AMERICA/ARGENTINA - Community sport: school of inclusion, prevention and strengthening of the social fabric

Tuesday, 25 June 2019 drugs   youth   local churches  

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Buenos Aires (Agenzia Fides) - Many communities in the country are in difficulty in trying to prevent the problem of addiction regarding children and young people, which is particularly dramatic and widespread in the country. A daily practice that finds space in all the ecclesial environments, and sport is a valid preventive response, because it is considered an occasion of encounter, of good use of free time, of an educational path, of personal and social development. Thus stated the National Commission for the Pastoral Care of Addictions and Drug Addiction, of the Argentine Bishops' Conference.
"Game and sport are a natural right that we all have, after the right to life, and we cannot stop defending it - the Commission states in the text sent to Fides -. The exasperated culture of the podium and success only enhance the winner, the others enter the culture of waste. This contrasts with the culture of encounter, for which we continue to work as a Church, for the peaceful growth of society".
The members of the Commission declare that they share the Vatican document "Give the best of themselves" on the Christian perspective of sport and the human person, which presents sport as a means of mission and sanctification, so this year they propose to promote the practice of community sports as a preventive response and reinforcement of the social fabric. Of the 11.8 million children under the age of 17 living in Argentina, 41.2% live in structural poverty and 63.4% of them are deprived of certain rights.
The current difficult economic situation in the country prevents some neighborhood sports facilities from opening their doors. "Our response as a Church is to multiply the pedagogy of presence in every neighborhood: to be meaningfully among girls and boys, to listen with humility to their cries, to create educational bonds, accompanying them with confidence in their potential for good, with the hope that they can get out of any situation of slavery".
The Commission therefore encourages the diocesan communities to continue to engage in sports activities and asks the State to apply the existing laws in this regard. "In contrast to individualist ideologies - they affirm - we want to be an inclusive Church, we dream of a sport for all, in which nobody is excluded. We are convinced that sport is a practice of human dignity, a vehicle of fraternity and a means to work for non-violence".
On the occasion of World Drug Day, June 26, the dioceses propose to organize marathons or sports activities" (SL) (Agenzia Fides, 25/6/2019)


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