Man of the Moment
Chase Michael Hilgenbrinck McDonald (born April 2, 1982 in Quincy, Illinois) is a former American soccer defender. His parents, Mike (a regional sales manager for a fertilizer dealership) and Kim (an accountant with State Farm Insurance), raised their children as Catholics. They brought him and his older brother, Blaise, to church each and every Sunday, where both sons served as altar boys at Holy Trinity Church in Bloomington, Ill. Chase made the United States Under-17 national team, before moving on to play for Clemson University, where he was a three-year starter, playing on the same defensive line as future U.S. senior national team fixture Oguchi Onyewu. After graduating in 2004, Chase was undrafted by MLS after a decent college career. Claudio Aureas, the Chilean soccer coach at nearby Southern Wesleyan University, suggested going to Chile where he thought he could help Chase get a contract. Hilgenbrinck signed with Huachipato of Chile’s top division, but was loaned out to lower division club Deportes Naval. He eventually moved on to second-division club еblense and helped them to achieve promotion to Chile’s top flight. In all, he spent four seasons in Chile, with three different clubs, and grew to become a star player. He joined Colorado Rapids in early 2008, but was waived during the pre-season without making a senior appearance after the Rapids needed to clear salary cap space for other acquisitions. Two weeks later the New England Revolution called, and after a two-day tryout, the Revolution signed him on March 28. Hilgenbrick’s last game was on a Sunday, July 13 2008, at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. Along with the New England Revolution, they faced Mexican club Santos Laguna in a SuperLiga game. In the summer of 2007, the vocation director for the Catholic Diocese of Peoria, Ill., sent him an extensive application packet. He had to write a 20-page autobiography and submit responses to a series of essay questions, in addition to a background check and fingerprinting. In December, the day after he returned to the U.S. following the end of the soccer season in Chile, he went through an entire battery of testing. He took five written exams in one day, and was evaluated by three different psychologists. Hilgenbrinck retired from soccer on July 14, 2008 to enter the Catholic Mount St. Mary’s Seminary of the Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Maryland in order to become a priest.
Interview
CHASE HILGENBRINCK – Seminarian and Former Pro Soccer Player 1. Chase, you played college soccer at Clemson University and then, achieved what many young boys (and not-so-young boys) dream of, you were a professional athlete in Chile and in Major League Soccer in the US. What obstacles have you encountered while pursuing your dream?
One of the hardest things to do is to prove your worth. I knew I was good enough to play professionally, but I had to convince coaches and front offices that I was not only good enough for their team, but that I would make their team better. Making a team in Chile was even more difficult because legally, there are only 4 spots on a roster that are open to foreign players. Instead of being one of 25 guys on a roster, I was fighting to be one of four. Playing a professional sport is much like being a Christian in that even after you are welcomed onto the “team,” you must continue to fight and prove yourself every single day.
2. During your career in college and then both preparing for and playing in professionally, what difficulties where there trying to remain true to your faith amidst your goals of a professional career and the fame and demands that comes with it?
Professional athletes have many of the same temptations in their lives that everyone else has. The only difference for a professional athlete is that everything is much more accessible and often times handed to you on a platter. One of the most difficult temptations for me was the pressure of not living up to the typical image of a professional athlete. I refer to the image of being a partier, a lady’s man, and of being free of consequences from your actions. As a Christian, I had to suppress the temptations that would put me in these categories, though many times it was unpopular and uncomfortable to do so.
3. Do (or did) you ever feel tempted to betray your faith/beliefs during your collegiate and professional career? How do (or did) you deal with such temptations?
It is said that the most dangerous time in a Christian’s life is when we feel the most comfortable. During these times, when everything seems to be going right, there is a temptation is to rely less on God. Though I have never felt tempted to abandon my faith, there were times when the demon of indifference would creep in. I always try to be attentive and recognize this false sense of self-reliance in my spiritual life in order to return my focus to the Truth.
4. Being a professional athlete does not inherently require you to be a man of faith. What role did your faith play in your career? How did you maintain your faith consistently during your career, in particular with the traveling and fame that accompany being a professional soccer player both in the US and Chile?
