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Don Bosco: Faith and Sports

Don Bosco: Faith and Sports

Last updated on: October 21, 2025 at 3:38 pm by Father Pablo Migone

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Don Bosco: Faith and Sports 2025-10-21T15:38:59-05:00 Father Pablo Migone

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The industrial revolution reached Northern Italy before the rest of the Italian boot, primarily the city of Turin located closest to the borders with Switzerland and France. Immediately after his ordination to the priesthood, John Bosco arrived to the rapidly developing city in 1841. He experienced first-hand the negative effects of industrialization in the family and the faith. Slums had arisen around the city, filled mostly with young boys and men who had left the family farm to work in factories. Whole families found themselves living in squalor and poverty. Not only was the work dangerous, leaving the young workers quite vulnerable, but living alone in a big city, they found plenty of opportunities to get into trouble. Don Bosco, as he was known, was stunned by the number of inmates at the local jail, mostly young boys from rural areas.

Don Bosco quickly realized that the flock entrusted to him would not respond to the traditional parish model that the Church had used for centuries. Very much inspired by the Holy Spirit, he developed a new way to reach the workers of Turin. At first, he went to the factories, shops and marketplaces to meet them. After some struggle, he acquired a property where he built the first Oratory. The Oratory became a new educational approach with a unique environment where those who participated received a holistic experience, fostering spiritual, academic, and personal growth. The many abandoned working children of Turin found in the Oratory not only a refuge, but a place where they could mature both as human beings and as children of God.

Sports naturally became a foundational component of the Oratory. Don Bosco saw that after work, these young men had nothing to do, leading them into trouble. The Oratory provided a safe and welcoming place which fostered friendship and healthy relationships. Ministering initially exclusively to men, sports became the natural way to build community. There is a story, that when the Oratory was at the Church of Saint Martin, the neighbors surrounding the parish lodged a complaint to the city about the noise made by the boys at play.

Don Bosco eventually founded the Salesian Order, and the Oratory model spread like wildfire throughout the world. By 1888 when he died, there were 57 houses and 1,000 members of the Salesian Order. Don Bosco’s wisdom was to use a human foundation to build up the faith. The benefits that came from sports strengthened the faith among the young men. Don Bosco was canonized in 1934 and proclaimed the “Father and Teacher of Youth.”

The benefits of Don Bosco’s model continue to be recognized. Recently, the Church implemented worldwide an initial year for all seminarians that focuses on human development. In these modern times when young men tend to play more video games than spend time outside, sports are a foundational component of this propaedeutic year. While I was in seminary in Rome, the Vatican’s Secretary of State instituted the “Clericus Cup” to foster unity among the thousands of seminarians studying in the many seminaries and universities in Rome. It was a huge success. In the years I organized the Vocation Office Summer Camps, as soon as the first campers arrived, they immediately kept entertained with a soccer ball or basketball, immediately connecting with one another through sports.

Pope Francis, known for his profound support of the San Lorenzo Club in Argentina, addressed the European Olympic Committee in 2013 with these words, “The bond between the Church and the world of sports is a beautiful reality. The Church sees in sports a powerful instrument for the integral growth of the human person. Engaging in sports, in fact, rouses us to go beyond ourselves and our own self interests in a healthy way; it trains the spirit in sacrifice and, if it is organized well, it fosters loyalty in interpersonal relations, friendship, and respect for rules. The language of sports is universal; it extends across borders, language, race, religion and ideology; it possesses the capacity to unite people, together, by fostering dialogue and acceptance.”

Picture from Agenzia Info Salesiana. Link here.

Sports and Religion

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