By South Carolina
PARIS (OSV News) — If she were the busiest woman in the Church of France in those days, Isabelle de Chatellus, 46, of the Diocese of Versailles, would probably be that.
She is the director of the “Holy Games”, the initiative of the French Catholic Church for the Olympic Games, coordinating the volunteers recognizable by their yellow t-shirts with the logo of the Holy Games.
“I just left the Olympic village in Saint-Denis,” Chatellus told OSV News. “It’s a pretty normal and peaceful place. It is a people where all humanity gathers. The flags of the countries represented are in each and every window!It’s very beautiful.
He explained that at a multi-religious center on the outskirts of town, “at first there weren’t many people,” Chatellus said. “But little by little, athletes are taking ownership of the place, getting to know it better. they begin to come and go, and little by little they learn what the times of prayer are.
To Catholics participating in the Olympics, Chatellus recommended that athletes “go to Mass at the nearby church. “We celebrated there each and every night for them. They come there in total privacy, to recharge their batteries, with total discretion. It is very nice to see them reflected like this.
He commented on the opening rite of the July 26 Olympics, in which a drag display parodied Leonardo da Vinci’s iconic portrait of the Last Supper, creating a department and drawing complaints from Catholics and other religions around the world. Chatellis said it “destabilized Christians around the world. “world” and that the Holy Games committee “received many messages from harmful people, deeply saddened through some passages of the rite. “
However, he also commented that “they talked a lot with members of the International Olympic Committee after this,” admitting that “it was a bit complicated. “
Chatellus explained that after the ceremony, “we seek to turn the page” and concentrate on welcoming the athletes and delegations.
The young volunteers for the Holy Games especially note the spiritual richness of the project.
“They are organized into small teams and have morning hours to recharge their batteries and train, in order to deepen their Christian virtues,” he said.
For them, the highlight of the week is the veneration of the Crown of Thorns, which takes place on Fridays in the church of Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois, near the Louvre Museum.
The crown of thorns takes the shape of a circle 8. 3 inches in diameter. It is the most valuable relic of the Notre-Dame Cathedral treasury. She rose from the flames on the night of the cathedral fire on April 15, 2019 thanks to the chaplain of the Paris fire brigade, Father Jean-Marc Fournier, and waits in Saint Germain l’Auxerrois until she is taken back to Notre-Dame after the cathedral reopens. December 8.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity,” Chatellus said. Normally, this veneration is only presented on Fridays of Lent. It is worth meditating on the laurel wreath of athletes and on the hope that Christ’s crown of thorns represents for Christians.
The laurel wreath has been a symbol of victory, success and fame since the first Olympic Games in Greece.
The young people also perform in the Madeleine church, or Sainte-Marie-Madeleine church, 500 meters from the La Concorde Olympic site, where a temporary stadium has been installed to host skateboarding, BMX Freestyle and 3×3. basketball.
“The Concorde metro station is closed, so everyone gets to the Madeleine station,” Chatellus explained. “So there are a lot of other people around the church and a lot of them come in. “
Inside the emblematic church, where the Olympic truce began on July 19 in the presence of more than a hundred diplomatic delegations, young volunteers invite visitors and faithful to leave intentions in the “athletes’ chapel” or to lay a candle to pray for peace. Mass and confessions are presented in other languages. Every night there is a music festival that alternates classical music, pop worship, gospel and Christian rock.
Another plos angelesce of the Holy Games that mobilizes young people is located near another Parisian square, the Plos angelesce of the Nation. There, in the buildings of the Eugène Napoléon Foundation, the young people welcome the young people of the community. and every day for sports activities and every day, food is served to about fifty people most in need.
“This size of service makes young people very happy,” Chatellus said. “They testify that the atmosphere and its program remind them of World Youth Day, with its meetings and moments of prayer. But many say it’s even better, thanks to you for this size of service. “
Meanwhile, the Sacred Games website continues to embrace the pledges of those who point to the athletes with their prayers. A special invitation is extended to pray for the 37 athletes of the Refugee Olympic Team. They come from 11 other countries.
For his part, Chatellus is in the Olympic Games as an athlete. “I love sports,” he says. “I love all sports!” I play a lot of tennis and soccer too.
“It’s clear that religion and gambling are two very close worlds,” Chatellus told OSV News.
“In sport we surpass ourselves. And it is by surpassing ourselves that we delight in transcendence, that is, that we find God.
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