Can Catholics work out on Sunday?

[yankeesouth]

I don’t think playing sports or having children in sports was a requirement for the Bishop to put out this directive.!. :slightly_smiling_face

Anyway we both agree it is a good thing, we just disagree on the details.

 

[LilyM]

mrsdizzyd:

There was never any mention of physical exertion being the issue.

That might be the case but the directive seems to indicate otherwise.

refraining from work and activities which are incompatible with the sanctification of the Lord’s Day

If little mikey shouldn’t be playing sports on Sunday then mom & dad probably shouldn’t be going off to work out?

Either way, it’s an interesting discussion and I do applaud the Diocese to have the courage to address it. I’m sure they must have gotten a lot of blowback.

There is a huge difference between scheduled organised competitive sport (which as Father pointed out above is often used as an excuse by younguns to miss Mass) and an unscheduled, non-competitive gym.sesh that one presumably can slot in before or after Mass.

 

[JoeShlabotnik]

First go to Mass. Then rest and relax as much as you want.

 

[dochawk]

I dunno. :woman_shrugging:t3: “Day of rest” and we will be doing quite the opposite of resting. Haha just wanted to make sure! :+1:t2:

the single most restful thing I do on Sunday’s is mowing my lawn . . . which is part of why I leave it for Sunday afternoon.

Something about the soft grass on my bare feet, the beer in an ice bath that I sip on every couple of loops . . .

 

[Pattylt]

Something about the soft grass on my bare feet, the beer in an ice bath that I sip on every couple of loops . . .

Do your lawn loops get loopier as the beer dwindles down?

 

[tafan2]

I don’t think going to a sporting event, youth or otherwise, is incompatible with the spirit in which we’re supposed to engage Sunday.

No it’s not, but the Diocese Of Detroit was spot on correct with this move. Youth sports had gone crazy and it literally can take over a family’s life. The parents have been suckers and gone along lick , stock, and barrel. Nothing is sacred, major tournaments are commonly scheduled on Easter weekend. The Detroit Diocese sent a powerful message to all the parents and kids saying “enough, we are not going to be part of this madness”. Good for them

 

[on_the_hill]

It was a blessing in disguise when our daughter stopped playing club soccer. She was heartbroken at first, but it was soooo worth it to leave it all behind.

Now our kids do (Public) school sports, which are never scheduled for Sundays and only rarely Saturdays.

 

[dochawk]

Do your lawn loops get loopier as the beer dwindles down?

:crazy_face:

Nah, it’s not that much beer . . . and I don’t want to stay out in Las Vegas heat that long . . . besides, each lap is a bit shorter than the prior . . .

 

[on_the_hill]

edward_george1:

I don’t think going to a sporting event, youth or otherwise, is incompatible with the spirit in which we’re supposed to engage Sunday.

No it’s not, but the Diocese Of Detroit was spot on correct with this move. Youth sports had gone crazy and it literally can take over a family’s life. The parents have been suckers and gone along lick , stock, and barrel. Nothing is sacred, major tournaments are commonly scheduled on Easter weekend. The Detroit Diocese sent a powerful message to all the parents and kids saying “enough, we are not going to be part of this madness”. Good for them

I agree with the first part. Club sports are business models, first and foremost.

I’m less concerned about people playing sports and exercising on Sundays. It’s short-sighted to believe that all people need a quiet, contemplative, peaceful state of being in order to be close to God. I, for one, am more spiritually awake when I’m battering myself with physical exertion. For me, to sit quietly is not a good thing.

 

[Pattylt]

So you mow in a death spiral pattern? My husband does straight lines, left right then up down then corner to corner. He’s nuts but swears it makes the grass look nicer. Ummm, okie dokie! At least he’s not claiming the grass “feels” better this way.

 

[dochawk]

My nephew was in the zone where he was a star locally, even in a Catholic league, but probably wouldn’t get a scholarship and actually play (so he was recruited by the MIT basketball coach!)

Anyway, in the various clubs they played, they came out here for a tournament, and I got a set out of the blue from my brother: “Friends don’t let friends say at the Lucky Dragon”.

He remains absolutely convinced that the contract to stay there involved kickbacks (teams have to book a certain number of rooms with such hotels).

(the Lucky Dragon was a short-lived off-strip casino catering to Chinese high rollers–but decided that they didn’t need to offer comparable “comps” to the casinos those high rollers already attended . . . and when he managed to leave his computer behind, I went to get it. Security wanted proof of authorization [ok, good] . . . and accepted it as an email to me authorizing it [which I could just as easily have done by whipping up a throwaway account with his name in the signature as the real one I gave them )

 

[tafan2]

But that is not the point I am trying to make. As I said to Fr., I agree that sporting events are incompatible with Sundays. My point is that it has gone way too far, and not just club sports although they are the worse defenders. By the Diocese saying they would have no longer be part of it, it tells the parents what is important.
FWIW, the diocsan school sport league here does too much on Sundays. If one has more that one kid in school, it’s not uncommon to have three games on a Sunday, all among Catholic schools.