Leonard Presentation Lacongress

I have run the race I have fought the fightI have won the prize which is Jesus

I have run the race I have fought the fightFor he is our salvation, Jesus is our life.

Sport = Inculturation• Top 10 rating TV programmes in

2009? • Top 20 all-time highest rating TV

shows (per % of households)?

The top ten TV shows of 2009

Super Bowl Steelers vs Cardinals American Idol (Wednesday), Fox American Idol (Tuesday), Fox Dancing with the Stars (Monday), ABC Sunday Night Football, NBC Dancing with the Stars (Tuesday) NCIS Los Angeles, CBS NCIS, CBS Monday Night Football, ESPN Sunday Night Football Pre-kickoff, NBC The Good Wife, CBS

Top rating TV programmes of all time (per % of households)

The Ed Sullivan Show: The Beatles 9 Feb 1964 The Ed Sullivan Show: Elvis Presley 9 Sept 1956 I Love Lucy: Lucy Goes to the Hospital 19 Jan 1953 M*A*S* H Final Episode 1983 Dallas “Who shot JR?” 1980 Roots Part 8 1977 Super Bowl 1982 (49ers Vs Bengals) Super Bowl 1983 (Redskins Vs Dolphins) XVII Winter Olympics 1994 (Women’s figure

skating) Super Bowl 1986 (Bears Vs Patriots)

Gone With the Wind 1976 (Part 1) Gone With the Wind 1976 (Part 2) Super Bowl 1978 (Cowboys Vs Broncos) Super Bowl 1979 (Steelers Vs Cowboys) Bob Hope Christmas Special 1970 Super Bowl 1984 (Raiders Vs Redskins) Super Bowl 1985 (49ers Vs Dolphins) Super Bowl 1980 (Steelers Vs Rams) Super Bowl 1996 (Cowboys Vs Steelers) ABC Theater, “The Day After” 1983 Roots Part 6, 1977 The Fugitive Final Episode 1967 Super Bowl 1987 (Giants Vs Broncos) Roots Part 5, 1977 Super Bowl 1994 (Cowboys Vs Buffolo Bills)

The most watched show ever in terms of numbers:

Super Bowl XLIV (New Orleans Saints vs. Indianapolis Colts) 106.5 million, 7 February 2010.

Jesus was no gym junkie   Paul ran the race and claimed the prize   Sport as we now play it emerges in 16th

century  Jansenism: the spirit is good but body needs

to treated harshly  Muscular Christianity: physical weakness =

moral weakness

What is a sane and Catholic response to the USA sporting culture?

Most popular participative sports: walking (70m) Swimming (60m), Cycling (50m), Gym (47m), Fishing (45m), Bowling (42m), pool/billiards (34m), basketball (33m) power boating (28m)

  For womenaerobics; swimming, golf and tennis

The biggest crowdsBaseball, basketball, ice hockey, football

Last year it was estimated to be worth $410b. Sports Advertising: $30b

23m go to Mass each week in the USA (36% of 65.2m) versus the estimated 5.1m who go to sporting each week (260m per annum)

We could fill Beaver Stadium 608 times every single Sunday with Mass-going Catholics 36% of 65.2m.

The best things about sport: whole person development, ‘incarnated’ spirituality, stress relief, develops a person’s (sometimes hidden) skills, teamwork, self-esteem, resilience, determination, results from effort, acceptance of ‘tough calls’, humility, respect, learning from mistakes.

For a Christian “winning is not everything” : praying to win? What does prayer do?

Estimated that Sporting groups raised more than $4b for charity in the USA last year

But there is a downside: the Seven Deadly Sins: pride, greed, envy, anger, lust, gluttony and sloth.

  “boys will be boys” and “what goes

on tour stays on tour”  Saints have been supplanted by

media stars and sporting heroes

Narcassism – body image

Sex is not a commodity for us, just one of many recreational options

Violence: in word and deed   Big end sport = a boys club  Sport = civic religion

"Sports also has its "saints"

"Sport also has its ruling patriarchs” "Sport has its gods" "Sport has it high councils” "Sport has its scribes” "Sport has its symbols of faith" "Sport has its seekers of the

kingdom"

“through their performances, create an “other” world of meaning, complete with its own rules and boundaries, dangers and successes… (to help people) fit a grid to their own experience in order to define it and give it structure" (Price, Sabbath 35-36).

I have run the race I have fought the fightI have won the prize which is Jesus

I have run the race I have fought the fightFor he is our salvation, Jesus is our life.