"It matters a great deal who is going to win, but not at all who won"
L’aumonier des Champions
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Joel Thibault, Paris : CERF, 2023 (In French) ISBN 978-2-204 -14874-0
I have admired Joel’s work as a chaplain close up at three major sports events. I just wish he had not written a book about it! In my opinion for a chaplain to write a book about their work is almost always a mistake. See my reviews of other books by chaplains for example
Publishers want stories, accounts of conversations with athletes to sell the book. Insights into the lives of elite sports people. The problem is that such stories cannot be revealed without breaching confidentiality. How can an athlete trust the chaplain if previous athlete conversations appear in a book?
There is a lot of good material in the book. I liked his job description for a sports chaplain: “The sports chaplain who is accredited at an event, offers, to those who want it, moral and or spiritual help with this objective - the holistic well-being (body soul and spirit) of all those engaged in sport”. I resonated with the concept of supporting, accompanying and encouraging athletes through their careers. I liked his acknowledgment of the “legitimate for sports people to see their participation in sport a worship of God”. He expresses well problems with the issue of superstition in sport – and witchcraft and abuse - and players’ attempts to buy God's favour. There is a helpful section on not making people choose between church and sport and on churches inability to understand sportspeople.
The chapters on arguments that sport and Christianity are not compatible and the history of engagement Christians with sport in France as well as the stance of FIFA, IOC etc will be of interest to many readers.
The problem for me is that too many stories and encounters which should have kept confidential have been revealed.