Clericus Cup 2008

Rome, June 20, 2008. Students at the Maria Mater Ecclesiae Pontifical International College in Rome received awards recently from the Acton Institute for research projects on the Church’s social doctrine and from the Italian Sports Center for the Clericus Cup tournament in soccer and basketball.

Academic Awards from the Acton Institute

On April 29, the Acton Institute awarded prizes to seminarians from the college who carried out research projects on real-life applications of the Church’s social doctrine.

The contest consisted in presenting a project or program carried out by the Church in the student’s native land. The projects had to solve a concrete problem by applying social doctrine principles. Projects written by three seminarians from the school received the highest grades.

Carlos Mario Gómez Álvarez, from the diocese of Sonsón Rionegro (Colombia), presented the positive impact of spreading the Church’s social doctrine among the farmers of the country as a way to help them reject drug trafficking.  Gamaliel Niyonsaba, from the diocese of Cyangugu (Rwanda), evaluated the initiative of microcredits promoted by the bishops of his country. The highest-scoring project was created by Eduardo Augusto Zanom, of the diocese of Las Palmas (Brazil), for his

	Mr. Kishore Jayabalan, director of the Acton Institute, gives an award to one of the participants.

project researching the drug-addiction rehabilitation programs carried out in the area of Fazenda da Esperança (Hope Farm).

The winning seminarians received a certificate as well as money for the purchase of books. An additional 15 seminarians received recognition for their research. The ceremony was presided over by Fr Michael Ryan, LC; Kishore Jayabalan, director of the Acton Institute; and Michael Severance, head of operations for the Acton Institute.

Athletic Awards for the Clericus Cup 2008
A few days later, on May 3, the final match of the tournament for priests and seminarians (known as the Clericus Cup) was held. The tournament, which concluded its second annual competition this year, was an initiative of the Italian Sports Center with the cooperation of the “The Church and Sports” section of the Pontifical Council for the Laity. 

Maria Mater Ecclesiae College’s team of seminarians won the 2008 Clericus Cup with a 2-1 victory over Redemptoris Mater College, which won last year. At the start of the match, there was a prayer and an exchange of images representing the Marian titles after which each college was named. Maria Mater Ecclesiae also won the prize for best coach and for the

	The national president of the Italian Sports Center, Elio Constantini, gives the trophy to the captain of the Maria Mater Ecclesiae College team.

scorer of the best goal.

In the basketball version of the Clericus Cup, organized for the first time this year, the Maria Mater Ecclesiae team won third place as well as a prize for best player. The basketball game was held on May 4 in the Sports Palace in Rome. Fr Óscar Turrión, LC, a formator working at the college, led the opening prayer, accompanied by the president of the Italian Sports Center.

The Clericus Cup tournament, with Maria Mater Ecclesiae’s strong showing, helped the seminarians to grow in unity and integration with each other and with the school.