The Margins Have Margins: Three Books, One Question

Pope Francis speaks of a "Culture of Encounter." Father Greg Boyle, SJ writes about "kinship." Each is an essential ingredient for a better world, a warmer society. With each, there is no "us and them." It is "just us." Justice. Pope Paul VI said, If we want peace, work for justice. 

I love sports because I believe they cultivate what both Jesuits teach and preach. In part, the Culture of Encounter and Kinship are born because athletes spend so much time together. The opportunity to play, work for a common goal, strive for excellence, win, fail alone and together serve as a means by which to "erase the margins." 

Over the course of a season, I hope teammates "inch closer to creating a community of kinship such that God might recognize it." Some grow so close that they form a "circle of compassion." One in which "no one stands outside that circle—moving ourselves closer to the margins so that the margins themselves will be erased. "

I don't want to be overly optimistic about the power of sport. I've been involved in them long enough; I hope I hold a realistic view. It is important to understand: Sports can be...Athletics has the potential to...  Many times they fall short. AND, reading John Miller's book review entitled Sporting Struggles in the print edition of America, I realized something totally different: the margins have margins.

Each book profiles an athletes: Jerry West—basketball, Gayle Sayers—football, and Abby Wombach—soccer who testify to a different challenge, even the greats battle. What happens when love—which bound a person to a sport—is lost? How does what is born from the Culture of Encounter respond? What might kinship offer? 

How I wish Walt Whitman were with us. Perhaps he could offer a poetic response. Indeed, We are large, we contain multitudes. We also stand at the margins...none the same. Thank you to the voices who had the courage, and the ability to share.

Thoughtful reading: What happens when athletic heroes fall out of love with the game?  Important reflection. 

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Sister Corita's art