Australian Catholics will hear from the head of the Vatican’s Church and Sport Office during an online, national consultation later this month exploring sports and faith.
Santiago Pérez de Camino, head of the Church and Sport Office in the Vatican Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, will provide a keynote address as part of the February 28 consultation, examining the Vatican’s 2018 document on the Christian perspective on sport and the human person, titled Giving the best of yourself.
Dr Pérez de Camino will also share insights from the 2022 Vatican conference that had the theme “Sport for All”.
The consultation is being hosted by the Bishops Commission for Evangelisation, Laity and Ministry (BCELM), and will also include input from locals Stephen Reid and Helene O’Neill.
Dr Reid, who works at the National Centre for Pastoral Research, recently completed a doctoral thesis on sports chaplaincy, while Ms O’Neill, from the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle, is a sports chaplain and former ABC sports commentator.
The ministry of sports chaplaincy, Dr Reid said, was a prime example of the intersection between sports and faith.
“Sports chaplains bridge a gap between the two very different cultures of sport and Church,” he said. “Although sometimes tenuous, chaplains can provide a link, otherwise broken, between two vital local communities: the local parish or church and the local sporting club.
“At a time in Australia’s history when identification with Christianity is at an all-time low … there is actually great ministry opportunities for Christians to ‘be Jesus’ to people in their local community through sporting clubs.”
The online consultation will conclude with an opportunity for group discussion on ways the Church can become a protagonist in the experience and culture of sport in Australia.
Earlier this month, when addressing members of an amateur sports association in the Vatican to mark the 50th anniversary of the Vatican Football League’s establishment[i], Pope Francis said sport can greatly aid in the development of the human person.
He outlined three key rules for athletes – training, discipline and motivation – which can also be applied to daily life.
“Our thought turns first to effort – training takes effort – to sweat, to sacrifice. At the basis of this there is the passion for one’s own sport,” Pope Francis said.
“If there is this attitude, then competition is healthy; otherwise, interests of various types prevail, the competition is damaged, and at times it is even corrupted.”
A disciplined athlete, the Pope said, is not simply one who plays by the rules, but one who wants to learn in a spirit of humility.
“The true sportsperson always seeks to learn, to grow, to improve,” he said. “And this demands, precisely, discipline, which is capacity for self-mastery, to correct the impulsiveness that we all have, more or less. Discipline then enables each person to play his or her role, and the team to express the best of the whole.”
Regarding motivation, Pope Francis said St Paul’s words in the Second Letter to Timothy were particularly relevant: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7).
“In a competition, it is motivation, that is, inner strength, that gives the impetus that leads to a good result,” he said. “The test is not on the numerical result, but how faithful we were and how consistent with our calling.”
The national sports consultation will be held via Zoom on February 28 from 7pm-9pm AEDT. To view the program and to register, visit www.nce.catholic.org.au/sport.
Image: Diocese of Parramatta
Words: Matthew Biddle
[i] https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2023/february/documents/20230209-sport-vaticano.html