Olympic and Paralympic Games 2012

Lord Bishop of Norwich Excerpts

Thursday 8th November 2012 Lords Chamber

[The Lord Bishop of Norwich]

My Lords, this is a welcome debate and I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Doocey, for securing it. Like others, I look forward enormously to the maiden speech of the noble Lord, Lord Deighton. The Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer were a wonderful antidote to the cynicism which bedevils too much of our public life. Quite apart from the brilliant organisation and the extraordinary athletic achievements, we discovered in Britain that we rather liked each other. We enjoyed each other’s company and felt better for speaking with strangers. We discovered that smiles and laughter were contagious. It was an Olympics of the mind and spirit as well as of the body, and it would be tragic if we thought it was simply an interlude in our national life rather than entirely typical of our character.

One area in which the London Olympics and Paralympics were hugely innovative could be very easily overlooked and forgotten. I refer to the unprecedented and hugely successful provision of multifaith chaplaincy services and the legacy that has been created by them. Back in 2007, the Church of England appointed a full-time Olympic co-ordinator to prepare for the Games. Canon Duncan Green got the job, and it was an inspired appointment. Although some involved with planning the Games initially wondered what on earth a clergyman could do for them, Duncan was soon seconded to LOCOG, the organising committee, as its faith adviser. He worked full-time from its headquarters, heading the faith engagement of the organisation. He set up a reference group involving all nine world faiths within the Inter Faith Network for the UK. Duncan and that interfaith group advised from the beginning on the policies that were developed on food, uniform, security, ticketing and chaplaincy.

LOCOG soon discovered that faith provision was not simply to do with providing chapels and prayer spaces on the campus; it permeated the whole of life. What you eat, what you wear and how you feel safe are faith-sensitive. In 2010, Duncan was appointed head of multifaith chaplaincy services. All this was ground-breaking. In the past, the Olympic Games simply provided chaplaincy provision during the Games themselves for athletes and officials only. This time, someone was working with others from all the world faiths for five years in preparation. The care which athletes and officials experienced in London was not simply to do with the cheery welcome; they recognised the meticulous detail that went into the planning, and that is true hospitality.

During the Games, there were three chaplaincy teams: one for athletes and officials; another for press and media; and a further team for staff and volunteers, with 193 chaplains of different faith traditions being placed across all the Olympic venues. Within the Olympic athletic village, at its multifaith centre, different services were provided by the five major faiths every day, and almost 10,000 attendances were recorded. The chaplaincy provided a 24-hour critical incident response and dealt with a major road accident, deaths and numerous occasions when athletes, staff and volunteers were distressed. The chaplaincy teams were very busy indeed, and the centres had a constant stream of people through them.

The Olympic Games were held in Ramadan. That could have been a challenge but special provision was made. The chaplaincy team was extremely well received by the International Olympic Committee. There was appreciation for the way in which the Church of England had planned in advance and for the way in which it had sought to ensure that people of every faith tradition were catered for. The Church of England thinking ahead—the age of miracles is not over.

What have we learnt and what is the legacy? First, a host church or faith tradition open to others is needed. Too much of the discussion about the establishment of the Church of England concentrates on the existence of these Benches in Parliament, yet establishment has proved to be a rather elastic concept. It is not to do with exclusive privilege but kindles an expectation that we should enable people of faith to participate fully in our corporate national life, which is a vocation the Church of England recognises.

Secondly, this could be done only because good relationships between the different faiths already exist in the UK. Those relationships are probably more trusting than almost anywhere else in western Europe, and that trust has grown still further as a result of the Olympics. That is a legacy for this nation of great importance. Further, it has set a benchmark for multifaith chaplaincy services at other major national events. It will not be a one-off.

Thirdly, it has raised within the churches and faith communities the need for better ministry to sportspeople and those who surround them. The spiritual and emotional needs of those performing at such astonishingly demanding levels are very considerable. They have not always been met before. What was unmistakable to any spectator or observer of the Olympic Games was the prevalence of athletes publicly demonstrating or witnessing to the faith they held. Perhaps I had never been alive to it in previous Games, but I do not recall anything like so many athletes crossing themselves or falling to their knees to pray as there were during the London Olympics. It seemed to be the only thing which some of the commentators passed over without mentioning. However, there was one occasion when Usain Bolt, as your Lordships might recall, fell to his knees in prayer after a race, and we were told that he was having a moment to himself. I doubt that was entirely accurate.

What I appreciated was the freedom with which athletes could be themselves in the Olympic and Paralympic Games. It was a community of nations, diverse in faith and language, culture and tradition, yet it was a single human community. If the spirit evident in the Games and in the relationships between the world faiths expressed within our chaplaincy services could be replicated everywhere in the world, the legacy of peace and reconciliation from the London Olympics would be astonishing.