This is a story about of the many things that Coach Sean Payton has done for the people of the New Orleans area off the field. There are other resource links at the end of this article.

This great story was passed to me via e-mail.  I wanted to share it with you.  All the ”Bless you Boys!” have been answered.  The New Orleans Saints and us Saints fans have a coach to be proud of .  What a great guy!

New Orleans Saints’ Head Coach Sean Payton and his wife have two
children. The Paytons are members of our parish, Mary, Queen of Peace (MQP)
in Mandeville, LA., and the children attend Mary, Queen of Peace Catholic
School.

Earlier in the year, on the Friday before the Monday Night Game (Nov.
2, 2009) in the Super Dome against the Atlanta Falcons, MQP School held a
fundraiser for our Youth Director’s family. Our Youth Director and her
husband have five children.  The youngest, at 8-months, had been diagnosed
with cancer and had been hospitalized for several months. The fundraiser was
a flag football game between the students and faculty. The students had been
practicing and were more organized, having their own coaching staff and
having already played together in several games. The faculty was not as
organized and lacked the know-how of an experienced coaching staff.

Coach Payton, with the  Saint’s six-game winning streak on the line and
poised to step onto the national spotlight on Monday night, spent Friday
afternoon at the MQP fundraiser coaching the faculty. When the game ended,
the students had prevailed and Coach Sean Payton’s MQP faculty team had lost
a closely contested gridiron battle, all in the best interest in giving.
Following the game, the faculty and student body at MQP gathered around
Coach Payton and let him know that this was the only game he could lose all
year!

Even more amazing, the second grade children at MQP have a tradition
they practice regarding a statue of Mary, Mother of God. During the school
year, each second grade student has the opportunity to bring this statue
home from school for a week to share with their family.

Prior to leaving for Miami and Super Bowl XLIV, Sean Payton’s son, a
third grade student at MQP, recalling the second grade tradition, requested
permission to take the second grade students’ statue of the Blessed Virgin
Mary with him and his family as they traveled to the Super Bowl. As soon as
he received the permission of the second grade teacher, Coach Payton’s son
obtained the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God. Coach Payton
placed it the Saints’ locker room at Sun Life Stadium in Miami during the
game, so the Blessed Mother was with them at the Super Bowl.

I hope you enjoyed reading these two stories about the Payton family as
much as I have enjoyed sharing them.

Written by Deacon Eddy Beckendorf of MQP parish with minor editing

*picture from Mary Queen of Peace website

Sharon Denise Talbot

Resources:

Wikipedia: Sean Payton

CNN: New Orleans Saints