Sport
An ecumenical spiritual guidebook for the German athletes who will take part in the XXIII Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, has been jointly published by the German Bishops Conference (Dbk) and by the German Evangelical Church Council (Ekd). Card. Reinhard Marx, president of Dbk, and the regional bishop, Henrich Bedford-Strohm, president of Ekd, emphasised the importance of the values of sport as a way to bring peoples together and accomplish peace: “A passion for sports bring people, populations, cultures and religions together. The Olympic Games are based on the idea of teaching the boundaries of fair competition to put hostile fights at rest and make peace”, Marx and Bedford-Strohm wrote in the foreword. The Bible can help give “a bit of respite to recharge one’s batteries”, given the athletes’ passion and ambition to win. Those who are training for the challenge with the greatest concentration and tension need a short break, and, according to the cardinal and the Evangelical bishop, the ideas that come from the pages of the guidebook can help make the German Olympic athletes relax. The book, which will be handed out to all athletes, contains biblical passages and daily meditations as well as a short history of Korean Christianity. Moreover, the traditional attendance of two spiritual guides, a Catholic and an Evangelical one, staying with the athletes all through the Olympics, as it has happened since the Munich Olympics in 1972, has been confirmed: don Jürgen Hünten will be head of the Catholic chantry.
