Abramowicz says God’s game plan caused a transformation in his life

(Editor's note: This is the final installment in a profile of Steubenville-native Danny Abramowicz, who was the recipient of EWTN's 2022 Mother Angelica Award. The Catholic Central High School graduate enjoyed a long career in the National Football League, most of which was spent with the New Orleans Saints, coached in the league and did commentary. His work now is centered on making sure men are in spiritual shape. In Sunday's story, Abramowicz said he was all about "Faith, family and friends." On Monday, he discussed how he helped his wife of 56 years, the former Claudia DiPrinizo, who died on Aug. 2 in her fight against cancer. Today, he talks about how following God's game plan transformed his life.)   

Danny Abramowicz is happy that he had the chance to grow up in Steubenville. 

The 77-year-old Abramowicz is a member of Catholic Central High School's Class of 1963 and looks forward to the 60-year reunion coming up in 2023 with an August celebration. 

"We've got the closest class, really a great group. Tremendous. In Steubenville, we were all brought up the right way. We were all ornery a little bit, but we were brought up the right way. It's different now," he said. 

Abramowicz, whose football prowess earned him a scholarship at Cincinnati's Xavier University and a spot in the National Football League with the New Orleans Saints, was named the recipient of the 2022 Mother Angelica Award from EWTN. He received his award, named after the nun who founded the network, on Dec. 12 from Michael P. Warsaw, EWTN chairman and chief executive officer. 

Of the award, Abramowicz said he was "so close with Mother Angelica," the former Rita Rizzo of Canton who became the Franciscan nun Sister Mary Angelica. She spent much of her life raising the visibility of the Catholic faith and evangelizing on televisions around the world. She died in 2016 on Easter Sunday and had a special connection to the Steubenville area, having often invited the late Rev. Michael Scanlan, TOR, then-president of what is now Franciscan University of Steubenville, to appear on her network. In 1983, she delivered the graduation address at the university. 

"When I turned my life around - you know, I had to go to AA. I got off target. You get success sometimes in life, you don't know how to handle it," he said. "I come from a humble background and all of a sudden I'm thrown into being successful on the football field in the NFL, and I just went the wrong direction. I still practiced my faith, but I was an alcoholic. I finally went to AA Dec. 15, 1981," he said of a 41-year anniversary. 

"And then the Lord, from that point, started changing me. I went to the Catholic Charismatic Renewal which I thought were crazy people," he chuckled, "but I noticed one thing -- they all got smiles on their faces. I got a frown on my face. I said I want what they've got, and that's when I turned my life over to Jesus Christ, No. 1 priority in my life," he said. 

One of his biggest supporters in his struggle was his wife, the former Claudia DiPrinizo of Steubenville. He and the woman who was his high school sweetheart were married for 56 years before her death on Aug. 2. 

"My wife was already walking pretty good, and she had prayer warriors, and she trusted the Lord that I was a good person. She hung in there, and then we started to walk together in the Lord." 

Abramowicz knew that fostering that walk meant being around like-minded men. 

"You can't do the things you did before and hang with the same people," he said, noting the Lord wanted him to start a prayer group. "A prayer group?" Abramowicz said he remembered thinking. "Maybe a card game, but not a prayer group." 

But he followed God's game plan. 

"So I finally did it, and 12 guys came to my house, and we start praying, and the next thing, the guys brought a guitar, we start praising," Abramowicz said. Within a year, the 12 grew to 90, meeting every first and third Monday. 

"This group is still going strong," he said of the gathering 37 years old. "One of the outreaches we do, we build caskets for indigent, not only indigent, but we call it All God's Babies," he said. "We make the caskets, we get wedding gowns from all over the United States for the interior and the little costumes, and we give them names, and then we bought a tomb and we buried them in the tomb. We have buried 375 so far," he said of the work of the Monday Night Disciples prayer group. 

The group name is on purpose.  

"I wanted to compete. If you're going to commit, it's on Monday night when there's 'Monday Night Football.' That's what the Lord said. Let's find out who's on board," he said. 

"I was probably 35 years old at that time, so a young adult," he said of the men's group meetings that began in his home. "And my wife had three kids (D.J., Stephanie and Andy), the kids had to be in the back of the house. She was the one that made the thing happen because she was open to it. She allowed it to happen in her house. We had to move some of the furniture out in our driveway to fit all the people, and the No. 1charism in the group was praise and worship, but it was sharing testimonies," he said. 

The group goes every third Saturday and prays the rosary, divine mercy and stations of the cross at the Planned Parenthood facility, in front of it. "Over the years, we've closed one," he said, noting Louisiana is one of the top pro-life states. 

"Once I changed my life, people, because of my background, you know, NFL, became interested. I didn't want to do anything because I didn't trust myself until I felt I was walking with the Lord and get my ego out of the way and let the spirit move," he said. 

"Someone finally got a hold of me. They said they wanted me to be on EWTN on the Mother Angelica show. I said, 'What is EWTN and who in the hell is Mother Angelica?' I had no idea so guess what? I went up there, and as soon as I passed through the gates, entering that place, I said, 'Oh my God, the spirit came all over me. I said this nun from Canton, Ohio, she's either nuts or the spirit's all over her,' and, of course, we know what it is," he said. 

Abramowicz went on her show.  

"She had no clue who I was, what I did. I started laughing from the very beginning. We had the greatest time, and then we ended up becoming friends, and I brought her down here to help raise money. We stayed friends and then eventually I went on the board and served probably 14 or 15 years on the board of EWTN," he said. 

Before he began serving on the board, however, he did a show on EWTN called "Spiritual Fitness Workout," so named after his book. 

"We physically work out, but we also should, more importantly, spiritually work out, so I would do part of the show showing them how to work out either stretching weights or whatever and in the next 15 minutes of the show, I'd tell them about the Bible and, spiritual stuff," he said of a show that proved successful. 

EWTN wanted him to do another show, continued Abramowicz, who explained that became "Crossing the Goal," which involved him and three other men. Claudia came up with the name. 

"We started with a TV show, then we did conferences -- 1,500 to 2,000 men all over the United States in dioceses," he said, identifying the No. 1 problem in the Catholic Church and Christian churches as male spirituality. 

"It's why the families are all screwed up. The men don't know who they are inside," he said. "They're dropping their wife off at church with the little kids, and they're watching the Steelers or Saints. You can do both of them," Abramowicz said. "Why aren't you going to church -- the most important thing, so especially for the young boys, so what do they remember -- their dad dropping them off. So they end up marrying Helen and what do they do? They remember their dads so they start dropping them off. We have to stop that," he said. "That's why we called them spiritual fitness workouts." 

The shows focus on what about you -- do you know Jesus Christ personally, Abramowicz said. "Do you do his way or your way? Well, hell is filled with my ways." 

Such are the right-to-the-point topics. 

"We tell about our faults, too -- how we stumble and still stumble. We're all weak instruments. The show has been very successful, and I've been able to start groups all over the United States," he said. 

"I do everything in my life regarding SOS -- salvation of souls," he said. "How can I help this person get to heaven? That's what God wants us to do."