ST. ROCH—
A special prayer goes out to the Saints from a priest who is known to wear a jersey to mass, and second line down the aisle. We're talking about Father Tony Ricard, Catholic chaplain to the Saints."This is one of the most unique windows in churches around the world because this window here is actually from the first radio broadcast from the Vatican," said Father Tony, Pastor of Our Lady Star of the Sea.
Father Tony is proud of his church history, almost as proud the history of the Saints winning the Super Bowl.
"Once upon a time we could have never imagined going to a Super Bowl, win a Super Bowl, now defending a Super Bowl, in the playoffs, and to be one of the favorite teams to actually get back to the Super Bowl," Father Tony said.
Father Tony's vibrant personality landed him an appearance on an NFL commercial recently where he's seen rushing from church to the French Quarter to catch the game. He often catches the game in his own 'Reggie' room, dedicated to the team, while he won't be heading west, he does have a big prayer for the team as it prepares for battle in Seattle.
"We realize our guys are hurt, we got guys that aren't injured reserved but we know the guys who back them up are awesome players, so we're looking forward to seeing them play and we know that indeed God is going to make our 'Who Dat' into a 'Two Dat' this year.
And while Father Tony has a special prayer for the Saints, he has one specifically for Reggie Bush.
"We ask God to shower Reggie with extra blessings this week especially as he takes on this extra load with all of the other guys being injured. We know that he's capable physically of doing wonderful things," Father Tony said.
He also says this is where he'll be, in the 'Reggie' room rooting for Reggie and the rest of team Saturday.
