Diocese of Joliet director of vocations is also the Catholic chaplain for the Chicago Cubs

CREST HILL – Jesus Christ and baseball.

Those are his biggest passions, said the Rev. Burke Masters, director of vocations for the Diocese of Joliet in Crest Hill.

So when Catholic Athletes for Christ contacted Masters five years ago and asked if he’d be interested in serving as one of the chaplains for the Chicago Cubs, Masters was in.

“I always wanted to be a major league baseball player. But that didn’t materialize,” Masters said. “When I became a priest, I thought I was giving up baseball forever. But God’s plans are always greater than ours. It’s almost as if God said, ‘You can be a priest and be in the major leagues, too.’ ”

This is Masters’ fourth year with the Cubs. Masters said he often retells this story when he speaks to young people about the priesthood.

“God doesn’t take away our passions. God doesn’t take away the things we’re good at,” Masters said. “Instead, he brings out the best possible use of our gifts and talents. In my wildest dreams I never imagined it, but in God’s plan, I think he planned this all along.”

Becoming Catholic

Masters said he was raised in a non-practicing Christian family. His two older brothers had attended the former Joliet East High School, but Masters’ parents, Tod Masters and the late Janet Masters, weren’t happy with the school by the time Masters entered high school, Masters said.

Masters said his parents gave him two options: the former Catholic High School in Joliet and Providence Catholic High School in New Lenox. Masters said both had good baseball programs, but some of his friends were attending Providence, so that decided it.

“Little did I know it would change the course of my life,” Masters said.

The principal at the time was the late Rev. Roger Kaffer, who would later become the auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Joliet. Kaffer’s energy and joy, inspired Masters, and he recalled both years later when Masters was considering the priesthood.

“He [Kaffer] always said the priesthood was a great adventure,” Masters said.

At Providence, Masters received his first Bible and watched, awed, as his friends received the Eucharist at all-school Masses. Then one day, Masters received communion by accident at a retreat during his junior year, when the students were gathered around the altar, and Masters “felt the power of Christ like never before.”

“He [the priest] stood before me and said, ‘The body of Christ,’ ” Masters said. “As I opened my mouth to say, ‘I’m not Catholic,’ ” in went my first communion.”

Masters spent a year studying the faith and was baptized on May 26, 1985, in a private ceremony in Providence’s chapel, one week before his high school graduation, he said. That fall, Masters attended Mississippi State University. Questions from other students about his Catholic faith spurred Masters to study it more deeply.

During his college years, Masters occasionally attended services at other Christian churches. Despite “music that was beautiful” and “preaching that was very powerful,” none offered what Masters said he most needed; The Eucharist.

“The presence I felt when I received communion was so peaceful,” Masters said. “That’s the best way to describe it.”

But Masters still wasn’t thinking about the priesthood, he said. He was thinking about baseball.

Master said after college be briefly played in the White Sox minor league. He then worked as an actuary for a Long Grove insurance agency. Masters said he made a lot of money – and missed baseball.

He set a goal becoming a general manager of a major league baseball team. So Masters went to work in the ticket office for the Kane County Cougars.

The real home base

Then a woman Masters was dating at the time introduced him to Eucharistic adoration. Silent prayer accompanies Eucharistic adoration and Masters said he was afraid of silence.

“It’s when we encounter God and ourselves,” Masters said.

During those times, the call to the priesthood became very strong, he said. Masters discussed it with his girlfriend, who encouraged him to follow the call, he said. So, in the fall of 1997, Masters, at 30, entered Mundelein Seminary. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 1, 2002.

For four years, Masters served at St. Mary Catholic Church in West Chicago, a bilingual parish where Master quickly learned Spanish, making him now fully bilingual. In 2006, the late Joseph Imesch, former Bishop for the Diocese of Joliet, appointed Masters as director of vocations for the diocese.

As the Catholic chaplain for the Cubs, Masters goes to Wrigley Field on Sundays during the Cubs’ home games. He makes himself generally available to the players “Many of them have my cell phone in case they need to talk,” Master said – and celebrates Mass in the stadium for any members of the Cubs, visiting team and stadium personnel that wish to attend.

About 40 people generally attend, Masters said. When he began the program four years ago, just one player showed up. Masters said the day after Miguel Montero hit a grand slam, Montero attend Mass.

“That’s what striking about these Masses,” Masters said. “There’s a multimillionaire baseball player sitting next to an usher or a beer salesman at the ballpark. In that moment, I realize that, in God’s eyes, we’re not different. God doesn’t care about how much money they make. God doesn’t care about job titles. He cares about how much we love.”