It is very easy to not practice your faith. In fact, more and more people everyday are taking this easy road. Throughout my soccer career, I realized that I appreciated and valued the goals that I had reached when I sacrificed most and worked the hardest. I found that this realization held true in my spiritual life as well. I love going to mass, but I took more pride in making it to mass when I was on the road in different cities. No matter where I travelled, I always found a Catholic church, looked up mass schedules, and fulfilled my obligation on the Sabbath. At times going to mass even meant being late or missing a team meal. Doing this also helped to keep me in check, proving to myself that I was willing to put God before all else.
5. As we have found out recently, professional sports puts a lot of pressure on men to find ways to “help mother nature” through performance enhancing drugs. Lionheart promotes the idea that men need to nurture their spirit, their mind, their emotions and their body (as in the scripture verse: 1 Cor. 6:19 “Or know you not, that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, who is in you, whom you have from God; and you are not your own.”). What is your advice to young men who may be tempted to use performance enhancing drugs or any drugs for that matter?
Using performance enhancing drugs or abusing any drugs or alcohol leads only to a temporary, false sense of happiness. John 4:13 says, “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never become thirsty again.” Those who want to achieve a desired result by using unnatural means are drinking out of the wrong fountain. If we drink the wrong water, our thirst will never be quenched and we will always have to come back for more. The only way to quench our thirst is to drink out of the fountain of living water that comes from Jesus alone. Only then will we be satisfied.
6. All men, at times, struggle with temptation. What do you do to confront temptation when it comes?
I can remember a time when I felt very conflicted between my faith and my actions related to peer pressure. In my time of struggle I was pointed to 1 Corinthians 10:13. This verse says that we will never be tempted beyond what we can bare, and that in our times of temptation, God will always provide a way out. When I am tempted, I pray that the Lord would provide me with that escape route towards righteousness
and He does.
7. Most people may not know that you gave up a professional soccer career in the MLS to study to be a priest. You truly are an example of giving up your life to carry Christ’s cross. Tell us about what made you decide to be a priest?
I feel that I could write a book based on my journey, but the simple version is that through personal prayer, I felt God calling me to the priesthood. I placed all my trust in this unmistakable call. After fulfilling many of my goals and dreams in athletics, I still wasn’t fulfilled. I knew that I was called to something much greater than the plans that I had made for myself. The only way that I would feel true peace and happiness was by fulfilling the plans that the Lord had prepared for me.
8. You lived and played soccer at the highest level in Chile, where I hear they take their “football” rather seriously. Tell us what that was like and how it influenced your faith or your faith influenced your time there.
One of the reasons that I went to Chile was to experience their passion for the game that I loved. It is much more intense than American football, baseball, or basketball here in the States. There is a lot at stake every time you walk on the field and the people live for their teams. That passion and dedication to the game still inspires me to attempt to practice my faith with a similar intensity.
9. Our customers are largely comprised of men in their twenties. What do you think is the biggest challenge facing young men today?
Sex. In our society we are not allowed to “impose” our religious beliefs on anyone, but sex (among other things) is thrown in our face no matter where we turn. Society has made us feel guilty and uncomfortable in standing up for our faith, especially against the misuse of sexual intimacy
it certainly isn’t a very manly thing to do. By recognizing and fighting the constant battle against sexual temptations in our lives, we will be able to become the men that God wants us to be. Faithfully living out our Christian faith is the manliest thing we can do.
10. In the section of this site called “The Lion’s Den,” one author likened manly behavior to being a superhero. How would you describe the ideal Christian man?
A super hero that is scared to death of the One that gave him his powers.
11. Now that you are studying to be a priest and have received some publicity over your decision to quit professional soccer somewhat abruptly, what is your life like? What do you have going on?
I recently completed my first semester in the seminary. Life as a seminarian is very spiritually and intellectually intense. The publicity added to my challenges, though I have received many blessings in being able to shine Christ’s light through my witness.
12. What is your favorite Lionheart shirt or hat?
I like the tough design on the Alpha and Omega shirt and the message that reads, “As it was, as it is
as it shall be.” You just can’t argue with that!
