Coaching the Boston Celtics with the spirit of a deacon
Joseph Mazzulla, Boston Celtics coach and permanent deacon, credits God for blending family, faith, and basketball into his dream job Born 1988 in Rhode Island, Mazzulla played for West Virginia, became Celtics coach in 2023, led the team to the 2024 NBA title before a semifinal loss to the 76ers He emphasizes family, citing Joshua 24:15, and notes his faith shaped his upbringing near a church, attending Mass and Catholic school Mazzulla is married to Camai, has a son Emmanuel and an adopted son Michael, and sees faith at the center of his life and career His dual roles as coach and deacon illustrate how he integrates spirituality with professional responsibilities
4 months ago
Coach Joseph Mazzulla leads the Boston Celtics while serving as a permanent Catholic deacon, intertwining his roles as family man, pastor, and basketball strategist 1.
Mazzulla was born in 1988 in Johnston, Rhode Island, to an Italian father from Itri and an African‑American mother.
He grew up within walking distance of a parish, attending Mass daily and Catholic school from kindergarten through high school 1.
After playing for the West Virginia Mountaineers, Mazzulla entered the Celtics’ staff and became a full‑time coach in 2023.
He helped the team capture the 2024 NBA championship, though the 2026 campaign ended in a semifinal loss to the Philadelphia 76ers 1.
In addition to coaching, Mazzulla was ordained a permanent deacon, describing himself first as a Christian who serves God through sport.
He frequently cites biblical passages to his players and the media, emphasizing that identity rests in Christ rather than athletic achievement 1.
Mazzulla married Camai in 2014; they have a son, Emmanuel, and an adopted son, Michael.
His lifelong friend, Father Marcel Taillon of Saint Thomas More Parish, has accompanied him through school, college, marriage, and his coaching journey 1.
During playoffs, Mazzulla attends Mass and prays the Rosary, using a rosary crafted from wood taken from the Celtics’ historic parquet floor.
He attributes his inner joy and resilience to this prayer life, encouraging his children to continue the “living Rosary” tradition begun at St. Mary’s school 1.
Mazzulla views his role as a stewardship of gifts—family, faith, and basketball—aiming to bear witness to God in every season.
He expresses concern that, like the rich young man in the Gospel, he might later cling to worldly success instead of spiritual fulfillment 1.*
Explore how Catholic deacons influence professional sports leadership
Catholic deacons are ordained ministers “for tasks of service of the Church,” commissioned in particular for ministry of the word, divine worship, pastoral governance, and charity, and they exercise these duties under the pastoral authority of their bishop. From that identity, a Catholic deacon who works in (or leads) professional sports can influence leadership in sports organizations—especially by shaping decisions and workplace culture around service, ethical formation, and the mediation of Catholic moral and social teaching in the “temporal order.”
A key starting point is that deacons do not receive the ministerial priesthood, but ordination gives them real sacramental responsibilities oriented toward service. In a Church description echoed by the Magisterium, deacons serve “in the ministry of the Liturgy, of the word and of charity” in communion with the bishop and his priests.
That matters for professional sports leadership because sports leadership is precisely a sphere where people’s choices, priorities, and public norms are formed. The US deacon directory explicitly frames how a deacon can “transmit the word in [his] professional [life] either explicitly or merely by [his] active presence in places where public opinion is formed and ethical norms are applied.” In other words, leadership influence comes not only from “telling others religious ideas,” but from applying a lived moral vision to how the organization treats people, makes tradeoffs, and defines success.
The US bishops’ directory stresses that deacons are formed not only spiritually but also with concrete human and pastoral capacities—qualities that map directly onto organizational leadership. It highlights developing human traits such as psychophysical equilibrium, sense of responsibility, honesty, dynamism, good professional and family conduct, and a spirit of sacrifice. It also includes leadership-relevant competencies: good human relations, ability to dialogue, leadership qualities, balanced judgment, openness of mind, and a capacity to collaborate and manage conflict, while contributing to unity in the parish community.
These traits matter in elite sports environments where leadership is tested by:
A deacon’s formation aims to make him a stabilizing presence: someone whose leadership style is oriented toward truthfulness and responsibility rather than pure outcome-maximization—an effect that can be communicated powerfully even to people who never discuss doctrine.
When Benedict XVI addressed Catholic engagement with sport, he insisted that sports have “considerable educational potential,” especially for youth, and that the decisive feature is sport’s connection to moral development and formation of the person. He also described sports practiced with an “acute ethical sense” as a “school of formation in the human and spiritual values,” and he explicitly warned against practices that “pervert the nature of sports,” including doping.
Deacon influence on sports leadership follows naturally from this framework when the deacon:
Additionally, the US directory explicitly connects deacons to the Church’s social doctrine as something they can mediate in their professions: “A good knowledge of that teaching will permit many deacons to mediate it in their different professions, at work and in their families.” In a sports leadership context, “social doctrine” can concretely shape policies on labor conditions, exploitation risk, discrimination, unjust treatment, and the social responsibilities of clubs/academies.
A deacon’s leadership is not an extension of clerical authority over civil institutions; it is service under ecclesial oversight. The Catechism emphasizes that deacons’ ordained functions are carried out “under the pastoral authority of their bishop.” Pope John Paul II also framed permanent deacons as operating “in communion with the bishop and his priests” and stressed obligations of fidelity, moral integrity, and obedience.
In practice, that implies that a deacon in professional sports leadership should:
For married deacons, John Paul II particularly highlighted the witness of the deacon and his wife through fidelity and indissolubility in marriage—an influence that extends into society’s moral imagination, including workplaces. In a sports leadership environment—where relationships, image, and “status pressures” can distort behavior—this witness can function as an internal check on both speech and policy.
What the sources support most directly is the capacity for deacons to evangelize and to mediate moral norms through professional presence and leadership, including leadership that becomes a vehicle for “the love and service of Christ present in the Church and in society.”
What the sources do not claim is any special canonical role for deacons in governing sports leagues or player unions as such. The influence is best understood as personal, professional, and pastoral—rooted in ordination’s service identity, and guided by charity, truth, and obedience to the bishop, rather than by an office inside secular sports structures.
In short: Catholic deacons can influence professional sports leadership by bringing a “deaconal” leadership style—service, ethical formation, and mediation of Catholic moral and social teaching—into decision-making and workplace culture, while remaining properly ecclesially accountable.
Catholic deacons influence professional sports leadership most effectively when they live their ordained identity as ministers of word and charity and bring that sacramental service into the “temporal order” of professions. That influence can be seen in leadership that treats sports as a field for human and spiritual formation, insists on an acute ethical sense (including rejection of perverting practices like doping), and cultivates trustworthy governance through virtues such as honesty, balanced judgment, conflict management, and responsible collaboration.