DENVER, Colo. – The Regis University Athletics Department is proud to announce the appointment of Father Eustace Sequeira, SJ, as the Athletics Chaplain.
"I am thrilled to bring this long-time vision to fruition. The history of support amongst the Jesuits on campus to the student athletes goes back many years with the legacy life of Father Charlie Shelton, SJ," said Tommy Gilhooly, Associate VP/Director of Athletics & Strategic Partnership. "His impact on my life and the generations of Regis student athletes lives on through this role. In the past this was a loose relationship, but now we have formalized and memorialized this office in athletics with a consistent presence for our athletic family. I feel deeply connected with Father Eustace and cannot think of a better human to help grow our mission, our faith, and our relationship with God on the platform of athletics. This appointment reflects deeply within our shared spirit of being intentional with gratitude and humility to serve the entire Regis Athletic Community."
The goal of the department Chaplain will be to provide ongoing spiritual, personal, and leadership formation of student-athletes, coaches, and staff in the Ignatian tradition. The Athletics Chaplain focuses on the spiritual life, faith development, and pastoral care of 250+ student-athletes, 14 teams, coaches, and staff. Father will provide one-on-one pastoral support for student-athletes, coaches and staff, facilitate retreats, and develop spiritual programming for athletic teams, coaches, and staff focused on themes drawn from Ignatian Spirituality.
"I am so excited to be part of the Athletics Department that brings out the best in the physical and spiritual strength of Regis," said Father Eustace. "As Chaplain, I will be there to encourage and support anyone who needs my insights and care."
With this, Father Eustace enters a new phase in his varied life that has spanned many decades and continents.
As a young man, having a dad who was an athlete and a sportsman, Father Eustace grew up playing every game that a child in India would enjoy: Cricket, Field Hockey, and Soccer. When he joined the Jesuits, he continued his sporting experiences, including tennis and basketball.
The Jesuit formation of Father Eustace also included training high school students in Zambia in soccer, planning and executing skills on the field.
After that, the life of Father Eustace transitioned, with broadcasting and printing took most of his time, followed by life as a Priest in Africa, Germany, and the Vatican.
In the US, the many years that Father Eustace has spent at Regis have brought him understanding and love of the students he has been teaching, and the pastoral care and counseling both as priest and educator. He now brings this to the Athletics Department as Chaplain and Counselor, both flowing from his role as a priest.
Father Eustace has a Doctorate in Social Sciences from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, with a double Masters in Counseling and Communication at Regis University in Denver, a graduate level Nonprofit Management Certificate from Regis, a graduate degree in Theology from the Hochshule Sankt Georgen in Frankfurt, Germany, a degree in Economics and Math in Lusaka, Zambia, and a Bachelor's in Philosophy from the Pontifical University in Pune, India.
In his former life, Father Eustace worked in management and in various areas of communication, managing the broadcasts from Vatican Radio in Rome to Africa. Communication through radio and television was the way he spent most of my life in Europe and Africa. Throughout his adult life, Father Eustace has been a Catholic priest and a Jesuit, while serving in whatever context he has been called. He lives at the Jesuit Residence on campus.
1 Corinthians 9:24: "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize".
