It seems that the pope has decided to set up a sports department. They say that the goal is to, "create sports culture which promotes a vision of sports activity as a means of integral personal growth and as an instrument in the service of peace and brotherhood among peoples." You can read the article here. It seems that the pope was quite the athlete in his younger days. He was a goalie, kayaker, and a swimmer. Evangelism though sports . . . I like it. This seems to be a part of JPII's attempt to find a more accessible form of catholicism. He has cannonized a record number of saints as a part of the same effort. It sounds a little like postmodernism, doesn't it?
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I've heard that JPII is perhaps the best pope at understanding the people whom he serves. He lived among them in such ways as through his athleticism and avid love of the outdoors, participating in the theatre and even writing several plays, and suffering through the tragedies of WWII and the communist era of Poland -- all enabling him to, like St. Escriva, celebrate the ability of the common lay person to give praise, thanks, and adoration to God through everyday things. I for one, feel quite blessed that God has given us such a strong leader.
In an age where sports have become perhaps the dominant means for youth, and even the not-so-young now, to share in fellowship outside of the Liturgy, it's no wonder that the Vatican would seek to find ways especially geared towards serving and promoting the faith through sports. A sincere, concerted effort to bring the Church into the daily lives of it's members, and thereby bringing Christ, will no doubt help to have a greater affect to bringing those same members to Christ.
I imagine this is what you mean by saying that "this seems to be a part of JPII's attempt to find a more accessible form of Catholicism?" I think it is what you meant, but in case not, I don't believe that JPII can anymore change the "form" of Catholicism than he could suddenly declare that the Eucharist isn't the Real Presence. I believe what he is doing is what I said earlier, attempting to bring the Light of Christ to all people's everywhere, and in that sense he is a great evangelist.
As to why he's canonized so many saints, I'm not certain. I think only part of what he is trying to accomplish is to demonstrate that there are saints alive today, to give hope to those who feel that we've been missing something that the Church had in earlier times. I guess that makes the Church seems a little more accesible to those who feel it's too out-dated. Hopefully, through the intercession of those saints, they'll come to realize just how alive the Catholic Church really is. God bless JPII and the saints!
As to how "post-modern" it all is, who knows. We'll leave that up to the post-modernists. More importantly, the Church is celebrating all of humanity's gifts and we should thank the Holy Spirit for giving us -- and the Pope -- the ability to see how to best bring man to Christ.
:-)
pjh
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