Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Rosary ban for Beijing Olympics?


The Chinese government reportedly will not allow visitors to bring religious objects such as rosary beads or holy water when they travel to Beijing for the Olympic Games next year.
The report on restrictions did not clearly indicate whether visitors would be allowed to bring Bibles into China. Nor was there any indication whether the host nation would allow Olympic teams to bring chaplains-- a practice that many countries have followed regularly.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Assuming millions of 'sporting' Catholics might wish to travel to China for the Olympic games where will they go to celebrate Holy Mass on Sundays or any other day for that matter. Will the Chinese authorities build new Catholic Churches to cater for the m(M)asses? The old communist guard cannot keep their heads buried in the sand forever - their people are crying out to fill that 'God shaped vacuum' in their lives. My guess is that the silly communists haven't really thought through what the Olympics mean and what the 'Spirit of the Games' actually stands for - they're in for an awakening!

Physiocrat said...

The whole competitive sport thing is an outgrowth of the nineteenth century notions of Social Darwinism and the degradation of man to machine - see, for instance, the photographs of Meybrick, which later on brought us dehumanising industrial production through the production line, Taylorism and time and motion studies.

It is no accident that the Olympics was always considered important by totalitarian regimes.

It is very good that this should now have surfaced so that people can see it for what it is.

Anonymous said...

Have you seen carpecanem's nice post about you. I've just sugested we start a fan club.

nickbris said...

Another Googly?

Anonymous said...

Henry - what's wrong with the 'whole competitive sport thing'? Lighten up! The Olympics were considered important by the Ancient Greeks way before any totalitarian regime thought they might 'politicise' the games for their own silly ends. Those damned human beings again - they just spoil everything!

gemoftheocean said...

Communists are pinheads. Chinese ones in particular. They profess to be atheistic, but yet they want themselves to be set up as gods - the font of all good things.

Physiocrat said...

George, interesting you should mention the ancient Greeks, as the cult of the body was one of the issues of conflict between the Jews and the Greek rulers during the period of the Maccabees.

In my experience, people who are engaged in competitive sport at anything other than a local level are anything but light. They have to train obsessively in order to succeed. I see this myself in the local swimming club. When teenagers are, for instance, expected to swim 10k a day, it stunts their emotional and/academic development.

Also in my experience, at this level, successful athletes usually have ambitious parents or coaches, or both, and the enterprise then can become a form of child abuse.

It was not until the late nineteenth century that competitive sports as we know them today were invented. They were primarily an activity for gentlemen at first - the dedicated amateur. There was not a great deal of interest in them until 1936 when sound films and then TV became commonplace they became the part of the mass entertainment industry, with big money involved.

Incidentally, at that level, in many sports, success is largly a matter of body form. For instance, if you aren't six foot five with size 14 feet - in other words, a freak - don't even think about competitive swimming. Look at the starting blocks at a swimming event and you will see what I mean.

Anonymous said...

I wonder what the Chinese would do if a team had the rosary printed on their uniform...

The Woman of the House said...

Fr Euteneuer from HLI recently gave a homily on EWTN about the devil and possession. He reminded us that whole societies can be possessed. China being a prime example!

God bless you,

Anonymous said...

No wonder I'm a big fan of the Rambo movies!

Chimera said...

"The Chinese government reportedly will not allow..."

Where's your source for this, please? I'd be interested in reading the entire article.

Fr Ray Blake said...

Ttony: I think it wise never mention that office here, but very amusing.
I did here of an Orthodox bishop being deposed for "coveting other thrones".

Moretben: I would like one of us to be bishop but not me, the other name would be pretty fine.

Fr Ray Blake said...

Chimera you only ever appear when I mention something about the repressive Chinese regime, how interesting.

Chimera said...

"Chimera you only ever appear when I mention something about the repressive Chinese regime, how interesting."

???

I've never been here before...

Anonymous said...

Fr Ray - it must be another 'chimera', heaven's only knows with Dr Frankenstein in charge of the HFEA and dodgy UK junk-mad-scientists abounding in genetics laboratories chances are that there are more than one chimera lurking about!

Chimera - choose another name, that one is creepy. LOL

Chimera said...

"Chimera - choose another name, that one is creepy. LOL"

Sorry, George...it's been my "name" for years. ;)

Now that you mention it, I think there might be someone else using the name. A few months ago,I ran across another blogger who tried to use it. He came to my site once, realized that I had first dibs, and changed his own moniker. Chances are, he's not the only one. Greek monsters are rather popular this year...

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