Sign up for TPR Today, Texas Public Radio's newsletter that brings our top stories to your inbox each morning.
Texas Public Radio’s Brian Kirkpatrick interviewed Sister Bernadette Mota, one of the four Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco from San Antonio ‘s West Side who have appeared on national television during the Spurs NBA playoff run in the 2026 season.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Brian Kirkpatrick: First of all, tell us how the sisters became Spurs fans.
Sr. Bernadette Mota: So, the story of our sisters being avid Spurs fans actually goes back quite a few years, over probably about 20 years or so. We had some sisters who were local San Antonians who were really die-hard Spurs fans, and many of those sisters who were the original Spurs fans have passed away, but just the tradition of our sisters really supporting the Spurs community has been long-standing, and just a great way for us to build community in the recreation of sport. It's not that we watch every game, because we're religious sisters, and that's our first vocation, right there, but when we have a chance to watch games, or to just check the highlights, or see the scores, we do, and so this again, it's been passed down from generation to generation of our sisters over, like I said, 20 years.
Coach Pop and his late wife, we had one of our sisters who became great friends with them, so they actually came to our convent a few times, about 10, 15 years ago, where they visited the sisters and came and had a meal with the sisters and had a photo taken with every sister that would like, so it's been a longstanding tradition. But over the past, five, six years, that connection had fallen a little bit off, because you had different people coming in on our side and their side too, so it just got reconnected this past year, and even more so with the playoffs, where it became that connection again, like we had before,
What do you think of the reaction you all have been getting? You got quite a bit of airplay on NBC. Have you all been getting any phone calls or emails or any other contact across the country?
Sr. Bernadette Mota: Yes, we've had a number of people reaching out to us, both friends and other people that we just met, and it's really beautiful to see the support of the people, and how much they really appreciate our prayers and support for the Spurs and the San Antonio community over the past week has been really quite exciting. There's some stuff out there that's not as exciting when we see some of the memes or other things that have been posted that aren't as tasteful, but I'd say that's maybe like 1% or 2%. Like 98, 99% of what we've received has been phenomenal at the game that we were able to be at the other night. Just the appreciation and respect of the people there that we met, it was very humbling and edifying, too, to see all the people from all different walks of life, and how much just appreciation they have for us to be there.
So, the game was phenomenal. I'm an extrovert, but I was exhausted by the end of the night. It was quite overwhelming in terms of the amount of noise, but at the same time it was fabulous. That night, when I got back to the convent, I couldn't fall asleep. My body was just wired up, so it took me a while to finally calm down and to go to bed. And that next morning it hurt to wake up and to be in the chapel in the morning. I said, "Jesus, this is for you," because I wouldn't be able to do this otherwise.
I grew up a Dallas Cowboys fan, and they used to say the Cowboys were "God's team" because they left the hole in the roof (of the stadium) so God could watch his team. What do you think God thinks of the Spurs?
Sr. Bernadette Mota: Yeah, God loves all the teams, and God loves all the players, and so ... God doesn't love one team more than the other. But what we really pray for and hope for is that all the teams play to their best of their ability. And the Spurs, because we cheer for the Spurs, and we're rooting for them, we just pray that they play their game the way they can. They play as a team, united, and they leave it all on the court. They play their hardest. That's what we're hoping for. And we do not wish any harm against Oklahoma. They're a very good team. They have fabulous players too. I just hope the Spurs play better.
Did you all have to get approval from the archdiocese? I'm just curious what the Archbishop Gustavo Garcia Siller thinks about it. Have you heard from the Pope?
Sr. Bernadette Mota: No, you don't have to get approval from the archdiocese for something like this, but we are (what is called) a Pontifical Order. That means we are under the Pope, and so the Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco, we are the largest women's congregation in the world, and actually, in the state, though ... (in) other countries we're, we're huge. We have 10,500 sisters worldwide, and we have great missions throughout the world. Our mission is with young people, and we serve young people, and especially those who really come from a disadvantaged background, and also women at risk, too. So, that's really our mission.
