Interfaith diplomacy: Olympic chaplains have a history of being in high demand. The behind-the-scenes negotiations to accommodate different faiths, and the different cultures, nationalities and liturgical traditions within each faith, speak to the podium-worthy teamwork of the all-volunteer chaplain corps. Photo courtesy of WFMJ
PARIS (AP) — As athletes gear up for training ahead of the Paris Olympics and organizers finalize everything from the ceremonies to the podium, more than 120 religious leaders are gearing up for another challenge: providing spiritual support to some 10,000 Olympians 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 of the world’s five major religions – Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism – have been working together for months to build a common hall at 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 a group of about 30 pastors from the second-largest Protestant congregation in the country. “My goal is to raise up Christian witnesses who embody the love and care of Christ for the players who are under immense pressure.”
Demand for Olympic chaplains has always been high: 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 the sudden death of a family member back home. But this year, chaplains are training for even more complex challenges, from adhering to France’s secularism laws that strictly regulate the role of religion in the public sphere to preparing for the ripple effects of two major conflicts escalating not far away, the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israel-Hamas war, at a time of heightened athlete activism.
“I see our mission as one of protecting 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, respecting Protestant sensitivities, 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 these rich traditions will be hidden from view — a deliberate move in a country where most signs of faith are banned from public institutions. The hall itself will not be located in the center of the village, and signs to it will be discreet so as not to disturb non-believers, said Jeanne Le Comte du Colombier, project manager for the interfaith center at the Paris Olympic Committee.
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 are forming a network of religious sites, from mosques to parishes, outside the Olympic Village and in other French cities hosting the games, including Marseille and Lyon. Though security will be less stringent than inside the village, these sites will offer special opening hours and multilingual services for athletes.
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 sport and enter prayer requests on a tablet linked directly to the monastic community.
The Holy Games also works to include disadvantaged groups such as homeless people and immigrants in the Olympic festivities, but this risks further marginalizing them, 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 prayer, they are also preparing for the possibility of escalating conflict between countries at war.
“The geopolitical situation will have an impact on athletes, but the Olympics provide a wonderful opportunity to meet others,” said Lewin, a special adviser to the chief rabbi of France, vice-president of the Council of European Rabbis and a Jewish chaplain.
“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.
“Sport gives us values to live with faith rooted in Christ,” said the 28-year-old Futaoka, who will be ordained a priest a month before the 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 called “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 what Charles calls “an almost superhuman performance”, perhaps some Buddhist meditation can help calm 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.