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Beijing Olympics of Faith

Mark Tronson who assisted in the development of International Olympic Committee’s ‘Religious Services’ protocols in February 2000 while a guest of the IOC in Lausuanne Switzerland, says there is much confusion among Christians in relation to expressions of faith in the ‘Olympic village’ for the upcoming Beijing Olympics next year.

By: Mark Tronson
Christian Today Australia Columnist
Monday, 8 October 2007, 10:26 (EST)
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Mark Tronson who assisted in the development of International Olympic Committee’s ‘Religious Services’ protocols in February 2000 while a guest of the IOC in Lausuanne Switzerland, says there is much confusion among Christians in relation to expressions of faith in the ‘Olympic village’ for the upcoming Beijing Olympics next year.

Baptist Minister of 30 years, M V Tronson has had a long association with the Olympic movement although he has never held any official title or ever received any payment for his contributions. He’s been a faith financed funded missionary through donations via a monthly newsletter for 25 years.

Between 1982 and 2000, Mark Tronson pioneered ‘sports chaplaincy’ across the nation in association with Australian Heads of Churches. He was himself the Australian Cricket Team chaplain for 17 years until the end of 2000.

In 2001 he established ‘Life After Cricket’ and became the editor of the ‘Retired Australian Cricketers Bi-Annual Newsletter’ with an editorial team of Allan Border (Qld), Phil Emery (NSW), VCA’s Jason Bakker and Shaun Graf, David Boon (TAS), Greg Chappell (SA) and Kim Hughes (WA). It is shortly to publish its 15th edition.

The two respite facilities he inaugurated for Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) athletes, coaches and their families are ‘Basil Sellers House’ (Moruya 1992) and ‘Basil Sellers Tweed’ (Casuarina 2006). In 2007 he made these centres available to the cricket fraternity as ‘Cricket family respite’.

Over the years, he has been a passionate competitor and title-holder in athletics and field hockey. He has written extensively about hockey, and has been an author of five books on hockey, he was the hockey comment writer for ‘The Australian’ newspaper over many years, including field hockey Olympic tournaments and World Cups.

Providence has played a large part in his ministry. 1981-92 he was a part-time industrial padre at Shell Australia when IOC Vice President Kevan Gosper AC was Shell Australia Chairman. This association began a train of events which eventually came together in a pattern.

At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, this association helped Mark Tronson initiate his Olympic chaplaincy ministry. Subsequently, he followed this up by appointing Olympic chaplains from Australia between 1988-1996 to various Olympic host city’s Religious Services program.

For instance, the Reverend, The Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes AC MLC was a Calgary Canada 1988 Winter Olympic Chaplain. Reverend Russell Hinds served in both Seoul ’88 and Barcelona ’92, while AIS Chaplains’ the Reverend Ken Bond was in Barcelona ’92 and the Reverend Peter Nelson in Atlanta ‘96.

After the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Kevan Gosper concurred that a Religious Services protocol might be helpful for future host cities. In order to initiate development on this, Mark Tronson visited IOC headquarters in February 2000.

There was one other factor which was a delight in the heart of M V Tronson.

Kevan Gosper rang Mark before SOCOG’s decision to appoint the Police Chaplaincy Committee to run the Sydney Olympic Village Religious Services, in order to head-hunt him to help in this IOC protocol initiative.

“This was extremely courteous of Kevan Gosper, as I’d been chairing a broad inter-faith religious committee initiating planning for Sydney ’s Olympic village religious services. With this intervention, the Police Chaplaincy Committee took on the Sydney Village Chaplaincy co-ordination role,” M V Tronson explained.

As an adjunct, a very conservative Sydney Anglican has published a thesis work, in part on SOCOG’s appointment of the Police Chaplaincy committee. The decision disenfranchised him from being part of the planning committee. It certainly gives his opinion on how SOCOG’s decision affected the politics of theology.

http://sportschaplaincy.com.au/download/articles/Evangelicalism%20Sport%20and%20the%20Olympic%20Games.pdf

Chapters 7, 8 and 9

As a result of M V Tronson’s IOC developmental work in February 2000 on Olympic Village Religious Services for host cities, he has been submitting ‘updated protocols’ to each Summer and Winter upcoming Olympic host city ‘to assist’ in the deliberations of their ‘Religious Services Committee’.

“It is ‘advisory’ in nature, it contains ‘information’, but ‘not direction’ in any measure. Each host city’s Religious Service committee determines their own program,” M V Tronson stated.

Moreover he makes the point that since February 2000 he has had no association whatever with the selection of chaplains, as that is also at a local level in consultation with long time Olympic chaplaincy providers. He can assure Australian evangelicals there is an evangelical international committee that recommends Protestant chaplains to each host city ‘Religious Services’ planning group.

For the Beijing Olympic Religious Services planning group M V Tronson had his ‘updated protocol information’ translated into mandarin before being sent. Kevan Gosper is the President of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

“It is in this area I’m finding a lot of confusion among evangelicals in Australia who are reading press reports of persecution against Christians in China and I feel burdened to clear up misunderstandings,” M V Tronson stated. “As chairman of Well-Being Australia , we receive those same disturbing ‘news reports’ from off the wire through our ministry ‘Press Service International’.”

“However”, he said, “the host city ‘Olympic Village’, might be described as something akin to an Embassy, in that the very soil upon which the embassy sits belongs to that country.”

“Therefore the Olympic Village ‘Religious Services’ operates within this climate. There will be Christian chaplains serving the Olympic family as well as religious leaders from the ‘other world religions’,” M V Tronson explained.

To the Australian evangelical movement he says: “Evangelical chaplains will engage in pastoral duties, conduct prayer meetings, enjoy the fellowship of Olympic family evangelical athletes and officials, encourage them in their walk with the Lord Jesus, and hold evangelical services with hearty Gospel singing, in essence, on their own ‘Christian soil’ by analogy with an Embassy”.

He points out that each ‘world religious group within the Olympic village’ engages their own religious affiliates in their own manner, there is no discrimination in this.





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