Scout leader for almost 30 years. He is very involved in giving of his time to benefit the youth ministry program at St. Barnabas.”
Tinder also noted how Battiato and his daughter Laura started a kickball program at an inner-city parish where the girls had never played that CYO sport.
“Now they are having the time of their lives, creating lifelong friendships and memories because of this caring individual,” Tinder says. “He is the very best of the best of the CYO volunteers.”
Tinder uses that same description for the other winners of the 2015 St. John Bosco Award. (See all the winners here). Here are their stories:
Marni Fey
The two letters of congratulations arrived on consecutive days this spring at the home of Steve and Marni Fey, surprising both recipients.
On the first day, Steve received a letter from the CYO, congratulating him on being chosen for the Monsignor Albert Busald Award, the initial award the CYO presents to adult volunteers for making a difference to young people. Marni was so excited for Steve that she immediately shared the news with their four children.
The next day, Marni received her surprise letter from the CYO, congratulating her on being selected for the St. John Bosco Award, the CYO’s highest honor.
“She one-upped me!” Steve recalls with a laugh, before turning serious. “Her award is well-deserved. She’s a very humble person, and she doesn’t want the limelight. It’s always about the kids.”
That approach has earned Marni the prestigious honor, Tinder says.
“She has a presence and a demeanor that enables her to make a positive difference,” he says. “She does not look at volunteering as a call of duty. She views it as her calling. She believes her service is her opportunity to pass on the traditions and values of her Catholic faith.”
Sharing the faith has always been her first goal in helping with youth ministry at St. Jude Parish in Indianapolis, and in coaching kickball, basketball and volleyball there.
“My faith is the crux of my life and of our family,” says Marni, who won the Busald Award in 2009. “We’re here because of our Catholic values. I try to build on the foundation that the kids get in their families and their schools.”
Receiving the St. John Bosco Award is becoming a tradition in her family. Her father, Bob Kirkhoff, and her brother, Jeff Kirkhoff, have also received the honor.
“We’ve always been a CYO family,” she says. “We’ve had so many wonderful experiences, and I’m indebted to so many people.”
Amy Stimpson
It was a moment of pure joy that still brings a smile to Amy Stimpson, a moment of pure joy that can only be truly appreciated by people who have experienced the wonder that is CYO kickball.
“I was coaching the eighth-grade girls,” Stimpson recalls. “It was the final game of the season. We were down, and one of our girls kicked a home run in the last inning to win the game on her birthday. And we all ate cupcakes after the game that one of the moms made.”
Stimpson’s volunteer efforts at St. Matthew the Apostle Parish in Indianapolis have not only provided her with moments of joy, they have also helped her through a time of unbearable loss. For years, she and her husband Bob had made volunteering a major part of their lives at St. Matthew, with Bob serving as athletic director.
“When her husband, who was a Busald winner with her, suddenly passed away [in 2007], she was expected to take a little time for herself and her children,” Tinder says about Stimpson.
“Yet after a few days, she was right back at it with all of her volunteering. When asked why she jumped back into it so quickly, she said for three reasons. First, she needed to be herself, and that volunteering for the Church and youth was such a huge part of who she is. Second, she said that so many people were depending on her. And third, she said that it was her faith that carried her through tough times.”
Stimpson says, “The only place I thrived during that first year was at St. Matthew’s.”
During her 30 years at the parish, Stimpson has lived her faith as a volunteer in coaching, feeding the hungry, chaperoning mission trips, coordinating women’s retreats, leading the parish’s stewardship commission, teaching religious education to children, and serving as a confirmation leader for youths.
“The 3-year-olds in religious ed keep my faith child-like,” says the mother of four. “And I like to see the older kids who are making their confirmation honestly question their commitment—and how they come to answer those questions. Everything I do makes me feel like I’m making a difference. It really feeds me.”
Ken Troy
When Ken Troy learned the news that he would receive the St. John Bosco Award, he immediately thought of the man he has always tried to emulate in faith, life and sports—his father.
“I wouldn’t have had the passion for coaching in CYO if I didn’t have his leadership and his leading by example to follow,” says Ken, whose father Jim Troy died in February at 76.
“He was always coaching me. Even to his last day, he’d give me advice about how to motivate kids, how to be a role model, how to bring out the best in people. He was always positive and encouraging. I saw friendships being made and kids gaining confidence. I wanted to be part of something positive like that.”
Ken has succeeded in his own right, according to Father Kevin Hines, pastor of St. Maria Gorettti Parish in Westfield, Ind., in the Lafayette Diocese. In nominating Ken for the St. John Bosco Award, Father Hines wrote, “I have seen many examples of his coaching as a ministry, his dedication to his boys and their parents, and I have long been impressed by his Christian character, diligence and work ethic.”
Ken has made his primary impact in 28 years of leading the wrestling programs at St. Maria Goretti and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Carmel, Ind., also in the Lafayette Diocese.
“If you ask people, they’ll tell you I’m one of the most competitive people they know,” says Ken, a father of three who praises his wife Kristie for her efforts in the wrestling program. “I love to win. But I also look at it as a ministry.
“I always stress to the kids what their priorities should be. God is number one, absolutely. Make sure you’re attending church. Family is number two. Treat your parents with respect. Thank them for driving you to practice. School is next, and wrestling is fourth.”
A wrestler as a youth, Ken says his longtime involvement in CYO is a way of saying thanks: “I wanted to give back to something that was so important to me.”
John Kistner
In his coaching days, John Kistner always worked to instill a fundamental approach to the players on his high school CYO teams.
“Play with intensity, but play with Christian values,” Kistner says. “I developed some kids that I still see occasionally, and they are good Christian men. It’s always good to see them.”
At 76, Kistner still stays involved in CYO sports at St. Christopher Parish in Indianapolis by serving as the gym manager during the basketball and volleyball seasons.
“He schedules all practices for the boys’ and girls’ teams, maintains the concession stand, and more often than not runs the concession stand,” Tinder says. “When he is not behind the counter, he can be seen running the game clock at games. When the final buzzer sounds, he is the last one out of the gym because he cleans it after every day’s activities.”
A father of two grown children, Kistner has also served on the parish finance committee for 23 years and leads the accounting process for Mass collections.
“He’s been such a fixture for many years at St. Christopher,” says Father Paul Shikany, the parish’s pastor. “He’s very engaged with the kids, and he has a good rapport with the coaches. He’s well respected and humble.”
Kistner showed that humility when he learned he was nominated for the St. John Bosco Award by his longtime friend, Fred Fath, a previous recipient of the honor.
“He got together with Father Paul on it,” Kistner says. “I really didn’t want them to do it. For me, this has been a great parish that has a lot of great camaraderie. I just feel obligated to help when I can. Plus, I enjoy the kids.” †
