Soccer and UNITY
In a message last week, former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said “This thunderous solidarity is a tribute to you all… You won because you brought us all together. (…) The lasting trophy to take away from the tournament is this incredible moment of UNITY…”
Have the recent buzz and excitement over the past weeks’ World Cup 2010 in South Africa really generated true solidarity and unity? What or how should Catholics think about unity?
Allow us to give 2 perspectives to this issue: (1) Unity as a ‘mark of the true Church’, and (2) reference to given institutions that are supposed to promote and defend unity.
This is what the Catholic Encyclopedia says about unity being one of the four ‘Marks of the true Church’: “Not only must the true Church be one by an internal and spiritual union, but this union must also be external and visible, consisting in and growing out of a unity of faith,worship, and government.” Do you think that, given the faith you profess, you have practised unity in this sense?
Perhaps the United Nations comes to mind as one of those institutions that have been established to promote and defend unity of nations…and unity of practices. But is this the case? We know of an organization, the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute or C-FAM, that has participated in every major UN social policy negotiation since 1997. C-FAM’s vision is “To defend life and family at international institutions and to publicize the debate.” Its mission is “the preservation of international law by discrediting socially radical policies at the United Nations and other international institutions.” We invite you to visit C-FAM and see that there are many things going on in the UN that aren’t exactly stuff you would expect “UNITED Nations” to be doing…
We likewise recommend taking a look at World Youth Alliance (WYA) which is “a global coalition of young people committed to promoting the dignity of the person and building solidarity among youth from developed and developing nations”.
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