Washington, D.C. Newsroom, 29 July, 2024 / 12:40 pm (ACI Africa).
With the Paris Olympic Games underway, 120 chaplains from five different religions are present in the Multifaith Center tent located in the athletes village to address the spiritual needs of the thousands of athletes set to compete.
The center, which will remain open until the end of the Paralympic Games on Sept. 8, includes a reception area and five rooms pertaining to each of the represented religions — Christianity (Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants), Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam — in accordance with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Here, athletes have the opportunity to pray, attend religious services, and speak with chaplains daily on a variety of topics, including concerns over mental health, losing competitions, and ongoing global conflicts. According to the Associated Press, organizers found that requests for Olympic chaplains exceeded 8,000 during the pre-pandemic games.
Father Jason Nioka, a former judo champion turned priest in charge of the 40 Catholic priests, nuns, and laypeople participating in this group, shared with the AP that these chaplains “need to bring [the athletes] back to earth, because it can feel like the end of the world after working on this goal for four of five years.”
Echoing this sentiment was Father Xavier Ernst, the parish priest of the Church of St. John Bosco in the 20th arrondissement of Paris. In an ANS article, Ernst shared that the chaplains’ “service is to be present. Athletes know that in the Olympic Village there is this space, a place for listening, sharing, and relationship. Our environment is furnished with icons, symbolic furnishings, and the Bible.”
