The Olympics have done more than bring athletes from 85 different nations together to compete; the games have brought Turin's Christian, Jewish and Muslim representatives together for the first time to collaborate.
Cardinal Severino Poletto of Turin said that, while Catholic relations with the city's Waldensian and Orthodox churches have long been strong, interaction with the city's Jewish and Muslim leaders had been limited.
"There were never any big initiatives involving non-Christian" religions, he told Catholic News Service in mid-February.
But when Turin won the bid to host the Feb. 10-26 Olympics, that changed.
A host city must provide spiritual assistance to all athletes and team members, so an interfaith committee made up of local religious representatives is set up years before the games begin.
The Olympic interfaith committee's Catholic representative, Father Aldo Bertinetti, said working together has been such a positive experience that members have decided to remain united as a group even after the games.
"The group works in absolute harmony based on the fact that we have been working together now since 2003," he said from the sunlit office where he works in the archdiocese's bureau for sport and tourism.
Representatives from Turin's Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu communities have been working with the Christian churches to iron out all the logistical aspects of providing spiritual care during the Olympics.
"For example, we had to make sure the time allotted for Buddhist meditation, which needs silence, didn't coincide with Orthodox prayers and chanting" in the room next door, he explained.
The committee discovered it was best to provide two different prayer rooms in the Olympic villages, he said. The prayer rooms for Jews and Christians are furnished with chairs facing an altar. Unfurnished and carpeted rooms were provided for Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims, who do not wear shoes during prayer.
After years of working out such minute but important details, committee members learned more about their next-door neighbors, said the 73-year-old priest.
Deepening awareness and understanding among the leaders created "a beautiful rapport between us," said the priest, who practiced judo and skied often in his "younger years."
"We are now convinced we must come together again as an interfaith group" after the committee is officially dissolved, he said.
"The city of Turin has said they are giving us a place where we can meet," he said.
A group dedicated to coordinating interfaith dialogue and initiatives "would be a beautiful inheritance from these Olympics," he added. --CNS |