Making the sign of the cross in sports, etc

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Hi all,

I wanted to see what people make of things when athletes and other personalities make the sign of the cross?

I don’t have a problem with it as such, but there are some celebrities who are Catholic in name only with very publicly turbulent personal lives. They’ll score a goal or touch down and make the sign of the cross.

To me, it kind of suggests that his victory is the result of some special preference on him or her ‘from above’. When I see a really morally questionable person doing it, I cringe. I just feel it causes scandal.

I know that sounds really bad, and judgemental; I don’t mean it that way. It just seems a very open profession of faith, on the one hand, and on the other hand it suggests God has some vested interest in the outcome of a game…
 
People lament when people DON’t express faith in public settings, and some people lament when people DO express faith in public settings.

Jesus once said that people criticized John the Baptist because he fasted, and criticized himself because he dined with sinners.

I guess it’s a no win situation.
 
rcuk said:
Hi all,

I wanted to see what people make of things when athletes and other personalities make the sign of the cross?

. When I see a really morally questionable person doing it, I cringe. I just feel it causes scandal.
Click to expand...
I used to think similarly, until I realized the Sign of the Cross is a prayer, and who needs to pray more than a person who has drifted from God’s ways.

So now I don’t cringe when ANYONE makes the sign of the cross, instead I celebrate.

In looking back on it, when I thought that way, I was acting kind of like the Pharisee who looked up to heaven praying thanks to God for not being like the tax collector, but the tax collector could not lift his eyes up when he prayed because he knew of his own sinfulness.

Peace and all good!
 
rcuk said:
Hi all,

I wanted to see what people make of things when athletes and other personalities make the sign of the cross?
Click to expand...
I think it is a Great witness. Hopefully the rest of their lives are too.
 
Oh No! There are Catholics who have turbulent personal lives? And they’re actually crossing themselves??? :rolleyes:

Enough sarcasm… Let them make the sign of the cross - good for them.
 
I’d rather see them make the sign of the cross than not even if their lives are not perfect. I’m not perfect, and maybe it will remind me where I need to improve my life by them making that sign of the cross.
 
Thanks for the interesting comments. It was actually quite humbling.

I just saw it on TV and it was a clip of a guy who has just been suspended from the England rugby squad for assaulting a police officer, a fight with a member of the public, and general ‘shenanigans’.

It seemed liked he was using it as a throw-away gesture rather than a prayer of thanks, and the reason I cringed is that, to me, it gave the impression of ‘that’s a Catholic- dont you know…’
 
rcuk said:
Hi all,

I wanted to see what people make of things when athletes and other personalities make the sign of the cross?

I don’t have a problem with it as such, but there are some celebrities who are Catholic in name only with very publicly turbulent personal lives. They’ll score a goal or touch down and make the sign of the cross.

To me, it kind of suggests that his victory is the result of some special preference on him or her ‘from above’. When I see a really morally questionable person doing it, I cringe. I just feel it causes scandal.

I know that sounds really bad, and judgemental; I don’t mean it that way. It just seems a very open profession of faith, on the one hand, and on the other hand it suggests God has some vested interest in the outcome of a game…
Click to expand...
When the Brazilians made the sign of the cross in the last World Cup I liked it. But i get your point.
 
Offhand I can only think of two circumstances in which a sports player would be recommended not to cross himself.

When playing in an Arab country. This happened to Romario, a Brazilian soccer player, who told the story on television of how he been warned not to do it when for a few months in 2003 he was playing for a team called Al Sadd in Qatar.

When playing for Glasgow Rangers. Glasgow has two soccer teams, Celtic, identified with the city’s numerous Catholic community, and Rangers, the Protestant community’s team. At around the same time as the Romario incident in Qatar, Rangers had just acquired a Polish player (I don’t remember his name) who got into trouble with the fans for the same reason.
 
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