Sister Kaitlin (left) with her Salesian Sisters
When Sister Kaitlin takes the mound at Ballpark Day of Faith, she will bring more than a baseball to the field.
She will bring Milwaukee roots, a love for community, a worldwide Salesian tradition and — thanks to some recent coaching — at least one solid pitching tip.
“Thumb to the thigh, fingers to the sky,” she said with a laugh, repeating the advice she received from a deacon at the school where she teaches in Florida.
That deacon, who had played minor league baseball and coached the school baseball team, became her unofficial first-pitch coach after Sister Kaitlin found out she would have the honor of throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at this year’s Ballpark Day of Faith.
“I went up to him and I was like, ‘Hey, Deacon, I need a pitching coach,’” she said. “And he just jumped on board immediately.”
After school, the two would head to the field, where he would catch while she practiced throwing from a regulation distance. At one point, he even brought students out to add a little pressure.
“My students have seen it,” Sister Kaitlin said. “And I think if I can do it in front of sophomore and junior boys, I might be able to handle it.”
Sister Kaitlin grew up in Milwaukee and attended the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Religious life, however, was not originally part of her plan.
After college, she spent a year abroad teaching in Slovakia. That year changed the direction of her life.
It was there that she first encountered the Salesian Sisters — and, as she put it, really encountered sisters for the first time at all. When she returned home to Milwaukee, she became more connected with Brew City Catholic and a discernment group. Eventually, she began to wonder whether God might be inviting her to take a closer look at religious life.
“I was challenged to discern,” she said. “It was like, okay, well, let me just start with what I know. And what I know is the Salesian Sisters.”
Her discernment moved quickly. She first reached out to the Salesian Sisters in November 2019, then visited in March 2020 — just as the world was beginning to shut down because of COVID-19.
“I was the last person to be able to visit before they locked down for COVID,” she said.
While she was there, she learned that her teaching job in Milwaukee would not be returning in person that Monday. Suddenly, she was faced with a very real question: What if she got stuck there?
Her answer surprised her.
“I was like, okay, I think I would actually be happy,” she said. “I think I would be okay.”
She entered religious life in the fall of 2020 and made her first profession in August 2024. She has spent the past two years serving in Naples, Florida, and this fall will begin teaching middle school religion in Tampa.
Before that new assignment begins, she is spending time back home in Milwaukee with family. Her visit will end in a memorable way: throwing out the first pitch at Ballpark Day of Faith.
But for her, the connection between sports and faith goes deeper than team loyalty.
That connection is part of the Salesian tradition itself.
The Salesian Sisters follow the spirit of St. John Bosco, whose ministry centered on young people. Sister Kaitlin explained that Don Bosco believed in loving what young people love as a way to build trust, friendship and faith.
“St. John Bosco said we have to love what the young people love in order to be able to connect with them,” she said.
In the 1800s, Don Bosco used music, magic tricks, tightrope walking, juggling and sports to reach young people. Those joyful points of connection helped open the door to deeper conversations about faith.
That same spirit is part of why Sister Kaitlin sees a natural connection between an event like Ballpark Day of Faith and the Salesian mission.
The ballpark becomes more than a place to watch a game. It becomes a place where people gather, families spend time together, faith is visible and community is strengthened.
Sister Kaitlin also hopes Ballpark Day of Faith gives people a small window into the Salesian Sisters, a community many people in the United States may not know well.
She noted that the Salesian Sisters are the largest women’s religious order in the world, with more than 10,000 sisters serving in more than 97 countries.
“While you might not know us well here in the U.S., we’re out there,” she said. “We’re active, we’re here, we love what we do, we love the young people, and however we can serve them — even in moments like Ballpark Day of Faith — we’re here to do it.”
That global mission will have a very local expression when Sister Kaitlin steps onto the field in Milwaukee.
She may not have grown up playing baseball or softball — swimming was more her sport — but she is ready for the moment. She has practiced. She has taken advice. She has thrown in front of students. And now she is preparing to make a memory at Ballpark Day of Faith.
For Sister Kaitlin, the first pitch is another chance to connect, another chance to witness joyfully and another chance to show how faith can meet people in the ordinary places they already gather.
Even at the ballpark.
Thumb to the thigh. Fingers to the sky.
See you at Ballpark Day of Faith!