Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Kaohsiung (Agenzia Fides) – The Diocese of Kaohsiung has opened a “Vatican Pavilion” at the site of the sports tournament which will be attended by 32 countries from across the world: the 8th World Games, which is being held in Kaohsiung July 16-26. According to information sent to Agenzia Fides, during the preparations for the games, the Diocese immediately began collaborating and asked local authorities to include in the Official Handbook a list of all the churches with Mass schedules and addresses. Bishop Peter Liu, Bishop of the Diocese of Kaohsiung, asked the faithful to take an active role, with the slogan: “the Catholic Church cannot miss the World Games,” and has invited an Austrian priest, Salesian Father Bernhard Maier, to help train Catholic volunteers. The Bishops has also called for the assistance of foreign priests, native speakers of English, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish, to help provide religious services to the athletes and the laity who know various languages have been working as guides at the churches. The Bishop, the priests, religious, and laity have all been present at the World Games area, to distribute “the evangelization manifesto.”
The International World Games Association (IWGA) is a non-governmental organization formed by 32 countries and regions of the world, founded in 1981 in Switzerland. The World Games are organized by the IWGA every 4 years for sports that are not contested in the Olympics and are held the year after the Olympic Games, with the slogan “Faster, Higher, Stronger.” So far, there have been 7 Games: 1981 Santa Clara (USA), 1985 London (England), 1989 Karlsruhe (Germany), 1993 The Hague (Holland), 1997 Lahti (Finland), 2001 Akita (Japan), 2005 Duisburg (Germany). There are usually 35 different sports competitions. The 8th World Games being held in Kaohsiung, has had 4,645 participants, of whom 3,062 athletes compete in 26 official disciplines. (NZ) (Agenzia Fides 24/7/2009)
