Other Christians question whether Church should embrace globalized Games

By Laureen McMahon

The Vancouver Archdiocese is looking for Olympic gold - but not the shiny medal kind!

The Church’s winning Winter Games strategy when thousands descend early next year on Vancouver and Whistler, says Archbishop J. Michael Miller, can be summed up in the words “radical hospitality.”

Malin Jordan / Th B.C. Catholic Part of the Olympic clock at the Vancouver Art Gallery. As the clock ticks down to the February 2010 Games, the Archdiocese of Vancouver is gearing up to show “radical hospitality” to visitors.

“We want to be the face of Christ to visitors, volunteers, and participants,” said the archbishop. “We are part of More Than Gold, a multi-denominational Christian network offering a united outreach during this once-in-a-lifetime experience. We join with others to speak in one voice and offer services in the spirit of social justice and loving Christian witness.”

A 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games Committee, which began meeting last summer under the direction of archdiocesan vice chancellor Barbara Dowding, is urging all Catholics to take a part in helping the games be a success. The opportunities are many, said Dowding, from manning Archdiocesan Hospitality Centres and mobile coffee canteens to volunteering for the homestay program to handing out welcome and care kits. Parishes have been asked to nominate at least one individual to liaise with the committee to ensure that all churches in the archdiocese get involved, she noted.

A Nov. 18 Human Trafficking in our own Backyard event organized by the More Than Gold committee took place at St. Stephen’s Church in North Vancouver to draw attention to the threat of human trafficking and exploitation during the Winter Olympics, said organizer Pat Battensby. “It’s a good way for Christian churches to connect with our neighbours and help educate people on the issue.”

When plans to stage the Olympics were first announced, for every group enthusiastically on board, there was another loudly critical.

Two views of the games have emerged and Christians, like everyone, don’t always come down on one particular side.

Some enthusiastically embrace the Olympic spirit’s emphasis on peace, human harmony, and fair play, not to mention happily lining up to pick up the coveted Olympic pins. Others feel that agreeing to host the Olympics is a sign of giving in to the powerful and the rich of the world in a way that Jesus would disapprove. They are against spending tax money on infrastructure and Olympic venues at the expense of solving poverty and homelessness.

One such group, the Olympic Resistance Network hosted a workshop at the end of October for Vancouver teachers. Teaching 2010 Resistance information appeared on the Vancouver Elementary Teachers Association website although VETA president Chris Harris was quoted as saying that attendance at the event was purely voluntary and that the association was “not for or against the Olympics.”

Unlike the public schools, Vancouver Catholic elementary and high schools will close during the games to allow students to be with their families either watching TV or going to events. CISVA associate superintendent Dan Moric told The B.C. Catholic that adjusting the school calendar and starting classes early allowed teachers to attend a faith development day on Sept. 2 with Archbishop Miller. “The new timing really worked in our favour,” said Moric.

Streams of Justice (SOJ), a local Christian social justice agency, released the film A Tale of Two Visions which pointed out that the Olympics have been responsible for the displacement of 2,000,000 people in the last 20 years as housing is levelled for new construction. Another negative, says the organization, is the increased air traffic to bring in visitors and participants.

David Wells, a Christian who has been active in chaplaincy at athletic games including Canada’s last Winter Olympics in Calgary in 1988, suggests using the games to promote God’s kingdom.

Wells, who is associated with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada and chair of the Vancouver Olympics’ inter-faith working group, said that Christians should be at the table when discussions are going on about the effects on housing, the environment and human trafficking. The games, he acknowledged, do have a reputation for displacing the poor and opening the door to trafficking, but “the biblical model of seeking the good of the city you live in (Jeremiah 29:7) can and should be adopted.” Christians, he said, can be “a redemptive influence.”

Vancouver Archdiocesan Office of Service and Justice director Dan Hahn said that, while the games themselves don’t serve a moral function one way or another, their size and scope and the mass influx of people, money, and exposure “have a way of magnifying problems such as homelessness and human trafficking.”

The hope, Hahn added, is that the negatives will be balanced by some good things, especially the example to the world of the Olympic ideals of perseverance, sportsmanship and camaraderie.

“One may ask how supporting young athletes to fulfill their dreams and goals necessarily constitutes standing with the powerful of our world,” he noted. “There is also the question of economic spinoff, forecasted to last for about four years or so, which may help everyone in some way and not just the powerful.” He agreed that it may be hard to determine who exactly benefits in the end but, “We should remember there was a list of inner-city initiatives that actually formed a part of the city’s bid and we must hold government accountable for delivering on their promises including concerning low-income housing.”

While supporting the games Hahn added, it is important to call “for measures to combat unintended side effects and also make certain they do not overtake our own initiatives to help those in need and vulnerable. In the end, we do have to take a pragmatic approach and acknowledge that the games are going to take place so should try to be a part of it and produce as much good as we can. Let us support the good in them but also stand up for the most vulnerable in our society. Nothing in the nature of the games and Christianity should prevent us from doing both.”

Visit www.rcav.org/2010.