“ROSARY STAR” LAUREN BAUER FINDS GOD IN UNEXPECTED PLACES

by Jim Penrice

“What do you believe the Eucharist is?”

For the All-American softball star, the question seemed to come out of left field. So did the mysterious stranger at McDonald’s, the golf game that led to her DVD debut, and the walks on the beach that literally brought her back to Mass.

God may work in mysterious ways, but Lauren Bauer can vouch that he definitely works. She embraces the mission of Catholic Athletes for Christ as a way to share the truly Good News with others.

Athletic Success Not Enough

“On paper” Lauren had been living a dream life. A four-time All American softball star at the University of Arizona, she and her Wildcat teammates captured the 2001 National Championship. Along the way Lauren earned honors as an Academic All-Pac 10 student-athlete. Competing on the 2001 U.S. National softball team, she was named “Softball Athlete of the Year” by the United States Olympic Committee. With both law school and a professional sports career still on the horizon, Lauren seemed to have it all.

“As a teen, sports had become my life,” she said. “I had been competing for a long time, but it was never enough. There was always an emptiness, always a sense of something missing.” Having come from a broken family, sports had become for Lauren an escape from the pain—something to fill the emptiness from the circumstances in her life. But when there was a break from the games, the void loomed large.

“Between my first and second year of law school, sports were no longer in the picture,” she said. “Something was missing. I had been a cradle Catholic, but questions like ‘Is there a God?’ and those kind of things were coming up.” Lauren needed to walk a path that would truly fulfill her. She didn’t know how to find that path, but God did. He began with the inviting beauty of the Pacific sunset.

“I was living by the beach at that time,” she said, “and there would be these beautiful sunsets every night. There was a Catholic church near the beach with a Sunday night Mass. I would use going to Mass as an excuse to walk along the beach and enjoy the sunset.”

It wasn’t long before her priorities changed.

A Challenging Question

“The more I kept going to Mass, the more the truth started to reveal itself to me,” she said. “I ended up wanting to go to Mass more than taking the walk.” But as much as Lauren was getting out of Mass, a major piece was still missing, one that would be dropped into place through a startling question asked of her completely out of the blue.

“One of my mom’s cousins asked me about my brother, who was going through some bad times, getting in trouble with the law,” she said. “My response was very harsh towards him, since at that time I had some hard feelings about my brother. He was tough to be around growing up. [My mom’s cousin] looked at me and said, ‘What do you believe the Eucharist is?’”

Taken aback by a question that seemed to come out of nowhere, Lauren gave an answer that she now says pains her to remember.

“’It is a symbol of Jesus,’ I said. She replied, ‘It is not! It is the true Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ.’”

“Going to Mass after that changed my focus,” said Lauren. “I began to see the Eucharist for what it really is. My life totally changed. I was feeling electric for months.” She found the grace to forgive her family and hold them in prayer, and now feels nothing but love for them.

After what she calls her “conversion,” Lauren returned to sports, playing for the New York/New Jersey Juggernauts in the National Pro Fast Pitch Softball League. “I felt I was playing for all the right reasons this time,” she said. “But it was so tough, because I was so on fire for Christ, but no one else around me was. Not having others to connect with was really hard.”

A month and a half into the season, Lauren felt like doing something that went against her heart—she felt like giving up.

On a lonely late night bus ride back to New Jersey after a particularly rough game in Boston (where she had to replace a teammate who did not take the benching well), Lauren fell into the pit of despair. When the team stopped at a McDonald’s around midnight, Lauren went off by herself to a corner of the dark parking lot and called her mother, crying, saying she was coming home. “I felt like I was a failure, because I wasn’t making it in the real world with faith,” she said.

A Super-Sized Sign

By the time she finished the call, most of Lauren’s teammates were back on the bus. When she went inside the restaurant to order her food, she was told by a teammate, “That man in the corner wants to talk to you. He said, ‘I want to talk to number 24. I’m her biggest fan.’” (Lauren’s uniform number was 24, but she did not have her uniform on.)

Lauren approached the man—a total stranger, yet with something familiar and deep in his eyes. “I just want to let you know that you’re a good person,” he said, nodding and smiling. Dumbfounded, Lauren asked how he knew her; he replied that he had seen her play the year before (when she wore number 25). He had not been at that night’s game.

When Lauren boarded the bus she saw the man leave the restaurant and drive away. She made another phone call to her mother, but this one was completely different. The gal who had moments earlier felt like a failure knew she wasn’t—and she knew the source of the message, though the messenger was so mysterious.

(Lauren’s family speculated whether Padre Pio may have had something to do with it. Lauren had read about him earlier in her life, and something about the man’s eyes were reminiscent of the beloved mystic.)

Back in the Line-Up

In any event, Lauren is certainly no failure. She is now a Deputy County Counsel for Orange County, California, assigned to the Child Protection Team. She is an active member of Catholic Athletes for Christ (CAC), and an unabashed evangelizer for the Lord who lives in her through the Eucharist. “I wish CAC had existed when I was younger, “she said. “It really could have made a difference. You don’t always know who are the other Catholics going through the same thing as you.”

CAC President Ray McKenna is very grateful for Lauren’s contributions. “I was greatly impressed with Lauren immediately on meeting her because she is so genuine and down to earth,” he said. “She provides a powerful, personal witness which is solely needed in the world of Catholic female athletes, since we seem to have many more male athletes witnessing to their faith.”

Lauren was featured in CAC’s “Faith Bowl” last year, which aired on EWTN on Super Bowl Sunday. She will appear on EWTN’s “Life on the Rock” program on March 5, and in the soon to be released DVD “Rosary Stars” from Family Theatre Productions. Lauren is especially excited about this project, which came to her through another seemingly coincidental experience.

“I attended the annual CAC baseball conference and retreat last year in Palm Springs,” she said, and met Fr. Willy [Raymond] from Family Theater. We played golf and were in the same foursome. Before I knew it he was asking me to be a part of this DVD.”

Rosary Stars features personalities from the world of sports and entertainment, each leading a personal reflection on one of the mysteries of the Rosary. Others on the DVD include Mike Sweeney, Jeff Suppan, Ali Landry, Lourdes Benedicto, Luke Vercollone, Chris Horn, Matthew Marsden, Alejandro Monteverde, among others. By another “coincidence,” Lauren was asked to give the reflection on her favorite mystery: The Agony in the Garden.

“They asked me to speak about the hard times I’ve experienced and how God has helped me through them,” she said. “The Holy Spirit guided me on what to say.”

By now, that should come as no surprise.