Flying Fathers to take flight
Legendary team of hockey-playing priests being revived for a charity game in Ennis more on Jan.29
A local priest is resurrecting the Flying Fathers hockey team.
Formed in 1963, the Flying Fathers were a team of Roman Catholic priests who toured Canada for 45 years raising funds for charity. They were founded by two northern Ontario priests, Les Costello and Brian McKee.
Costello played for the Toronto Maple Leaf sin the 1940s, winning a Stanley Cup in 1948, before his ordination. They played more than 900 games and raised more than $4 million before playing their last game in March 2008.
Father John Perdue, director of vocations for the Diocese of Peterborough, grew up playing rep hockey for the Douro Dukes where he won a couple of OMHA championships. He continued to play throughout his seminary studies and priest hood. He knew of the Flying Fathers growing up and hoped to play for them only to find out they no longer existed.
While at St. Augustine Seminary in Scarborough, he brought seminarians to Peterborough to play hockey against local youth. Interest in the games grew to the point where they created a tournament called the Father Costello Classic. Six teams participated in last year’s event at the Peterborough Memorial Centre.
The next tournament is Jan. 27 in Warsaw featuring St. Augustine’ s Seminary, St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary School from Lindsay, St. Joseph’s Parish Douro, St. Paul’s Parish Lakefield, Our Lady of the Wayside Catholic School in Peterborough and St. Therese Parish from Courtice.
In 2014, Perdue met Frank Quinn at St. Peter’s in Chains Cathedral. Quinn, are tired
OPP officer, played or managed the Flying Fathers for 40 years. Father Costello was Quinn’s parish priest in Timmins and recruited him to help manage the team’s affair. When they were short priests to play, Quinn suited up. Quinn, who moved to Peterborough in 1978, still holds the copyright for the Flying Fathers’ name. Quinn invited Perdue for dinner and regaled him with stories of Costello and the Flying Fathers.
As the Father Costello Classic grew, Perdue said talk started this year about creating a team of priests. “I said if we’ re going to get a team of priests together it would have to be called the Flying Fathers,” said Perdue, 32. With Quinn’ s blessing the Flying Fathers will return to action Jan. 29 at 6 p.m. at the Robert E. Young Recreation Complex in Ennismore. They will play the winner of the Father Costello Classic in a fundraiser for the Vocations Office of the Diocese of Peterborough. Perdue said the vocations office is “A charity that seeks to help young people discover their purpose, their vocation, through retreats and special events.”
The new Flying Fathers will be comprised of 12 priests from dioceses of Peterborough, St. Catharines, Hamilton, Toronto, Kingston and Ottawa.
While all the players will be new to the Flying Fathers, Perdue said they’ll bring back all the fun associated with the originals.
“We’ d like it to have a joyful spirit. We’ re going to work in some of the antics the Flying Fathers were known for. It’s family friendly. Frank and I have both been emphasizing the beauty of having an event where a grandfather and a grandson can sit together and both crack up at the same bit.”
Tickets are $15 for adults and children under 12 are admitted free.
“The arena seats 650 people and we’re hoping for a sellout crowd,” Perdue said.
Tickets can be purchased by visiting the vocations office at 820 Frank St. (next to St. Alphonsus Church) on Tuesdays or Thurs days or online atwww. pt bo vocations. ca/hockey.
If anyone is interested in sponsoring a family to attend or help cover a priest’s travel costs, donations are welcome, said Perdue.