Posted on 01/18/2013 6:44:59 AM PST by marshmallow
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In an effort to flex its moral muscle in the professional sports arena, the Vatican has invited top-tier Christian athletes Tim Tebow and Jeremy Lin to help bring ethical values back to a scandal-ridden world of sports.
The Pontifical Council for Culture is planning to host an international conference on re-instilling values in sports this spring, inviting representatives from top world governing bodies like FIFA (the International Federation of Association Football), the International Cycling Union and the Italian National Olympic Committee.
Msgr. Melchor Sanchez de Toca Alameda, head of the council's "Culture and Sport" section, told Catholic News Service Jan. 16 that pro sports "have become a commodity that is subordinate to the free market and, therefore, to profit."
Instead of sports being an activity that builds important values, respects human dignity and helps shape the whole human person, "it has reduced people to merchandise," he said.
U.S. cyclist Lance Armstrong's admission to doping was just the tip of the iceberg, he said, since high-stakes commercial interests pressure almost every professional cyclist into the illegal practice. The world of cycling and soccer is "a world that is rotten," he said.
"We want to work with the big sports bodies to give new value to sports" and the upcoming conference -- titled "We Believe in Sports" -- will be one way to get that initiative started, the monsignor said.
The council will also have Catholic and Christian athletes in attendance, to give witness to how the worlds of faith and sports can easily come together.
He said the council hoped its participant line-up would include two high-profile Christian U.S. sports stars: NFL quarterback Tim Tebow of the New York Jets, and NBA basketball player Jeremy Lin of the Houston Rockets.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicnews.com ...
Their hearts are in the right place with this effort but...
Well. I wish them luck cleaning things up.
Perhaps the athletes should reciprocate by inviting some bishops to a conference to help bring ethical values back to a scandal-ridden world of religion.
Lol! You forgot the sarc tag. :-)
I thought about posting this article. Do any RC's want to comment on why your church is pointing to two Born Again Christians as good examples in sports. I think one suggestion your church could make to raise it's image in the NFL is to have RC's join the Born Again Christians at the center of the field after the game.
Are there any high-profile Catholic athletes or other celebrities that have taken a public stand for traditional morality?
Uh....could it be because they are good examples in sports and the Church is actually sincere in what it is trying to achieve with no ulterior motive or hidden agenda??
Why the surprise?
There must be, but I don't know of any.
We probably know so many Born Again Christians because they are very visible trying to share The Gospel and are so quick to offer praise and thanks to GOD for their success. RC's don't share The Gospel because for them it's all about church membership.
They've been given special mention because of their high profile in this country.
Why the surprise?
The hypocrisy of your church.
Your church goes to great length to denigrate Born Again Christians and yet when your church wants to elevate the examples of good Christians in sports they pick out Born Again Christians as good symbols.
Please give me some examples of th Church denigrating Born Again Christians. All Catholics are Born Again Christians.
Peace be with you
Sorry you feel that way.
The Catholic Church embraces what is good in every circumstance, irrespective of its origin. It will also continue to insist that it preaches the fullness of the Gospel Truth but that is in no way synonymous with "denigrating" non-Catholics.
Here's a thought. Maybe you've actually misjudged us........
What's The Gospel?
The Gospel is the revelation in Jesus Christ of God's mercy to sinners.
I'm not surprised that a RC would not know how to share The Gospel when asked. It is pretty rare when one can. This is why it is so hypocritical of the RCC to want to use Born Again Christians to promote Christianity in sports. We are two different faiths, just as Mormons are not Evangelical Christians Roman Catholics are not Evangelical Christians.
The Gospel is this: God the Father sent His only Divine Son to become a man so that He might walk among us, teach us, and court His bride (the Church). That Son, Jesus Christ, voluntarily died for our sins as a sacrifice, and we become the adopted children of the Father through baptism. If we have faith and cooperate with God’s works begun in us, we will be given eternal life in heaven with God forever.
This is how the catechism puts it:
PROLOGUE
“FATHER, . . . this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”1 “God our Savior desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”2 “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved”3 - than the name of JESUS.
1 God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength. He calls together all men, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the Church. To accomplish this, when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son as Redeemer and Savior. In his Son and through him, he invites men to become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children and thus heirs of his blessed life.
Dr. William Marshner, once a Protestant, and now a Melkite Catholic and theologian, puts it this way:
“The good news is that prior to anything that you and I ever received or did, there was an objective redemption. God sent his son into the world, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, and that son of God died not only for me and you but for the whole world, as it says in 1 John. There is a universal, objective redemption. And in that universal objective redemption, Christ died for us. The objective redemption is not just a physical thing, but through the mind of God accepting it in the mind of Christ accomplishing it, every one of us is reached as an intentional object. He died knowing you by name. And that is the basic imputation. That’s where the imputational moment is. He died for all of us. And because his righteousness is imputed to every human being in an intentional way, grace is in the world. Grace is in the world and the very first grace we receive is thanks to the fact that God is reckoning Christ’s righteousness to us. Otherwise, why would he be giving us grace?”
http://www.catholicintl.com/audio/De...esUsSample.MP3
I think Marshner was thinking of CCC 422 because it says:
(quoting Mark 1:1):
422 ‘But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.’ This is ‘the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God’:’ God has visited his people. He has fulfilled the promise he made to Abraham and his descendants. He acted far beyond all expectation - he has sent his own ‘beloved Son’.
I am not surprised that you failed to explain how my answer failed to satisfy your criteria. I'll give you another shot at it.
It's a pretty safe bet that Jeremy Lin & Tim Tebow would agree with me that as Born Again Christians we really don't care what your catechism says. This is what makes this whole thing so funny. Your church has to use two Born Again Christians as examples of good Christian witnesses in sports. If someone has just a basic understanding of what Evangelical Born Again Christians believe and what Roman Catholics believe they would understand that the two are very distinct.
I suppose the marketing wing of the Roman Catholic Church banks on most people not understanding our differences.
You will find Catholic athletes at ‘Catholic Athletes For Christ’
No, the Catholic Church chooses to. There is a difference. Would you rather the Church use the many examples of flawed Protestant athletes to illustrate what is wrong with sports?
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