Getty Tom Brady comes from a Catholic background.
Tom Brady grew up in a Catholic home but has shied away from describing himself as belonging to one particular faith. During a 2015 interview with The New York Times’ Mark Leibovich, Brady explained he was open to different belief systems. Leibovich noted there was a menorah in the house, but Brady nor his wife, Gisele Bundchen, consider themselves Jewish.
He marched me back into the house, through the kitchen and past a shelf that displayed a large glass menorah. “We’re not Jewish,” Brady said when I asked him about this. “But I think we’re into everything. . . . I don’t know what I believe. I think there’s a belief system, I’m just not sure what it is.” After Brady won his third Super Bowl in 2005, he seemed to betray a wistful sense of anticlimax in an interview with Steve Kroft on 60 Minutes. “Maybe a lot of people would say, ‘Hey, man, this is what it is, I’ve reached my goal,’ ” he told Kroft. “Me, I think, God, it’s got to be more than this.”
Brady’s comments led to a lot of fans attempting to evangelize to the Patriots quarterback. Brady noted that a number of fans sent him Bibles after the 60 Minutes segment aired.
“I got a litany of Bibles sent to me after that,” Brady told The New York Times. “When I think back on that, what a narrow perspective I had. I’m 27. I don’t know [expletive]. Not that I know [expletive] at 37.”
Gisele Described Brady as Catholic
During a 2009 Vanity Fair interview, Gisele referred to Brady as Catholic. Gisele described Brady as Catholic and also noted it was an attractive quality.
“He’s very close to his family,” Gisele explained to Vanity Fair. “He’s Catholic. His parents have been married 40 years. He’s got a pure heart. That’s all that matters—he’s got the purest heart. I feel grateful because I have a lot of love in my life. I found the person I’m sharing my life with. I have a good man.”
The couple got married in a Catholic church in Santa Monica, California.
Brady’s Dad, Tom Sr., Trained to Become a Priest
GettyTom Bradys dad, Tom Brady Sr., after Super Bowl 51.
Brady’s father, Tom Brady Sr., has been outspoken about his own Catholic faith. There was even a time when Brady Sr. wanted to be a priest. Brady Sr. spoke at the 2008 Worcester Diocesan Men’s Conference and discussed how his faith help grounds the family.
“Through the resources of our Catholic faith, there’s been some degree of normalcy in our lives,” Brady Sr. said, per Catholic.org. “Even though there’s been a lot of pain in a lot of areas, there’s been a tremendous amount of joy. That’s what this journey is about. Actually, I think the journey could be summed up as living out the ordinary in these extraordinary times.”
The New York Times detailed Brady Sr.’s time at a Catholic seminary.
A self-employed estate consultant who had spent seven years in a Catholic seminary before deciding that the priesthood was not for him (the vow of celibacy was a sticking point), the senior Brady still lives in the same house in San Mateo where his son grew up and still attends all of his son’s games.