The Olympics and the Ten Commandments

[frindro]

I think this is an interesting question that I have. We are commanded to not work on Sunday, yet the Olympics has events on Sundays in which athletes, employees of the Olympic committee, and the media work. Is it immoral for athletes to compete in events, as work, on Sunday? For media to report on such events live? Furthermore, should Catholics avoid watching the Olympics on Sunday since it sends the message that we accept people working on Sunday?

This can also be applied to the NFL/Super Bowl and other athletic competitions.

 

[Milliardo]

The Lord is forgiving; I don’t think He would condemn people offhand just because they’re doing something on Sunday. Remember that He too was accused of breaking the Sabbath. Of course, the circumstances were different then…

 

[bluerose]

I think this is an interesting question that I have. We are commanded to not work on Sunday, yet the Olympics has events on Sundays in which athletes, employees of the Olympic committee, and the media work. Is it immoral for athletes to compete in events, as work, on Sunday? For media to report on such events live? Furthermore, should Catholics avoid watching the Olympics on Sunday since it sends the message that we accept people working on Sunday?

This can also be applied to the NFL/Super Bowl and other athletic competitions.

Ever watch “Chariots of Fire”?

 

[Coco82]

I don’t see a problem at all. I don’t anyone will be in trouble for enjoying the Olympics on Sunday.

 

[LilyM]

I think this is an interesting question that I have. We are commanded to not work on Sunday, yet the Olympics has events on Sundays in which athletes, employees of the Olympic committee, and the media work. Is it immoral for athletes to compete in events, as work, on Sunday? For media to report on such events live? Furthermore, should Catholics avoid watching the Olympics on Sunday since it sends the message that we accept people working on Sunday?

This can also be applied to the NFL/Super Bowl and other athletic competitions.

In what sense is participating in sports work though? Most of the athletes would do it even if they didn’t earn a penny from it. In fact many athletes DON’T earn a penny from it, apart from the rare few who win medals. So it’s not a profession for them, but something they love at which they happen to be good. Like any other recreation.

Journalists? Well, of course they can report on Sundays. News doesn’t conveniently stop happening at 6pm on Saturday and start again 9am on Monday. News needs to be reported whatever time and day it’s happening. There are people out there who need to know what’s happening as it’s happening. And the Olympics is news.

Think of the poor relatives of that Georgian luge competitor who died - imagine if they’d had to wait 36 hours to find out what happened to him because no-one was reporting.

By the way - the catechism specifically states that watching or participating in sports does NOT breach the Sunday obligation, even though it causes some people to work, just as eating out or going to a movie or theme park doesn’t breach the obligation, even though these things ALSO cause people to work.

 

[Apryl]

I think this is an interesting question that I have. We are commanded to not work on Sunday, yet the Olympics has events on Sundays in which athletes, employees of the Olympic committee, and the media work. Is it immoral for athletes to compete in events, as work, on Sunday? For media to report on such events live? Furthermore, should Catholics avoid watching the Olympics on Sunday since it sends the message that we accept people working on Sunday?

This can also be applied to the NFL/Super Bowl and other athletic competitions.

We are not really commanded to NOT work on Sundays. But we shouldn’t let things, even work, prevent us from worshipping Him. If you are so busy being about the business of earning money and not giving honor to God, you are out of order.

Doctors, police officers, even mothers work on Sundays. We all need a time to re-charge, and what better time to recharge than when we were honoring God?

(Hmm… PRIESTS work on Sundays!)

 

[Coco82]

I think there’s too much of worrying about minutiae here. One can be a good Catholic without worrying about such issues.

 

[tweetymom]

Sounds to me like batting at a gnat and swallowing a camel!

 

[Linda_Marie]

The thing that bothers me about the Olympics is how they begin with a pagan ritual in Greece when they light the torch.

ctvolympics.ca/news-centre/newsid=17829.html
The drama, amid the ruins of the site of the ancient Olympic Games, was lit in the Temple of Hera by an actress playing a high priestess.

She said a prayer to Apollo, the Greek god of sun, asking him to “send your rays and light the sacred torch for the hospitable City of Vancouver.”

The prayer also asked Zeus to “give peace to all peoples on Earth and wreath the winners of the sacred race.”

ONE: ‘You shall have no other gods before Me.’

 

[Coco82]

That doesn’t bother me. The Olympics is about the sports being played, not a ritual at the beginning.