By |Deacon Roger Carr-Jones, Marriage and Family Life Coordinator
As the world is gripped by the excitement of the World Cup we, too, should be excited by the recent call by Pope Leo, our ‘coach of hearts’ for a Synodal Church in his Madrid address given at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium . Both gatherings fit together perfectly as the Pope reminds us of the place of teamwork in spreading the Gospel. As football pundits know, a great coach doesn’t focus primarily on tactics, instead they teach the players to feel the game, to sense its rhythm and play from the heart.
When the Pope speaks of the Church ‘learning the art of polyphony’, we see this mirrored in the coordinated difference of a World Cup squad. This ‘unity in diversity’ is what we aspire to within the Church, where different attitudes, gifts and practices come together for one purpose. Polyphony is what happens when as the Church we act as a World Cup Squad: many voices, qualities and skills coming together for a common purpose. In our case the goal is to make Christ known and present through our witness.
In his speech Pope Leo asks whether the Church reaches “the inmost soul of our cities” and in a football stadium we glimpse a microcosm of humanity. Just as fans from rival nations share food, songs and kindness, this is what we aspire to within our individual Church communities. The Church must be present where the people gather to celebrate, laugh and cry, and that means always standing on the terraces of life. We step onto the pitch of real lives, and play the Gospel before the world.
To do this, the Pope asks that we reflect a missionary joy, which is akin to belonging, rather than the idea of winning. This all stems from the evangelising character we received at baptism, which provides entry onto the pitch of life. The joy of the World Cup is contagious and shared. The joy of the Christian is given and always at the service of the wider team. Our passion is that of the Gospel which is shared through belonging, our identity and being part of the narrative.
A successful football coach needs a blend of technical expertise and interpersonal abilities. In a similar vein, Pope Leo offers us the example of Nehemiah as the model for rebuilding through community. He rebuilt Jerusalem in the same way that the coach builds their team: involving everyone and recognising the diversity of gifts. In our parish context this means that everyone is involved, just as the coach cannot be effective without a wider support network. In parish life. Pope Leo sees this as a call for synodality (listening), communal discernment (working together), and seeing plurality as strength (complementarity of different skills). We need to listen to each other, if we are to build effective teams.
In our line-up, we have a twelfth player, the Holy Spirit. Pope Leo describes this player as the one who “stirs up vocations,” “unites,” and “causes upheaval.” It is this energy that stirs up our team irrespective of the league we play in. In football, it is the crowd that lift the players, whereas for us it is the Spirit that provides the creative tension, frees us from predictable patterns and enthuses us with joy. We provide the effort, the Spirit the inspiration. Pope Leo says: “Be, for everyone, like an open Bible: may the word of God be found in your faces and in your lives.”
The World Cup is a story of unexpected heroes, of migrants and stories. In his pep talk in Madrid, Pope Leo gave a pre-game speech of hope, belonging, service and welcome. As the Church we have the most diverse squad in the world, united in purpose, guided by joy and guided by the Spirit.
Pope Leo says: “Our hearts must sing — we must interpret events and situations by celebrating their meaning with others.” Now is the moment to go out to play the Gospel with passion and kindness.
