mark ward

Boilermaker Fan and supporter
Bishop Dwenger alum and supporter

[Chicago Cubs @Cubs]

This will always be family. 💙

[Marquee Sports Network @WatchMarquee]

Anthony Rizzo and your 2016 Chicago Cubs are really here 🥹

[INDYCAR on FOX @IndyCarOnFOX]

🎤 It's a time-honored tradition. Here's the story of Back Home Again in Indiana.

@JimGaffigan | #Indy500

[Catholic Quotes @CatholicQuote12]

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death. Amen

[Purdue Football @BoilerFootball]

Draft Year: 2001

Hall of Fame Year: 2026

[Cubs Zone @CubsZone]

CHICAGO CUBS BASEBALL IS BACK! 🐻

(📸: Cubs)

[Purdue Men's Basketball @BoilerBall]

Coach Keady celebrates at the Beefhouse.

[Trad West @trad_west_]

Today is St. Patrick’s Day, the Patron Saint of Ireland 🇮🇪✝️

Although alot of people will spend it drinking green beer and wearing plastic hats the Catholic Church celebrates the life of a great Saint who was instrumental to the preservation of Europe as we know it and for the conversion of the nation of Ireland.

Kidnapped at 16 by pagan pirates, St. Patrick was dragged from his noble family and forced into slavery in the freezing Irish wilderness.

For six brutal years, he suffered in total isolation.

He finally escaped, walked 200 miles to the coast, and made it back home. He was safe. He became a priest, then a Bishop.

But then he had a vision. God called him to go back to the exact same violent barbarians who enslaved him.

He went back to save their souls.

When the High King of Tara ordered that no fires be lit before his pagan festival, Patrick marched up the Hill of Slane and lit a massive Easter bonfire, openly challenging the king, the druids, and the penalty of death.

According to tradition, one of the high druids challenged Patrick to a supernatural duel to determine whose god was greater.

The druid invoked demons and even levitated before the crowd, but Patrick, filled with the power of Christ, commanded them to fall.

The wizard crashed to the ground and died.

Witnessing this, the king was shaken.

Convinced of God’s power, he allowed Patrick to continue preaching. Over the next 30 years, Patrick baptized thousands, converted chieftains, and used the shamrock to explain the mystery of the Trinity.

Through him, Ireland was set on the path to becoming one of the most Christian lands in Europe.

He drove literal snakes out of Ireland. He drove out demons, paganism, and human sacrifice, conquering an entire nation for Christ.

Enjoy your pint today, but remember you are celebrating a spiritual warrior, a Bishop of Holy Mother Church, a Saint who is in Heaven right now looking down on you, praying for you, praying for the Church.

His life and total devotion and faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ should be an example for all of us to follow.

Saint Patrick, pray for us! Christ is King.

[Fr. Goyo @FrGoyo]

I had a difficult day. Very difficult and at the end of the day I always go to the same prayer of my favorite saint.

“Let nothing disturb you, 
Let nothing frighten you, 
All things are passing away: 
God never changes. 
Patience obtains all things
Whoever has God lacks nothing; 
God alone suffices.”

And nothing else matters except God.

If you are in a difficult situation, I invite to recite this prayer of St. Teresa of Avila.

[Purdue Men's Basketball @BoilerBall]

Boiler Nation showed out again.

[Mike Netter @nettermike]

“A Chicago teen kept breaking into the X-Sport Fitness Center and using its equipment. Management warned him they were going to turn him in but he kept finding ways to get into the place...

Police were finally called in to deal with it.

Officer Mario Valenti learned that the 15-year-old previously had a membership to the facility, but his Mother could no longer afford to pay for it.

All he wanted to do was play basketball there.

But instead of charging the youngster with breaking and entering, the officer handed over $150 of his own money to buy the boy a membership that would last about four months.

When the owner of the fitness center contacted his corporate office about what happened, officials there were so touched by the officer’s kindness, that they extended the youngster’s membership for two years.

As Officer Valenti said:

“At the end of the day, it’s not about gratitude. Most of us took this job to help people, not to hurt them.

The job can be negative. For the most part, the job is dealing with good people having a very bad day, so you’re not seeing the best side of people….

​I’d rather have him playing ball than being on the street and possibly getting into trouble.”

[🎼🌺Music Love♥️ @ThoNg676733]

POV: you’re a real one, climbing over the boards to grab a flower crown so your competitor can look just as cute 🌸✨

[EWTN News @EWTNews]

The local bishop of the University of Notre Dame led an on-campus prayer service Feb. 24, praying for the university’s faithfulness to its Catholic mission amid ongoing controversy over the appointment of a pro-abortion professor to a leadership position.

Bishop Kevin Rhoades of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, prayed the rosary with a crowd of about 50 who gathered at the Catholic university’s iconic Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in freezing temperatures in the early evening. Participants included students, priests of the Congregation of Holy Cross, and members of the local South Bend community.

During the rosary, Rhoades knelt before the Marian grotto alongside student organizers Luke Woodyard and Gabriel Ortner, while the crowd huddled close behind.

“I am very proud of you,” Rhoades told gathered students at the conclusion of the rosary. “It’s so cold, and you’ve come out. So keep up the good work.”

The prayer service was held nearly two weeks after Rhoades issued a forceful rebuke of Notre Dame for appointing Susan Ostermann to head the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies. Ostermann, a faculty member at Notre Dame, has a lengthy track record of actively advocating for abortion.

In his Feb. 11 letter, Rhoades expressed his “dismay and strong opposition” to the appointment, stating that Ostermann’s abortion advocacy should disqualify her from leading an institute charged with promoting “integral human development” in Asia.

“I call upon the leadership of Notre Dame to rectify this situation,” the bishop wrote, noting that the appointment does not go into effect until July 1. “There is still time to make things right.”

