Sport and prayer” “

28 sports, 37 disciplines, 10,500 athletes representing 202 nations, and 6 cities in which the competitive events will be held: just some of the numbers of the 28th Olympic Games of the modern era due to be held in Greece from 13 to 29 August. It’s an event that coincides with the European Year of Education through Sport and that will have its prolongation in the Paralympic Games of 2004 in which over 4000 athletes with various disabilities from 145 countries will take part. The Greek Catholic Church is playing a very active role in preparing the ‘spiritual’ reception of the athletes and fans who are expected to arrive in their thousands in Greece for the Games. We discussed the question with the archbishop of Athens and president of the Episcopal Conference of Greece, Msgr. Nicolaos Foskolos . Monsignor Foskolos, the recent success of the Greek team at the European soccer championships in Portugal represents excellent publicity for the forthcoming Olympic Games in Athens… “It goes without saying that I’m delighted by this victory, as are all Greeks. It was a great achievement in sport and shows that, when discipline and tenacity go hand in hand, the results are not slow in coming. The discipline of the German coach Otto Rehagel and the tenacity of our players, in this case, produced the miracle, which none of us had expected. But what I want to stress is that it was a great team effort”. What’s the message of these Games? “I would say the Olympic message, first of all: the message that this time of competitive sport is also a time of peace and brotherhood between peoples. In past centuries, during the Olympic Games, wars and strife were intermitted by periods of truce, the weapons of war fell silent and only the shouts of the winning athletes could be heard. No longer bloodshed, no longer death, but only fair play marked by gestures of sportsmanship and mutual respect. I would like the same to happen now. The participation of athletes from countries marked by war invites us to reflect that sport too can help to overcome and settle conflicts”. As the Catholic Church have you thought of any particular initiative to ‘characterise’ the Games? “These Games cannot be ignored by our Church. Already in 1896, the year of the first Olympic Games of the modern era, also held in Greece, the Church contributed effectively to their organization. Dominican Father Henry Didon worked hand in hand with the man who revived the Olympic idea, Baron De Coubertin. Now, 108 years later, the Olympic Games are returning to Greece along with thousands of fans, including many Catholics. That’s why the Church must not find itself unprepared. In recent days we read out in our churches a letter in which we recall the profound spirit of the Olympics, starting out from the Olympic motto that was coined by Father Didon for the first Games, ‘Citius, altius, fortius’, (faster, higher, stronger) and that still appears in the stadia in which athletes will be competing for the Olympic medals”. What else have you planned to welcome the many fans that will come to follow the Games? “On 11 August, two days before the official opening of the Games, all Catholic priests, including those following the teams, will meet in the Catholic cathedral of St. Denis in Athens to celebrate a mass. During the Games the churches will try to extend hospitality to all those, whether sports fans or not, who would like to dedicate part of their time to prayer with the available clergy”. And what about the athletes ‘forced’ to live within the Olympic Village? “An ecumenical centre for prayer and meditation, served by European priests, will be made available inside the village. The initiative, which results from the collaboration of the Greek Episcopal Conference with the episcopates of Italy, Germany, Spain, France and England, will also ensure the presence of Orthodox and Protestant representatives. The venue in question only measures some 100 square metres, but space certainly won’t be lacking for those who want to find a bit of silence between one contest and another. The hope is that it may become a place thronged with athletes, in spite of the problems linked to security”.