By Carol Glatz
VATICAN CITY — With all the bad news coming out of the Middle East, this story shone a small beam of hope: the might of bats and balls against the thunder of missiles and misunderstandings.
A player from a team of priests and seminarians returns a ball during a cricket training session in Rome Oct. 22, 2013. (CNS photo/Alessandro Bianchi, Reuters)
In support of sport as a weapon for peace, a Muslim governor in Pakistan has donated funding, cricket bats and a national class cricketer to help coach the Vatican’s new St. Peter’s Cricket Club.
Ishrat ul Ebad Khan, the governor of Sindh province in Pakistan made the gift to “our friends in the Vatican as a token of friendship,” according to this article in today’s Daily Mail.
The “Vatican XI” cricket team of Catholic priests and seminarians studying in Rome was started last year, and is sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Culture.
The team will be heading off on a “Tour of Light” series of charity matches in England in mid-September, which will include matches against the Royal Household team at Windsor Castle and a team representing the Anglican Communion at Canterbury.
Governor Ebad said he’d like to see a “tri-team contest” between the St. Peter’s team, the Anglicans and a “Governor of Sindh XI” team comprised of Islamic theology students, as a way to show friendship and harmony through sports.
Proceeds from all the “Vatican XI” matches go to the Global Freedom Network, a new interfaith initiative between Muslims, Anglicans and the Vatican dedicated to fighting human trafficking.
SkySports just aired a nice profile of the St. Peter’s Cricket Club in this mini-documentary:
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Source: http://cnsblog.wordpress.com/2014/07/17/going-to-bat-for-peace/
