After Matt Alvar discovered Brazilian jiujitsu (BJJ) in 2018, he told a few friends from his parish, St. John the Evangelist in Little Canada, that he could imagine Jesus practicing the “gentle” martial art because it can foster growth in humility, patience and discipline.
Alvar, 45, explained how BJJ, a grappling art that doesn’t involve kicking or striking, helps those who practice it to use technique, leverage and strategy to control and force opponents into submission.
Some of his friends decided to try it. And now, 13 men, ranging in age from their late 20s to mid-40s, parishioners and men outside of the parish, meet regularly for BJJ and prayer as one of St. John’s eight parish small groups modeled after the Parish Evangelization Cells System (PECS) encouraged by Archbishop Bernard Hebda as part of implementing his 2022 pastoral letter, “You Will Be My Witnesses: Gathered and Sent From the Upper Room.”
At an April 27 session in a Brazilian jiujitsu gym in White Bear Lake that is donated for the group’s workouts, Thaddeus Arrowsmith, 37, of Epiphany in Coon Rapids, said he enjoys the PECS sessions and the martial arts training.
“I love it. A whole bunch of Catholic men doing jiujitsu, it’s great,” Arrowsmith said. Physical and spiritual challenges somehow blend in the group’s discussions and prayers, he said. “There’s a whole lot of men going through the same thing (in life). There’s a lot of shared knowledge.”
At the end of the 90-minute session, Alvar led a short prayer, thanking God for the time together. “You make us better,” Alvar said, addressing the Lord. “And jiujitsu makes us better.”
Alvar started the group — The Holy Rollers — in 2024. The group’s name derives from the BJJ practice of rolling: ground-based sparring that involves skills tested in a controlled yet dynamic setting for adapting and thinking under pressure.
BJJ was developed in the early 20th century by two Brazilian brothers who studied traditional jiujitsu techniques and modified them to focus on self-defense, according to the North American Grappling Association.
At one of their twice monthly meetings, the Holy Rollers pray and enjoy fellowship through PECS meeting elements that include praise and worship; sharing recent experiences of God and participants’ responses to him; a teaching element and discussion; and intercessory prayer for those in and outside the group. In the second gathering on one Sunday afternoon of each month, an average of seven to eight members go to the gym in White Bear Lake to learn and practice BJJ techniques.
Some of the men are new to the martial art, which is more about mastering techniques and strategizing than physical size, they said. Their connection through rolling helps them bond and develop trust, patience and humility, Alvar said.
BJJ “literally changes their life and that’s another tie to my Catholic faith, that Jesus in that way changes your life, but you have to work at it,” he said. “You’re going to fail at it and it’s not easy. It’s a struggle.”
Peter Dinndorf, 40, also a St. John the Evangelist parishioner, joined the group a year ago without previous martial arts experience. He said he has learned rolling techniques fairly quickly. The Air Force veteran said he appreciates The Holy Rollers’ blend of faith and a sport that emphasizes technique.
When Yacsel Torres Gonzalez, 32, joined the Holy Rollers last year, the St. John the Evangelist parishioner was training in Muay Thai, a martial art involving striking with multiple limbs of the body.
Along with the fellowship he finds in The Holy Rollers with other Christian men who hold him accountable, Gonzalez said he appreciates the pace of BJJ and the fact it doesn’t depend on brute strength. He sees a parallel in BJJ with suffering and submission in the spiritual life.
“When you want to do it your way and push through it,” he said, “and the Lord’s telling you to do one thing, but you want to keep going a certain way until you have to submit — because eventually the Lord is going to have you do it his way.”
