New Orleans Saints’ Head Coach Sean Payton and his wife have two children. The Paytons are members of our parish, Mary, Queen of Peace (MQP) in Mandeville, LA., and the children attend Mary, Queen of Peace Catholic School.
Earlier in the year, on the Friday before the Monday Night Game (Nov. 2, 2009) in the Super Dome against the Atlanta Falcons, MQP School held a fundraiser for our Youth Director’s family. Our Youth Director and her husband have five children. The youngest, at 8-months, had been diagnosed with cancer and had been hospitalized for several months. The fundraiser was a flag football game between the students and faculty. The students had been practicing and were more organized, having their own coaching staff and having already played together in several games. The faculty was not as organized and lacked the know-how of an experienced coaching staff.
Sean Payton & The Blessed Virgin
Coach Payton, with the Saint's six-game winning streak on the line and poised to step onto the national spotlight on Monday night, spent Friday afternoon at the MQP fundraiser coaching the faculty. When the game ended, the students had prevailed and Coach Sean Payton’s MQP faculty team had lost a closely contested gridiron battle, all in the best interest in giving. Following the game, the faculty and student body at MQP gathered around Coach Payton and let him know that this was the only game he could lose all year!
Even more amazing, the second grade children at MQP have a tradition they practice regarding a statue of Mary, Mother of God. During the school year, each second grade student has the opportunity to bring this statue home from school for a week to share with their family.
Prior to leaving for Miami and Super Bowl XLIV, Sean Payton’s son, a third grade student at MQP, recalling the second grade tradition, requested permission to take the second grade students' statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary with him and his family as they traveled to the Super Bowl. As soon as he received the permission of the second grade teacher, Coach Payton’s son obtained the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God. Coach Payton placed it the Saints’ locker room at Sun Life Stadium in Miami during the game, so the Blessed Mother was with them at the Super Bowl.
I hope you enjoyed reading these two stories about the Payton family as much as I have enjoyed sharing them.
Written by Deacon Eddy Beckendorf of MQP parish with minor editing
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