Olympic and Paralympic Games: “The Church has a hand to play”

A former high-level judoka, Father Jason Nioka, ordained a priest on June 23, is leading the Catholic chaplaincy of Paris 2024. Here, his kimono in hand, at the Madeleine church, center of the Holy Games. / Joseph Melin for FC

Putting the Church back in the middle of the Olympic village. In an election period that is confusing to say the least, the light of the Olympic flame brings a promise of festivities in which the Church wishes to take part. Mobilized for almost two years around this celebration of sport, in fraternity, the actors of this sporting Church have gathered behind the banner of the Holy Games. Welcoming athletes and visitors, presence at the Paralympic Games, visits to Parisian churches, services… The testimony promises to be grandiose. The opportunity was too good to let slip away.

At the head of a small delegation of chaplains, Father Jason Nioka, recently ordained and a former professional judoka, will have the difficult task of spiritually accompanying athletes in search of energy and support. Black belt tied around his thick white kimono jacket, the priest positions his hands in front of him, as if he were preparing to parry a hold. His broad smile reassures the few onlookers who file past the small “athletes’ chapel”, nestled in this colossus that is the Church of the Madeleine (Paris 8^e). “It’s a bit unsettlingconcedes the broad-shouldered man. I don’t usually wear this outfit anywhere other than on a tatami mat.”

And yet, the former professional athlete takes this new dual role of judoka and Olympic chaplain very seriously. “During the Games, people will have the opportunity to see the face of a Church in a kimonohe says with a laugh. This is a very strong sign. The Church can come to them, it becomes closer.” Appointed in charge of the forty Catholic chaplains at the Olympic Games, Father Nioka does not hide his joy. “Just think: the last time the Games were held in Paris was a hundred years ago! The Church has a big role to play, especially in the spiritual support of athletes.”

Five prayer rooms: At the Olympic Village, located between Saint-Denis, Saint-Ouen and L’Île-Saint-Denis, athletes will have access to a multi-faith centre that brings together Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism. In the form of a large tent, it will include a reception area and five prayer rooms. Catholics will share a room with Protestants and Orthodox.

Nothing predestined this native of Bailly-Romainvilliers, in Seine-et-Marne, to assume such a status. His story has the same hue as that of children carried away by the fever of sport. To channel his energy, his parents decided to enroll him in judo, when he was barely 3 years old! “I quickly made friends there who shared the same Christian faith.”remembers this son of a family originally from Congo, deeply rooted in its Catholic faith. The competitions take place on Sundays, the medals accumulate and leave him little respite.

A calling stronger than judo

It is only on Wednesday evenings, on the way to mass, that the teenager takes off his kimono. The year he was 12, during a family pilgrimage to Lourdes, the young athlete feels “a very strong inner peace”. “That day, I was certain that what I had experienced in front of the cave of the apparitions, I would never feel it with the same power on a judo podium.” The first signs of a journey towards a priestly vocation. A year later, Jason received baptism. The call of Christ, still distant for the teenager, did not prevent him from joining the “Espoirs” and then France judo poles, winning numerous titles until 2016. However, “the life of an athlete measured to the millimeter” does not allow it to fully achieve its potential. “The hardest thing is to keep that place for God, when everything is quantified”he concedes. Six years ago, he broke away from high-level sport to enter the seminary and follow a vocation stronger than judo, which he has not forgotten. But the competitions are now behind him.

In preparation for the Olympic Games, the Holy Games organized a 10 km run and a 5 km walk between the churches of Paris on April 28. / Photo: Corinne Simon/Hans Lucas.​​​​​​​

From September 2022, the prospect of the Paris Olympic Games launches the Church into this great sporting adventure, with the Holy Games. Isabelle de Chatellus, patron saint of these “Holy Games”, supported by Mgr Philippe Marsset, auxiliary bishop of Paris, calls on the seminarian to be their spiritual referent. “It was something unexpected, inspired by Providence. My year as a diaconate was going to be turned upside down by itFather Nioka says excitedly. A year later, I was given the responsibility of leading this team of chaplains as close as possible to the athletes, and at the same time, I had to prepare for the post-Olympic period.”

Support for athletes

From then on, a race against time begins for this seminarian who doubts, at first, his legitimacy. It is a question of training forty priests, religious and lay people in the very unique world of high-level sport. “It’s an environment that I know perfectly. The athlete lives in a bubble. His life is unbalanced, he has to take into account many parameters to be at his best. He lives constantly under pressure and is also overexposed. These are important indicators to take into account if we want to be a support to him.” Few practicing athletes allow themselves to take this “necessary” time with Christ. However, “Athletes have assured me that it is essential in their developmentsays Father Nioka. Just as an athlete must see a physiotherapist every day, there is this need, in some, to have these few minutes in a face-to-face with God. How can we pay attention to these athletes, confined in their bubble, motivated only by the prospect of a podium? “The first vocation of our center, in the midst of the excitement of the Olympic village, will be to be a place to listen. Friends who are participating in the Games told me that they would come and see mesmiled the judoka, pushing up his glasses. Even if they are not believers, they know that they will go to a place of exchange, of kindness. It will be a little free moment for them, which will allow them to get out of their bubble. The sacrament of reconciliation will be delivered there and masses will be celebrated.

Above all, Father Nioka prepared his troops for the notion of failure, feared by these athletes who have been preparing for many years, “sometimes for a single event, over a short day”to get a medal. Many experience defeat as a form of end of the world. “Sport is cruel. In the end, there is only one winner. In case of failure, the chaplain must be able to listen to the athlete and help him to get back to reality. It is up to us to have the right words.”

“Defeat is not a tragedy”

For some Christian athletes, “The defeat is not so much of a drama, because they are not fatalistsobserves Father Nioka. If I know that my ultimate goal is to one day meet the resurrected Christ, I recover more easily from failure.”. In contact with these high-level athletes, it is this Christian specificity that the chaplains will be able to bear witness to. The Scriptures are a source of inspiration for the former judoka, from which he even drew his motivation during competitions. “I really like this passage from the Second Letter of Saint Paul to Timothy: ‘I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.’ Basically, what does it mean to fight the good fight? It is to have kept the faith, to have gone all the way. Faith helps us to surpass ourselves.” With such words, his opponents had better watch out.

“Sport is a true vocation”

Ordained a priest on June 23 for the diocese of Meaux, Father Nioka has long questioned the balance needed to be found between competition and the life of faith. “As soon as I entered the seminary, the question no longer arose, I had given up on competition. If you want to give your life to Christ, you have to distance yourself from what you have committed yourself to up until then.” Today, his daily life is based on his parish duties. “A life as an athlete would be incompatible with a ministryhe says bluntly. Sport is a true vocation.” He also invites believers or non-believers, professionals or amateurs, to always consider sport “like a game”for a healthier practice. He still gives his advice on the tatami, between two theology classes, or after a service. Reposition yourself after a move, better pull the opponent’s sleeve to disarm him… “I am always sharing”he confides. His professional past makes people happy. “I rediscovered the fun side of sport, the one in which I can be in contact with the world and which offers me a certain personal balance. It is very precious, when you want to become a priest, to have your feet in the world and to bear witness to a Church that is close.”