PARIS (AP) — As athletes ramp up training and organizers finalize everything from ceremonies to the podium. Paris OlympicsMore than 120 religious leaders are gearing up for another challenge: providing spiritual support to some 10,000 Olympic athletes around the world, especially those whose medal dreams are sure to be dashed.
“We need to bring them back to reality, because after four or five years of working toward this goal, it can feel like the end of the world,” said Jason Nioka, a former judo champion and deacon who leads the largest group of Olympic chaplains, about 40 Catholic priests, nuns and laypeople.
Clerics and lay representatives from the world’s five major religions — Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism — have been working together for months to build a common hall in the Olympic Village outside Paris.
There they will worship, pray and, most importantly, demonstrate an open listening ear to players and staff in need, regardless of faith.
“We’re not here to get the players to win,” said Anne Schweitzer, who oversees the second-largest group of about 30 Protestant pastors. “My goal is to raise up Christian witnesses who embody the love and care of Christ for the players who are under immense pressure.”
Olympic chaplains have a history of being in high demand: Organizers said they received more than 8,000 requests during the pre-pandemic Olympics, ranging from mental health concerns to pre-competition blessings to dealing with sudden deaths in family members back home.
But this year, pastors were barred from attending the meeting due to France’s secularism law. Strictly define the role of religion in the public sphere Preparing for the repercussions of two major conflicts happening nearby; Russia-Ukraine War and The war between Israel and Hamasespecially, Increased athletic activity.
“I see our mission as being to protect their vulnerability,” said the Rev. Anton Gelyasov of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of France, who is leading a contingent of more than 20 Orthodox pastors for the Olympics. “Secondly, to bear witness that we are here not just as ‘my church’ but as a ‘religion’ and that it is good that we are here together.”
Indeed, the behind-the-scenes negotiations to accommodate the different faiths, and the different cultural, national and liturgical traditions within each faith, reveal a teamwork worthy of the podium by the all-volunteer pastoral corps.
Each religion will be given 50 square meters (538 square feet) of space in tent-like structures that Paris organisers are building and furnishing in the village, with the basic task of welcoming athletes and providing information about worship services.
And so Jewish and Muslim leaders decided to set up their spaces next to each other as, in the words of Rabbi Moshe Lewin, “an image and example” of how we can coexist even in times of heightened geopolitical tensions.
Buddhists and Hindus, who are expected to have the fewest adherents, have donated half the space to Christians, who will be staffed by a rotating staff of about 100 pastors serving Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants.
Next comes interfaith diplomacy: Muslim spaces will be separated by partitions to allow men and women to perform their daily prayers separately and to respect different practices within Islam globally, said Najat Benali, president of the Paris Coordinating Organization of Islamic Associations, which is preparing the Muslim chaplains.
Christians have respected Protestant sensitivities and have compromised on the types of crosses and icons they bring to the venue — no statues of Jesus on the cross, for example — while Buddhists provide statues of the Buddha and meditation cushions but strive for a balance between the extreme simplicity of Zen tradition and the vibrant colors of Tibetan tradition, said Luc Charles, a Zen monk, taekwondo instructor and hospital chaplain for the French Buddhist Union.
Most of its rich traditions are deliberately hidden from view in a country where signs of faith are often discreet. Almost completely excluded from public institutionsJeanne Le Comte du Colombier, the Paris Olympic Committee’s project manager for interfaith centres, said the hall itself would not be located in the centre of the village and signs pointing to it would be discreet so as not to disturb non-believers.
While the Olympics are not a place for proselytizing, some religious leaders said they wish there could be more outreach in the athletes’ village, especially for athletes from countries without religious freedom who might be hesitant to come to the venue for counseling or blessings.
Religious leaders have formed a network of religious sites, from mosques to parishes, outside the athletes’ village and in other French cities. Hosting a tournament like Marseille The stadium in Lyon will have special opening hours and multilingual services for athletes, but security will be less stringent than in the athletes’ village.
The French Catholic Bishops’ Conference has launched a nationwide “Holy Games” initiative. Since last September, it has been installing a “Maiden of Athletes” chapel in La Madeleine, an iconic church in central Paris, where believers can light candles with inspirational quotes about sports and enter prayer requests on a tablet that links directly to the monastic community.
The Holy Games also works to include disadvantaged communities, such as the homeless and immigrants, in the Olympic celebrations. There is a risk of further marginalising them“We are thrilled to be working with such a diverse team,” said project director Isabelle de Chatelles.
Some teams are also being asked to bring in their own chaplains, but religious leaders have said players might prefer to go to a parsonage for sensitive issues.
They are, for example, seeking to have an equal number of male and female chaplains and preparing to hear possible cases of abuse within player teams. And while most denominations offer some form of peace prayer and have vowed to welcome players who offer prayers, they are also preparing for the possibility of conflict escalating between countries at war.
“The geopolitical situation will have an impact on athletes, but the Olympics offer a wonderful opportunity to meet others,” said Lewin, a Jewish chaplain who is special adviser to the chief rabbi of France, vice president of the Council of European Rabbis and a member of the European Parliament.
“We have worship, not politics,” Benali agreed. “We explain that we listen to the players and we are with them. We are not the right people to deal with geopolitical issues.”
Part of that spiritual accompaniment stems from how each sect defines health, the human body, and the role of sport. Many religious texts describe the body as a temple of the spirit, making caring for one’s health a moral imperative.
Many see similarities between church pews and bleachers in spiritual values such as dedication, perseverance and self-sacrifice.
“Sports gives us values to live our faith rooted in Christ,” said Nioka, 28, who is due to be ordained a priest a month from now. Opening ceremony.
Athletes may especially benefit from this before races, given the Orthodox Christian tradition’s emphasis on the daily battle against sin, what Gelyasov calls “spiritual warfare.”
“If you’re not moving forward, you’re moving backwards. You have to keep moving forward,” he explained.
After the race, rather than focusing on the pressure to deliver, in Charles’ words, “an almost superhuman performance,” perhaps Buddhist meditation can help clear the mind.
“We have been given this body and this life, but the final decision is made by a higher energy,” the Zen monk said.
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