Catholicism: Ashes, Penance, and Priests on Skis

I've gotten the impression that "being religious" is, for some folks, a matter of sackcloth, ashes, mortification and renunciation of worldly pleasures. They're right, sort of.

"Interior repentance is a radical reorientation of our whole life, a return, a conversion to God with all our heart, an end of sin, a turning away from evil, with repugnance toward the evil actions we have committed. At the same time it entails the desire and resolution to change one's life, with hope in God's mercy and trust in the help of his grace. This conversion of heart is accompanied by a salutary pain and sadness which the Fathers called animi cruciatus (affliction of spirit) and compunctio cordis (repentance of heart).²⁴"
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1431)

There's quite a lot more in the Catechism, about interior conversion, penance, repentance, and learning to control our desires. (Catechism, 1430, 1434, 2015, for starters)

So, why have a bunch of priests gotten together for a skiing competition?

Important as mortification of the flesh is: it's not all there is to Catholicism.

Priests on Skis

Here's what got me thinking about the grim, and not-so-grim, sides of Catholicism:

"Pope John Paul II Polish Skiing Competition"

catholicnewsagency, YouTube (February 18, 2011)
video, 0:56

"Polish Priests and Seminarians strapped on their snow skis February 12th to compete for the John Paul II Cup in Wisla, Poland.

"The 14th annual Alpine Skiing Championship was founded out of esteem for the Polish Pontiff, who loved to ski.

"Events are based around an 800 meter slalom race...."

The way I see it, there's nothing wrong with skiing: as long as a person doesn't make an idol out of it. And I've written about that sort of thing before. (February 22, 2010)

Not-entirely-unrelated posts:

• "Catholicism: Obligations, Penance, Fasting; and Cartoons"
  (December 18, 2010)
• "Shop Class, Home Ec, and Being Catholic"
  (December 14, 2010)
• "From Father Dowling to The Simpsons: Somebody Finally Got it Right"
  (October 21, 2010)
• "Colorful Catholics: Vestment Colors For Every Season"
  (July 22, 2010)
• "Catholics aren't Klingons"
  (April 27, 2010)

In the news:

• "Polish priests display their skiing skills for John Paul II Cup"
  Alan Holdren, CNA (Catholic News Agency) (February 19, 2011)