April 4, 2025 // Diocese

Greenan Sullivan Is Head Chaplain for Mount St. Mary’s Basketball Team

Scott Warden

Editor-In-Chief

Any kid who grew up with a basketball in their hand dreamed of making it to the NCAA Tournament one day – those who pounded it on their bedroom floor until mom yelled up at them to stop, shot it in the driveway until it was too dark to see, or spent early morning hours in an empty gym, with only the thuds of dribbling and squeaking of shoes on the hardwood floor to break the silence. They honed their skills hoping, one day, that they’d get to be a part of March Madness and all of the pageantry and tradition that it brings in the early spring – the brackets, the underdogs, the emotional highs and lows.

Provided by Greenan Sullivan
Greenan Sullivan, a seminarian for the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend and chaplain for the Mount St. Mary basketball team, poses at the University of Dayton Arena before the team’s “First Four” game in the NCAA Tournament.

Greenan Sullivan was no different, but his path to get there certainly was.

Growing up in South Bend as the oldest of five siblings in a basketball-loving family, Sullivan, a seminarian for the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, played during his grade-school years at St. Anthony de Padua and St. Pius X. He went on to star at Saint Joseph High School and then played collegiately at Ave Maria University in Florida – an NAIA school that is ineligible for the NCAA Tournament.

Having graduated from Ave Maria in the spring of 2020, Sullivan traded one uniform for another, swapping his jersey and gym shorts for the all-blacks of a seminarian. He’s in his third year of the configuration stage at Mount St. Mary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, and will be ordained a transitional deacon in late May at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Fort Wayne.

While he hasn’t completely hung up his basketball shoes – he still plays the occasional intramural game and has led the seminarian team to victory in three of the past four Cupertino Classics – his role on and off the court has changed. The former player is now the lead chaplain for the men’s basketball team at the Mount, which is how Sullivan found himself unexpectedly standing amid the madness of this year’s NCAA Tournament.

Going into his second year of seminary, Sullivan was tapped by Brian Florin – now Father Brian Florin, pastor of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Goshen – to serve as the team’s assistant chaplain. This season, he became the head chaplain, and, naturally, with his experience on the court and his seminary training, he’s fit right in with the team.

“While it isn’t a requirement to have played,” Sullivan told Today’s Catholic, “it’s helpful to understand how athletics works at a high level, and the time, the effort, and the discipline that’s required of these guys, because that really helps when you’re talking to them. I think it’s certainly helped me relate to the guys on this team.”

Despite winning 20 games in the regular season – just their third 20-win season since the program moved to Division I in 1988 – the Mountaineers’ only chance for an NCAA Tournament berth was to run the table in the Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Coming in as a No. 6 seed, they knocked off No. 3 Marist in the quarterfinals and No. 2 Merrimack in the semifinals. In the championship game, they routed No. 4 seed Iona to earn the conference’s automatic bid to the field of 68.

“Nobody was really expecting them to go all the way,” Sullivan said. “People thought they might be able to win a game, but they showed a lot of perseverance.”

When the NCAA Tournament bracket was released on Sunday, March 16, the Mountaineers were paired against American University as one of two “First Four” games in Dayton, Ohio. Mount St. Mary held off a second-half charge to win 83-72 to advance to play college basketball powerhouse Duke, the No. 1 seed in the East Region, in the first round. The Blue Devils jumped out to a 20-6 lead in the game’s first seven minutes and led 54-28 at halftime. It was more of the same in the second half, as the Mountaineers fell 93-49 to end their March run.

Still, Sullivan said, “It’s one of the best seasons that the Mount has ever had. … What stood out to me from this year’s group was the joy and camaraderie that they showed. They had a commitment and a willingness to sacrifice for one another that persisted throughout the season, so that was really fun to be a part of and to get to witness.”

While most on the Mount’s basketball team are not Mass-going Catholics, Sullivan said, his role as the team’s chaplain is simple: pray before and after games (win or lose), be a consistent model of faith and virtue, and be present for those who are looking to deepen their relationship with Christ.

Having a shared love of the game of basketball has certainly made him more relatable to those to whom he is ministering, Sullivan said, and his role as chaplain has given him a little glimpse of what his future vocation might look like.

“These players, they’re from a lot of different backgrounds, a lot of different upbringings,” Sullivan said. “I’ve tried to learn how to be a model of Christ to all of these different people who might not necessarily be open to the faith. But it’s important just to be there for them – to be a consistent presence who they know shows up for them at practices and at games and who is a source of prayer. … This role has shown me that there is a real value to being present to people who might not share your vision, because slowly but surely, you’re able to plant seeds, and you have to trust in the Lord that these seeds will bear fruit.”

Sullivan added: “I think the players do see me as someone that at least understands what it means to dedicate a lot of time and effort to the game of basketball and use it as a means of virtue. That’s how I’m really looking at it now – a means to glorify God.”

Scott Warden is editor-in-chief of Today’s Catholic.