After eight years of service running the Church and Sport Section of our dicastery, Father Kevin Lixey LC has left the Pontifical Council for the Laity to return to the United States. He is taking up a new post in Atlanta Georgia with Regnum Christi, the lay apostolic movement of the Legionaries of Christ congregation.

Blessed John Paul II instituted the new section in 2004, and the young Father Lixey was asked to set it up, to establish its general structure and objectives and to initiate contacts. His priestly ordination had taken place only a few years previously (2001), and he returned to Rome after completing his studies in philosophy and systematic theology. In June 2004 he put the Sport Section into motion. It was to be a sort of “observatory of the Holy See” that would be a point of reference for international Catholic sports associations and for research on the vast world of sport.

The dicastery will always be grateful to Father Lixey for the network of contacts that he has established through activities organised or supported by the Church and Sport Section on behalf of the dicastery. In addition to the international seminars held in Rome, Father Lixey attended meetings and congresses in Europe and further afield. These were very important in helping to link up with people in the Church who are involved in sports’ apostolate, both amateur and professional. Contacts with local bishops and bishops’ conferences helped to stimulate awareness of the opportunities and challenges that sport presents for sharing the Gospel, given the important role of the laity in that activity.

The Pontifical Council for the Laity, for its part, has given Father Lixey a wonderful opportunity to work directly with the See of the Successor of Peter. He could come to fully appreciate the universal nature of the Church through contact with so many bishops who come to this office on their ad limina visits, and also through the many movements and associations that are in continuous contact with the dicastery, and with the world of youth and preparations for World Youth Day.

All in the dicastery will miss his presence, always competent and discreet, and very pleasant and unassuming. With his characteristic simplicity, Father Kevin took leave of his colleagues at the end of June by conjuring up an image from sport. He told us that a substitute that enters the field gives new energy and vitality to the team and the game. This, he said, would happen in our office.