Our mission isn't praying for sports teams. Our mission is to pray for all people, but one reason why we do this, though, is because we work with youth, and in order to reach young people where they're at, we have to know what they like, and for so many young people, they love sports. And so we love what they love in order for them to love who we love, who is God. We just want to bring young people closer to the faith. I know for myself, I was an avid athlete growing up. I played sports from second grade through college, and sports are a great way to learn discipline, to learn teamwork and values and morals.
When sports are done correctly, it could easily be turned into another direction, where the sports become your god, if it's not done in the right fashion. So again, our life is not about sports, and nor should other people be totally about sports. Everything needs to be in the right order, and God has given us the gift of sport, where we can play and really take enjoyment in play. Play is a gift from God, and so the Lord wants people to use their gifts and talents for good, and so we just hope and pray that the Spurs can do that, and that really all athletes are able to do that in a very profound way, and so no, we don't need permission from the Pope to do this either, but maybe he's seen some of this stuff, and that'd be great if he has, yeah. I know Pope Leo is a White Sox fan, and so that gives a lot of joy for us to see, too, how he supports his hometown baseball team.
Do the sisters have a court out back, so to speak?
Sr. Bernadette Mota: You know what? We do have a hoop back in our back area. It's pretty ghetto. It's falling apart, and so it's not the nicest one, but we go out and shoot hoops sometimes. We actually were doing a little bit of video today with a Catholic TV station in San Antonio, and so we were letting them see our hoop that needs to be. ... We just need a new one. So, anyway, but yeah, we do shoot hoops sometimes. I was a high school basketball player myself, all five foot one of me, I was a point guard and shooting guard, and I coach high school basketball before I entered the convent. I know some stuff about basketball.
Has any nickname stuck to ya’ll? Are you all the “Spurs Nuns"?
Sr. Bernadette Mota: Oh, oh no, no, we are not "Spurs Nuns." We are Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco, and we do pray for, and we support the Spurs, and like I said, we're not the Spurs nuns. We don't want to be known as that so much, because then people don't know who we actually are, but like I said, we support the Spurs, and we pray for them, and they're a great club, great team.
Is it easy for the nuns to root for the Spurs since they have a pretty good reputation in the community and are straight shooters, so to speak?
Sr. Bernadette Mota: The way that they have been brought up, especially for Coach Popovich in the past, he himself had a great discipline in the way that he brought the Spurs to where they're at, and then the coaching staff that are out here now, again, (they) know how to coach the players, so that helps the team to know who they are and how to play, and really how to work as a team. ... It's pretty exciting to be here right now, because the town of San Antonio doesn't have another professional team. So, this is it, you know, this is our professional team in terms of rooting for a sports team. I grew up in Southern California, where we have multiple professional teams, so sometimes there's that division between, "oh, I like this team or that team," but then in San Antonio, there is one team, and you are a Spurs fan, so that's the way it works, right?
Among the four nuns, am I speaking to you because you're the most extroverted of the bunch or you are the senior of the four?
Sr. Bernadette Mota: We would have had more sisters (at the home games) if we had more tickets, but that's all that we had that night. So no, it's not just four sisters at the house that I live in here at San Antonio. It's our provincial house. We are 34 sisters, so we had other sisters watching the game at home. And across the street from us, we have St. John Bosco Elementary School, and there we have another 11 sisters, plus some young women who are training to become sisters there. So there's 15 sisters and young women there who live at that convent as well. We have another school at St. James in San Antonio. ... So we are more than four sisters, but that's all we could have there that night.
If someone was inspired by seeing y'all at Spurs games or on TV and wants to support your missions, how can someone go about doing that?
Sr. Bernadette Mota: Thank you so much. So, salesiansisterswest.org is our website. So, they could go to our website and make a donation online, and online it also has information if they want to donate by checks. They can send in a check to our Mission Advancement Office here in San Antonio. And again — our mission (is) working with young people and women at risk, that's our focus. So, whether they want to support that mission or to support the care of our elder sisters or to support vocation, because we need more sisters out there in the world doing a lot of good. So, in order to do that, we need more young women who are responding to God's call to become sisters, and that takes money to be able to do that, like sending kids through college. ...Or you could call us at our Mission Advancement office, it's 210-431-4999 and then we could guide you through the process of making a donation as well.
Thanks for a great interview. It's very inspirational. We do need more good news in this world.
