wfn.org | Olympics give chaplains once-in-a-lifetime ministry

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Feb. 21, 2002   News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn.  10-71BP{065}

NOTE: A photograph is available with this report.

A UMNS Feature
By Tim Tanton*

When the Rev. Scott J. Schiesswohl walks through the Olympic Village in Salt
Lake City, he sees more than a melting pot of athletes from around the
world. 

"It really is a wonderful example of what a world at peace could be like,"
he says.

Schiesswohl is one of two United Methodist pastors serving as Olympic
chaplains, ministering to the athletes as well as the families, workers and
other visitors drawn to Utah by the winter games. He and the Rev. Ron Hodges
are part of a group of 26 chaplains assembled by the Interfaith Roundtable
and representing diverse faiths, not only Christian traditions but also
Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam and the Baha'i faith.

Hodges leads Christ United Methodist Church in Salt Lake City, whose 1,300
members make it the denomination's largest in the region. Schiesswohl is
pastor of Park City Community United Methodist Church, a 600-member
congregation whose sanctuary shares a mountain with some of the Olympic
slopes. 

A once-in-lifetime opportunity, working at the games is also demanding. The
pastors put in long days, often working at their local churches in the
morning and early afternoon before going to the Olympic Village for a shift
that ends at close to midnight.

"We've got our own kind of Olympic marathon event going on, but it's a
joyful one," Schiesswohl says.

Every marathon requires preparation, and this one is no exception. The
chaplains underwent at least nine hours of general training for all
volunteers, then four hours of venue-specific training, followed by a day
and a half of job-specific training. They learned, for example, not to point
with their finger when someone asks for directions - such a gesture would be
viewed as obscene in some countries. Instead, they use their open hand, palm
outward, to indicate where something is located, Hodges says.

Both pastors also understand what it means to be an athlete. Hodges is a
marathon runner and a certified track and field official; Schiesswohl has
skied since age 3.

The chaplains are based at the Interfaith Center, across the street from the
Olympic chapel, owned by the University of Utah. "We are all together,"
Hodges says of the group. "There is a lot of interconnectedness."

They are there for "anything that the athletes want," he says. The chaplains
provide a rich array of interfaith worship services, as well as Bible study
and prayer sessions. Outside clergy also have been involved to varying
degrees, including Bishop Warner Brown of the United Methodist Church's
Denver Area, who was a guest preacher at Christ Church.

Proselytizing is not the goal of the chapel or the games, Hodges says, so he
witnesses in subtle ways, such as wearing the cross and flame on his vest,
and making a point of eating with people he doesn't know, for a chance to
converse and share.

The pastors aren't the only local United Methodists in supporting roles at
the Olympics. Church members are doing volunteer work or putting in longer
hours at their jobs in the service of the games. United Methodists are
serving in everything from media to event services to emergency medical,
fire and police units, as well as lodging and hospitality. 

Several hundred athletes are staying in Park City and the surrounding
community, preferring to live at higher elevations rather than in the
Olympic Village down in the valley. Some Olympians or their families are
staying with members of local churches, including Park City Community and
Christ.

Christ Church is also participating in the Interfaith Hospitality Network, a
national program that provides housing for the homeless - including local
people who were forced out of low-rent apartments to make room for
high-paying Olympic visitors, Hodges says.

Park City Community's youth are running a food tent on Main Street, raising
money to help fund their mission trip this summer to North Dakota,
Schiesswohl says.

Peace poles on the grounds of both churches symbolize the hospitality that
the congregations are trying to offer. The four-sided poles display messages
of world peace in English and other languages.

Schiesswohl is offering the church as a place for people to pray during the
games, as well as a meeting place for groups bumped from their regular
venues. "We've also made our church available to the Red Cross," he says,
explaining that a number of people attending the Olympics have had heart
attacks, strokes or altitude sickness. He was at the Olympic Park with the
church's youth group when a woman had a heart attack. The church helped the
family with transportation.

The church itself is on Bear Hollow Mountain, right below the Utah Olympic
Park. The bobsled, ski jump and luge competitions are among those held on
the mountain. "Five of the Olympic events are held right out our back door,"
Schiesswohl says.

Support from the congregation and staff are important to the chaplains. "The
congregation really bought into me doing this," Hodges says. "This is
something they're taking pride in that their minister's involved in, that
the United Methodist Church is involved in. ... I'm sure I'll pay for it
later, but right now it's been really good."

Despite the influx of visitors, church attendance is down. "Most of the
churches are experiencing a real decline in worship," Schiesswohl says. Park
City had about 100 people in worship Feb. 10, compared with an average
attendance of almost 300, he says.
 
"We've probably had about a third of our congregation that have left for the
Olympics, just not to be bothered with the hassle and invasion of the
tourists," he says. With area schools closed for three weeks, many local
families have taken advantage of the break to take a vacation, he says.

Interacting with the athletes, coaches and others is "one of the real joys
of being in the village," Schiesswohl says. 

"The athletes are very gracious," he says. "It's just an extraordinary group
of young people. They've been available signing autographs and talking to a
lot of children in the area, encouraging them as young athletes."

The games yield "incredible highs and incredible lows" for the athletes, and
as the competitors become separated into winners and losers, Schiesswohl
sees opportunities for the chaplains. "When you have people going through
that great emotional challenge and letdown, I think the chaplains can be in
a position to support them and help them as they go through that." 

After the Olympics, both pastors will be working at the Paralympic Games,
March 7-16, in which world-class athletes with physical disabilities
compete.

Asked what he expects to take away from the games, Hodges says: "It's the
kind of way we're going to feel. We may not have done any single thing that
was strikingly unique or amazing, but what we did was welcome the world, and
hopefully we've been good hosts and they will go away saying, 'That was a
nice place.' We hope to have set a high standard for how athletes will be
received in other countries."
# # #
*Tanton is news editor for United Methodist News Service. 

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
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