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Ecumenism
Ecumenical World Cup
Atila S. Guimarães - February 15, 2002
During the World Soccer Cup playoffs, which will take place in June in South Korea and Japan, around 50 religious temples of Seoul will offer lodging for sports lovers who will come from around the world to watch the games. Along with the lodging, they will have an initiation into Buddhist monastic life. In addition to participating in the daily prayers and ceremonies of the monks, the lodgers in the various temples will also be able to take part in activities that range from instruction in the martial arts to calligraphy classes.
"This is not a simple opportunity for lodging: the participants must respect the atmosphere of the temples," affirms Hwang Chan-ik, mission director in the principal Buddhist school in Korea. At the end of the stay, each visitor will receive a certificate and a Buddhist name. Chan-ik expects many guests, since he can offer 25,000 beds during the period of the games. The tourist agencies are proposing this package to soccer lovers with the headline: "Stay in a temple…" (Actualité des Religions, February 2002, p. 41).
It is interesting to note that while John Paul II offers a sacred place to each one of the false religions in Assisi to make their offensive cults to God, these same religions, as we see here with Buddhism, continue with élan to blatantly make their proselytizing. I am sure the Vatican sources will not spread a news item like this.
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