"Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play…it is war minus the shooting."
Sport, Education, Faith
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Towards a new season for Catholic sports associations, Liberia Editrice Vaticana, Rome, 2011
This is the third Vatican publication on sport in recent years followingThe World of sport today and Sport an educational and pastoral challenge
Bits of it were excellent but for me it was the least interesting of the three. That is partly because the emphasis on Catholic sports associations is of limited interest to the non-Catholic reader. On that subject I also struggle with the copious quotations from popes with hardly any reference to Scripture. The English is at times stilted. I have no idea what a “A program of integral formation through sport” is or “Modest cultural background”.
The introductory questions were excellent: “What does our faith bring to the practice of a sport? What makes a Catholic sports association different from another one?” I am just not sure that clear answers emerged.
The diversity of approaches to sport in the catholic [or protestant!]world was also helpfully acknowledged at the outset: “Within Church environments, there are those who consider sport as a threat to the pastoral care of youth as its activities can conflict times scheduled for catechism or faith formation or even infringe on Sunday itself, the Lord’s Day. Others see sport as a type of hook that can attract the youth back to Church. Among parents, there are those who consider sport as a convenient after-school program for their children”. I recognized that more than the later statement “The Church has always expressed a “ natural” sympathy for the sporting phenomenon” Really?
On the other hand, I was not sure I understood the statement: “Today the world of sport is characterized by a search for both quality and meaning”. I resonated more with the concept of: “The Church’s twofold mission of safeguarding sport from degradation and enlightening the sport’s culture with the light that only the Lord can give.” And with the idea that “the Church and Catholic sport associations, while respecting the autonomy proper to each institution, must find more and more ways of collaborating with the entire International sports movement in pursuing those same general goals that favour the development of the human person”. Oh for more people in the evangelical sports ministry world to want to engage more with sport rather than evangelise through it.
Michael McNamee’s chapter: “Sport and virtue: integral education of the person” was much more about virtue than Christianity. Similiarly Edio Costantini’s “New approaches and educational Strategies for sporting environments” is more about sport and education than theology.
I enjoyed Susan Saint Sing’s “Sport and the spiritual life: Glorify God in your body” notwithstanding her opening statement that she is not a theologian. I have reviewed other writings by SusanSpirituality of sport and her chapter “The energy of Play” in Theology, Ethics and Transcendence in Sport Her reflections on play and her Christian interpretation of her rowing were particularly interesting. She writes, “Play matters and we should play as if it matters because we are playing at the feet of Abba our Father”. Amen!
Valerio Bianchini in “Forging champions on and off the field” suggests that the
champion athlete “must not ever forget that his talent is a gift from God and with this gift comes a great responsibility”.
The Panel discussion “Opportunities to witness to Christ in Catholic sport” includes some helpful thoughts. Guzman Camiquiry argues for a practical holiness in sport: “the sporting activities promoted by the associations, the parish oratories and the Catholic schools should be considered as places of holiness. This concept of holiness should not be considered as the stereotypical recitation of pious devotionals, but as the response to our vocation to grow to the fullness of human maturity as revealed in Jesus Christ; this human stature is based upon the fact that we have been created in the image of God and regenerated as new men and women through our Baptism into Christ”. The concept of working out our holiness on the sports field is a challenge indeed.
He further asks if we can have a ‘Gospel of the family’ and of a ‘Gospel of work’ Cannot we, therefore, speak or a “Gospel of sport” or, at least of proclaiming the Good News in sport?”
I also found the following statement in Javier Agudo Garcia’s reflection on youth evangelization thought-provoking: “We believe that the Gospel is a seed that needs to fall on fertile soil in order that it may germinate and bear fruit. While youth Sports are not an immediate place for preaching the Gospel in a direct way, they do possess an extraordinary capacity for preparing the ground for the Gospel and for bringing people closer to the ideal of human perfection as proposed by Our Lord Jesus Christ”.
A book of multiple contributions and panel discussions will inevitably vary in standard. This is the case with the book in question. That I found it the least interesting of the trilogy certainly, in part, reflects my interests. That the Vatican is continuing to encourage serious reflection on sport is enormously encouraging.