Every day, priests are spiritual fathers — praying and preaching, encouraging and listening.
Most of the time, their spiritual fatherhood goes unseen, in private conversations and personal moments.
But every now and then, we get a rare chance to see it in action.
That’s what happened on Christmas Eve, when Fernando Mendoza, Indiana University's first-ever Heisman Trophy winner, brought the prize back to the priests at the school's parish.
The photo went viral — why?
Yes, you don’t usually see a Heisman with the college chaplains.
But there’s something deeper there. The photo is a powerful witness to the hidden work priests do every day — work usually known only to God.
Aleteia spoke with Fr. Patrick Hyde, OP, about the experience of spiritual fatherhood he’s had walking alongside Mendoza and countless other students at Indiana University — and why that photo has such an impact. Fr. Hyde said:
My model of priestly fatherhood is to try to emulate my own dad, the great father I've been blessed with. Sometimes that fatherhood and those relationships are on clear display for everyone to see. We walk with people in their lives. We love them. We also get to share, in some way, in their successes.
But there are so many instances where that accompaniment, where that paternal care, is known only to that sick person in the hospital bed, or that student or young person in the confessional, or who comes to seek advice.
The beauty of that life of accompaniment is that it can take us anywhere. And there's something so ordinary yet beautiful and natural in sharing in someone's glory whom we accompany.
At a time when many young people are curious about religion, the viral Heisman photo reveals something most people don’t often get to see.
That photo showed the world what spiritual fatherhood looks like. Fr. Hyde said:
The picture of us priests with Fernando Mendoza and the trophy went viral, and it’s an illustration of that reciprocity between a priest and his people.
We love them, we offer them the sacraments, we pray for them, we try to inspire them to lives of holiness and encourage them to get up when they struggle and fall. And they provide us glimpses and participation in their joys and their successes.
Other priests have told Fr. Hyde how they appreciate that the world is seeing his priestly ministry live. He wrote on his X account:
A brother priest pulled me aside at the Seek Conference: “That photo with Mendoza was a great witness to the importance of sharing our lives with our people. We pour into them & meet them where they are. They share their lives with us. We don’t know what we will encounter, but we go together in faith. And now, we can say, walking together with someone may eventually include the Heisman Trophy.”
Pope Francis wrote that priests should be “shepherds with the smell of the sheep,” that is, radically present to their communities, their flocks. That photo shows what this can look like. No wonder we can’t look away.
We have to wonder: What good things will come from this witness of spiritual fatherhood and friendship?
Already, the photo received some interesting responses. One commentator, John Rich of Barstool Sports, wrote this on X:
Fernando Mendoza is making me think I should give Christianity a shot.
His comment put us in mind of G.K. Chesterton’s famous words:
The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.
If you're curious about Christianity, why not give it a try?
We’d love to say to Rich, and all the curious fans wondering about the photo, “Jump on in, friends; the water’s fine.”
