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When Rugby Players Choose Bible Study on Their One Free Night
On campus, you expect to find students searching for God at Mass, at the Catholic Center, or at a Bible study led by familiar faces. But sometimes the most surprising pockets of faith aren’t found in the usual places.
Sometimes, they’re found at the rugby house.
PJ, a FOCUS missionary in his second year at Florida State, never set out to start a “rugby Bible study.” In fact, it wasn’t his idea at all.
“I had met a couple guys who were on the rugby team,” PJ said. Then one of them came to him with a simple request: could they start a Bible study for the team?
“They’re the ones that asked for it,” PJ said. “And I was able to get it organized and started the second semester last year.”
Now, that Bible study is entering its third semester, with a strong core of “eight or nine guys that show up pretty much every week,” plus another group that “could pop in at any time.”
And here’s what makes it remarkable: rugby players have very little free time.
“It’s the one night a week they don’t have practice,” PJ explained. “So it’s nice… a lot of guys choosing to spend their free night at Bible study.”
PJ’s own journey helps explain why he recognizes what’s happening. Raised Catholic, he grew up with a steady habit of Sunday Mass—but his faith didn’t become personal until college.
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“I’d been raised in a Catholic house where we went to Mass every Sunday,” he said. “But outside of that, there wasn’t really anything else that we did… It was more of just a habit.”
It was through Bible study at the University of South Carolina—first as a participant, then as a leader—that faith moved from routine to relationship.
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“That’s when the Catholic faith became important to me on more than just a check-in-the-box level,” he said.
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That transformation is part of why he’s so attentive to what’s unfolding with the rugby players: faith growing in a place where it might not be expected, and among students whose schedules and social culture don’t naturally funnel them toward “typical” campus ministry life.
When the rugby Bible study began, PJ wasn’t sure how it would go.
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“I was more… worried,” he admitted. “A rugby team is a different crowd than the group of people you’ll find within the Catholic Center normally.”
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But something important happened over time: trust.
“As the guys have gotten to know me better… they’re more comfortable within the Bible study to open up and share certain things,” PJ said.
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Even more powerful, the Bible study created a new space for the teammates themselves.
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“Bible study provides a different environment… for them to have conversations that they probably wouldn’t have otherwise,” he said. “It helps them build trust… to share the more important things—struggles… questions… highs and lows.”
At first, conversation stayed safely on the surface—mostly focused on what the Scripture said. But three semesters in, PJ has watched the group mature.
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“The longer I lead it, the more willing they are to open up,” he said. “To share struggles… joys… God moments… highs and lows. All those have become kind of normal… where at first it was definitely more sticking to the scripture… and not going too deep.”
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One of the clearest signs of growth has been watching leadership rise from within the team.
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PJ described one rugby player currently in OCIA, preparing to be confirmed at the Easter Vigil, who has begun quietly mentoring other teammates.
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“He’s taken the initiative on his own… to meet up with these guys… for lunch, or for dinner… or for a drink,” PJ said, “and ask them how they’re doing… and try to lead them and guide them.”
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The leadership is practical—and personal.
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“He’s mentioned to me he’s bought a couple guys rosaries,” PJ shared. “Or he’s gotten them to buy a Catholic Bible… small things like that.”
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It’s exactly what PJ hopes for: students taking ownership of mission.
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“It’s always a lot cooler if one of your teammates… is the one leading it,” PJ said. “The missionary is kind of like, ‘Well, it’s my job.’ Versus one of the guys on the team taking on that responsibility—that is really strong witness.”
PJ says the rugby team has stretched him in a particular way: learning to love students who aren’t starting from a “classic Catholic Center” experience.
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“These guys are very committed to the rugby team,” he said. “It’s where most of their friends are.”
PJ is honest about the challenges that come with walking alongside a group of busy, tightly bonded teammates whose lives don’t revolve around campus ministry spaces. It would be easy to grow frustrated—or to expect faith to look a certain way—but PJ describes something different: a choice to show up consistently and love the guys where they are.
“It’s kind of in a place of me just being able to be there for these guys and love them,” PJ said, “as they struggle to find who they are.”
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And that’s where the story becomes bigger than rugby.
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PJ calls the team “the perfect example of the universal call to holiness.”
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“You’re not gonna find these rugby guys at any other Catholic Noles event, except for Mass,” he said. “They play rugby, they go to Mass, and they go to Bible study. It’s what they do.”
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“And that doesn’t mean their calling in life is any different,” he added. “They’re still called to holiness… to sanctity… to be a saint.”
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As PJ speaks about the wider campus, his tone shifts from strategy to wonder.
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“There’s something going on,” he said. “People are just returning to church… they’re looking for God… searching for something greater than what they have in their life.”
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Sometimes those encounters are brief.
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“We have countless encounters with random students… they’ll come up to us on campus and ask a question, or they’ll show up for one Mass,” he said. “And we never see them again. But seeds are being planted.”
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Even when missionaries don’t see the final chapter, they believe God is moving.
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“It doesn’t quite make sense… why some people are asking these questions,” PJ said. “But regardless… it’s very clear that God is trying to draw them to Himself.”
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And then he offered a simple, powerful reason the Catholic Student Union matters—especially now:
“It’s important that Catholic Noles is here to respond to the students… because if we weren’t here, then there wouldn’t be anyone for them to go to.”
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Because of your support, Catholic Noles can keep showing up—at Mass, on campus, and even at the rugby house—so that when students begin to search, someone is there to walk with them. Thank you.
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