Michigan's Father Ben Is No Sister Jean

I’m definitely not trying to sit here and encourage a priest and a nun to engage in a war of words leading up to an important basketball team, but you need to be aware there is a minor effort afoot by the NCAA to prop up this Father Ben as some sort of Michigan antidote to Loyola-Chicago’s Sister Jean. (Villanova has a Father Rob, who seems nice, but he’s no Sister Jean).

"… it seemed proper to dial up Father Ben Hawley, S.J. He’s from St. Mary on the campus of Michigan, and one of his parishioners is Wolverines coach John Beilein. When Beilein said the other day, “We have some prayers on our team, too,” Father Ben is one of those he had in mind."

So right away, there’s a huge difference between this guy and Sister Jean, because Sister Jean is the team chaplain, and John Beilein just happens to go to this Father Ben’s church.

But there’s another important difference.

The guy doesn’t even like basketball.

"“To tell the truth, no, not particularly. But the head coach is in my parish. So yes, I love basketball. And more to the point, I love Michigan.”"

Father Ben has nearly nothing in common with Sister Jean, and I’m nipping this in the bud right here.