BEIJING (UCAN) — Mainland Catholic volunteers are getting ready to serve athletes from around the world who will compete in the Beijing Olympics in August.
 
Beijing diocese has designated 16 people — seven priests, five nuns and four seminarians — to join the religious volunteer service group and work alongside Buddhist, Daoist (Taoist), Muslim and Protestant volunteers.
 
The Beijing Summer Olympics and the Paralympic Games will be held Aug. 8-24 and Sept. 6-17 respectively, during which a religious service center will operate in the Olympic Village, in the northern part of the capital. The volunteer group will be stationed there.
 
Four of the Catholic volunteers spoke with UCA News recently about how they are preparing to serve at the international event.
 
Father Joseph Zhao Qinglong, leader of the Catholic team, said the religious volunteers attended three training courses last year, the longest one lasting two months, with sessions twice a week. “Our participation as volunteers can be a concrete service the Church offers to society,” he said.
 
“Certainly, we will serve all foreign athletes, government officials and visitors who need the service, hoping they will feel at home,” the priest declared, noting that the China Church is part of the universal Church. Father Zhao, who studied in Rome for five years and returned to Beijing last year, can speak English, Italian and some French.
 
Li Jiangang of Beijing Seminary told UCA News about one of the courses, which the Beijing Religious Affairs Bureau held last summer for 60 volunteers representing the five government-recognized religions. The volunteers learned about the history of the Olympics, psychology, first aid, etiquette, English, customs and practices in Beijing, and the names of famous Chinese athletes, the seminarian recalled.
 
According to Li, based on exchanges with volunteers of other religions, the volunteers hold the common view that “the spirit of the Olympics coincides with religions’ and the state’s idea of harmonious society.” Thus, the Beijing Olympics will be “a juncture for development of the country and religions.”
 
Li said he practices the organ daily for an hour during the seminary’s lunch break, because he will provide accompaniment at Masses in the Olympic Village. He added that he spends another hour playing basketball to be fit for the strenuous service during the Games. Li can speak English, which he learned before entering the seminary.
 
Sister Dong Siuhong is “studying hard about religious knowledge, especially about the Church in China.” In order to provide the best religious services for the foreign athletes and accompanying personnel, she is learning about liturgical arrangement and church decoration.
 
During the Olympic events, she said, the Catholics and the 18 Protestant volunteers will stay at the Protestants’ Yanjing Theological Seminary in the capital’s Haidian district, near the Olympic Village.
 
Volunteers all have to wear the same uniform, but volunteer nuns will put on their habits at Masses to “show Catholic identity,” added Sister Dong, who can speak Korean.
 
“We will present to the visitors warm hospitality and a good image of Chinese Catholics,” she said, expressing hope that visitors would gain a better image of the China Church than they might have had a few decades ago.
 
Li too hopes to show the foreign athletes and visitors that the China Church is liberal and energetic. He noted that Beijing diocese is baptizing more and more young and educated people each year.
 
Sister Kou Suzhen, who studied in France, thinks being a volunteer fits in with the spirit of consecrated life. “I will express my devotion to God in my service,” she told UCA News. “As the Olympics takes off soon, I’m preparing myself to serve the foreign guests with a positive attitude, happiness and warmth,” she added.
 
Meanwhile, parish priests, nuns and lay leaders, as well as personnel of other religions in Beijing, attended a one-and-a-half-day training course on religious service for the Olympics in late April. Organized by the Beijing municipal government, the course instructed the participants on how to prepare and receive foreign visitors at their religious venues during August and September.