Poster. History of the Catholic Church and Sports. History Essay

Sport and Church
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Many societies around the world have engaged in sporting activities for many years. They have used sports as a platform to not only interact but also compete and where victors receive accolades, prizes and recognition in society. While this is the case, there are narratives that Christians and particularly, Catholics took some time before embracing sports because the body and soul were perceived to be two different entities. It is shared that according to Catholic faithful’s during the early periods, the body was sinful and evil and as such, was always considered to be inferior to the spirit and soul. As such, it was believed that engagement and participation in sporting activities would drive one further away from God and into a life of sin and worldly pleasures. Proponents of this school of thought further note that it is not until Pope Leo III through his Encyclical Letter of 1891 where he encouraged the establishment of Catholic Sports Organizations that Catholic faithful’s begun to embrace sporting activities to develop the youth. However, these narratives are highly believed to be untrue and the correct position is that plays and games were significant components of the early church. The research paper seeks to examine and describe the development of sports in the Catholic faith and provide several factors that support play and games being present during the early church.
History of the Catholic Church and Sports
The Catholic Church is widely known for the strong stand and position it takes on matters that it considers will jeopardize the relationship between mankind and God. It is this belief that the Catholic was initially hell bent on embracing sporting activities as platforms that its followers could take up during their free time. During the periods that preceded the 19th century, members of the Catholic faith believed that the body and soul were two distinct entities with the former being sinful (Bebbington, 2003). It was also the belief of many Catholic faithful’s that the body was inferior to the soul and was continuously driving mankind into activities including sports that pushed them further from the teachings of God (Ober and Wishard, 1927). Based on these negative attitudes, Catholics failed to recognize physical recreation and sports as being important. According to Bebbington, (2003), “Early Christianity gradually built a foundation based on asceticism, which is a belief that evil exists in the body, and therefore, the body should be subordinate to the pure spirit”. From the above statement, promotion of sporting activities was tantamount to siding with the devil and as such, strongly prohibited.
It is widely believed that the prohibition of sporting activities among the Catholic faithful’s was in part fostered from the repressive regime of the Puritans not only in England but also America (Ober, 1891). Puritans comprised of individuals who were of the notion that they had a unique covenant with God and that they primarily tasked with making the society change their sinful ways. According to (Constatini, 2011), “The Puritan work ethic played a significant role in shaping their attitudes towards play: they regarded play with suspicion and even associated it with sin, primarily because it led the believer away from work”. They were highly inclined on uniting the body and soul and as such, prohibited any activities including sports that may have jeopardized that initiative. As such, it is only after the Puritan regime ended that sports and games were accepted, albeit, reluctantly.
However, there are critiques who argue that physical recreation and sports were highly practiced by Christians including Catholics during the medieval period. It is shared that Christians engaged in sports not only on Sundays but also during feast days which Constatini, (2011) notes that they so many that they accounted for at least one third of the Church calendar year. There are reports that the validity of sporting activities was realized as way back as the 12th century and even included in the curricula of cathedral schools. Proponents of fusing sports in society acknowledged that they were essential for leading virtuous lives (Barth, 1955). Moreover, it is noted that the existence of sports during the middle ages was exhibited in various religious materials including prayer books and glass windows of cathedrals and churches. Prebish (1993) reiterates this fact and shares that “A school established at the Court of Mantua in 1423 reserved ample space for games, riding, running, and all athletic exercises that were popular at the time”. Other notable sporting activities that were encouraged at the institution included ball games and fencing. Similarly, the early Jesuits who had a vast network of schools during the medieval period also advocated the belief that sports not only helped individuals/students to moderate but also to lead lives of virtue (Prebish, 1993). As such, they oversaw the development of sports to rejuvenate and relax their students.
As it has been shown above, sports and games were incorporated so effortlessly not only during the medieval periods but also into the early modern Catholic cultures and institutions. This was because of several factors. Firstly...