So a priest walks into a poker tournament and wins $100,000. That’s not a joke, but when you first started reading the sentence you probably thought it was going to be. If it was, though, I probably would have started it with, “A priest and a rabbi…”

This, however, is no joke. A South Carolina priest, Reverend Andrew Trapp, recently entered the PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge and took a shot at the $1 million prize. His church, St. Michael Catholic Church, is trying to raise $5.5 million to build a new church and is nearing that goal. Trapp, who is an assistant pastor, received permission from his pastor and also from the Charleston bishop.

Since it was a free tournament, Trapp contends that he wasn’t really gambling. He also stressed that in his view, activities such as gambling and drinking aren’t sinful if they are done in moderation. The key is to be smart and not overdo it (which is pretty much my opinion as well). “It’s a question of moderation, just like anything else,” Trapp said. “We believe it’s fine to enjoy a beer or a glass of wine, but not to abuse it and get drunk.”

Trapp had a lot of fun at the tournament and likely challenged the preconceived notions some of the other players had about priests. “At the very least, even if I didn’t win any prize money, I was hoping it would help people to see that priests can have fun and be normal people and hopefully get a little bit of a fun twist on the image of the priesthood,” Trapp said.

The tournament, believe it or not, was televised on FOX after the football games. Yeah, I know. I didn’t see it, either. I imagine some of the players thought it was unfair competing against a priest. After all, there’s a good chance that God was on his side. Is it cheating if God performs a miracle and gives you the winning hand? I guess not. In any case, Trapp didn’t win the grand prize, but he did bring back $100,000 for the church, which is now a little less than $1 million short of their goal.