The Ostermann appointment was not explicitly mentioned by Rhoades at the prayer service. In a statement to the National Catholic Register, the sister news partner of EWTN News, he shared his gratitude for “Notre Dame’s pro-life witness reflected in the students and faculty who work to foster a culture of life through their organizations, programs, and daily example.”

“I entrust the Notre Dame community and its leaders to the intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes. I invite all the faithful to join in prayer — perhaps by lighting a candle at the Grotto — asking our Blessed Mother to intercede for Notre Dame and its proclamation and service of the Gospel of her Son, the gospel of life,” Rhoades said.

Sabrina Richter, a freshman at Notre Dame, said she came to the prayer service because “the Catholic character of Notre Dame is worth preserving and worth fighting for.”

“If we let one thing slip, another thing might slip,” she said, referring to the Ostermann appointment.

Ostermann, whose appointment was announced in January, has authored 11 articles advocating for abortion access, calling it “freedom-enhancing” and “consistent with integral human development that emphasizes social justice and human dignity.” She has also argued that the pro-life movement was founded in “white supremacy and racism” and has called pregnancy resource centers “anti-abortion propaganda sites.”

Since the appointment was announced in January, the university has faced backlash from Catholics across the country. Eighteen bishops have publicly backed Rhoades’ opposition to the appointment, according to the Sycamore Trust, a Notre Dame alumni group that has tracked the controversy. The list includes Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City — the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops — as well as two bishops with degrees from Notre Dame: Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, and Bishop Michael Sis of San Angelo, Texas.

Despite pushback from alumni, faculty members, media, and bishops, as well as the resignation of two faculty fellows from their roles at the Liu Institute, the university has continued to defend the appointment.

“[Ostermann] has stated clearly that she respects the university’s position on the sanctity of life and that as director, she understands her role is to support the diverse research of the institute’s scholars and students, not advance a personal agenda,” a university spokesperson told The Observer, Notre Dame’s student newspaper, on Feb. 24.

Notre Dame students, however, are not giving up. A student-organized “March on the Dome” will take place on Friday to protest what organizers call “the demolition of our Catholic identity.” It will include student speeches and a candlelight procession to the grotto.

Woodyard, a sophomore who co-organized both events, said the prayer service with Rhoades set the correct tone for Friday’s march.

“We’re not trying to knock Notre Dame down,” he said. “We’re trying to say, ‘Hey, we love you, and we just want what’s best for you.’ And this is actually what students think … we want Notre Dame to be Catholic, and we want to preserve its Catholic identity in a real sense.”

https://t.co/HPLiX149Hd

[DerekJordanCBB @PurdueBballGuy]

I made a tribute edit to Purdue legend Rondale Moore! If anyone I know if ever struggling, needs someone to talk to, please let me know or talk to someone you love and trust. There’s always hope, there’s always something to live for. We all need to love one another more, and hate less. RIP to the most electric football player I’ve ever seen at Purdue. Gone too soon. Boiler up! @Paintspainter

[Purdue Men's Basketball @BoilerBall]

Big-time effort in a hostile atmosphere.

🎬: The Nebraska Movie

[MLFootball @MLFootball]

🚨🚨CONGRATULATIONS🚨🚨

#SAINTS ICON DREW BREES WAS ELECTED AS A FIRST-BALLOT PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAMER.

• 13x Pro Bowler
• Super Bowl champion
• Super Bowl MVP
• 2x NFL offensive player of the year
• 6x completion percentage leader
• 7x passing yards leader
• 67.7 completion percentage, highest in NFL history
• 4x passing yards leader
• 80,358 passing yards, 2ND ALL TIME
• Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year (2006)
• NFL Comeback Player of the Year (2004)
• 5x All-Pro
• Art Rooney Award (2018)
• NFLPA Alan Page Community Award (2012)
• Bart Starr Award (2011)
• AP Athlete of the Year (2010)
• SI Sportsperson of the Year (2010)
• Bert Bell Award (2009)
• Highest completion percentage in a season: 74.4% (2018)
• Highest completion percentage in a game: 96.7%
• Most passing touchdowns in a game: 7 • Most consecutive games with a touchdown pass: 54
• Most career 5,000 yards seasons: 5

NFL records:
Most passing touchdowns, single game Best pass completion percentage, single season (74.4% in 2018)
Most 5,000 yard seasons: 5
Most consecutive games with a touchdown pass: 54

Saints franchise records.
Passing yards, career (68,010)
Passing yards, single game (510)
Passing touchdowns, career (491)
Pass completions, career (6,017)
Pass completions, single game (39) – Brees accomplished the 39 completions in four total games Pass attempts, career (8,742)
Pass attempts, single game (60)
Passing yards, single season (5,476) (2011)
Passing touchdowns, single season (46) (2011)
Pass completions, single season (471) (2016)
Pass attempts, single season (673) (2016) Longest pass-play, (98 yards) (2016) Completion percentage, single season (74.4%)
Completion percentage, career (67.7%)

CONGRATULATIONS TO ONE OF THE GREATEST EVER ON AND OFF THE FIELD, @drewbrees!

[Walter Jordan @Walt_Jordan]

#TESTIMONIAL #12 - Special Tribute to Matt Painter

Integrity. Principles. Values. Ethics. Leadership. @CoachPainter

As a Purdue University Hall of Fame former player, I could not think of another coach I would want leading our program!
*Book Available - https://t.co/Ykc9bs6Ml5

[Purdue Football @BoilerFootball]

A Hall of Fame-worthy career.

@drewbrees will be the fifth Boilermaker enshrined in the @ProFootballHOF 🚂⬆️

[Purdue Football @BoilerFootball]

No one more deserving 🥹