Pope Benedict XVI, in his message with occasion of a 2009 Sport seminar in the Vatican, reflected upon how the ecclesial community “contributes to the formation of youth, providing a suitable environment for their human and spiritual growth.” through sports. The Holy Father stressed two key factors that are needed to create this formative environment: that these sports initiatives aim at the integral development of the person and that be managed by qualified and competent personnel. While this might seem quite clear on the theoretical level, the question of how these two factors are realized on the local and practical level remains. How do we form our personnel, i.e., our Catholic coaches, so that they intentionally seek the integral development of the youth entrusted to their care?

In order to help resolve this question, we have been gathering information from around the world on what is being done on the local level. This practical “know-how” comes to us, for the most part, from feedback from those who are engaged in the pastoral ministry of sport, and, in a particular way, from those who have participated in our past seminars. The participation of the Church and Sport Section in national or regional events, such as our visit to Rio de Janeiro, are mutually beneficial as they give this section a better grasp of what is being done at the local level and also serve to confirm and strengthen the local churches with regards to the importance of the pastoral ministry of sport. The ad limina visits also offer us occasional opportunities for the exchange of information on this field of sports ministry.

Now, it is our turn to share this information with you. In order to do so, we have expanded our web page to include a section for posting some of these “best practices” and other initiatives in the field of sport. We also will be posting articles for further study on themes relating to sport ministry. Lastly, we also inaugurate this month a book review section so as to also share information about useful resources that are being published. In doing so, we hope to exercise in a concrete way this first goal of our section: be a point of reference in the Church for dioceses and national and international sports organizations around the world. As always, we welcome any feedback or other information you wish to exchange with us that might be helpful for others who are working in the same field.