The Church’s social teaching about sport: a powerful instrument for growth

On the 7^th of March, the Symposium on the Church and Sport, co-sponsored by the Play Like a Champion Educational Series, brought together scholars, American bishops, and Catholic Youth Sport administrators to discuss and examine the role of youth and sports in society, particularly using the Dicastery’s document on sport “Giving the best of yourself” and pastoral implications as a framework in a U.S. context, for the meeting. The general focus of the Symposium was to engage in the notion of “pay to play” that occurs throughout the country, and the role of Catholic universities, schools and parishes should play in making sports available to all children regardless of their religion, financial circumstances, and physical ability.

The Prefect, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, sent a letter to Dr. Clark Power, founder and director of Play Like a Champion today, and the participants of the Symposium affirming the fact that excluding students from playing a sport makes it difficult for “all children to enjoy the human and spiritual benefits of sports.” Leaving out children from playing a sport is “contrary to the life and ministry of Jesus, who always showed special concern for children and particularly for the poor and the excluded.”