2023-06-19 20:33:05
Priests participating in the Patercup, in Villepinte (Seine-Saint-Denis), June 19, 2023. MATHIEU MAINE / LE MONDE
“Today it will be an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a tackle for a tackle! » Early in the morning, Monday, June 19, in the Notre-Dame de l’Assomption parish in Villepinte, the auxiliary bishop of Paris, Philippe Marsset, was already in good shape to make the faithful laugh as he presided over the opening mass. .
In front of him, priests who came to put on their crampons to win the trophy for the best football diocese in the Ile-de-France region: the Patercup. A competition organized by Holy Games, a mission whose ambition is that the Catholic Church best support the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
For a day, it’s not the clothes that make the monk, but the jersey. PSG outfit, Cameroon tracksuit, Ajax Amsterdam t-shirt… For one day, the priests of Ile-de-France exceptionally swapped their religious outfit for that of the footballer. Delighted to find themselves on the grounds, in a setting far from the surroundings of the altars, the beginnings were all the same complicated. “I haven’t played football for twenty years, it feels good to get back to it, recognizes, smiling but out of breath, Don Thibault, priest in Garges-lès-Gonesse (Val-d’Oise), who came to play with the diocese of Pontoise. The level is very variable, some come to win, others to see others win. »
Under the dawn, there is “above all a man”
After a victory for his Nanterre team, Paul-Marie de Latour was delighted to ” meet [ses collègues] other than in spiritual celebrations,” a you “real moment of sharing” lived – and accentuated, in his eyes by the decisive pass he delivered to a teammate. Even if, natural returning at a gallop, the priest of Bois-Colombes (Hauts-de-Seine) recognizes “to be a little disappointed not to have scored yet. »
Even if the matches take place in an atmosphere “very fraternal”, the issue is not lacking. “There is a lot of bad…faith, relates with humor Bruno Sautereau, referee of the day. Some guys would like to referee in my place, but that’s very French. » The author of Little football spirituality (Bayard, 2016), sees “the proof that we are like the others. » See the priests in t-shirts “deconstructed their image”, completes Isabelle de Chatellus, who runs Holy Games. And comes to remind that under the dawn, there is “above all a man”.
And like the majority of the French, it did not escape the participants that in just over a year, Paris will host the Olympic Games. In addition to a moment of cohesion between ministers of religion around a ball – or a petanque court – Monday’s day aimed to hang up the Church on the big train of the Games. Organizer of the Patercup, Holy Games works in concert with Paris 2024.
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