Don Pascal Girard, a priest of the Diocese of Clermont-Ferrand, was born on August 4, 1970, and has maintained a special relationship with sports. For example, he has won the bronze medal four times at the UGSEL French Youth Judo Championships and has been the French champion of bench press five times (Junior, Open x 2, Master x 2), achieving a record of 232.5 kg. He is the creator of these initiatives (2001).
In addition, he has profoundly developed sports ministry, having created (2005) and served as the head of the diocesan sports ministry for the Diocese of Clermont. He is also a member of the "Church and Sport" working group of the French Episcopal Conference since its inception in 2020. Furthermore, he created (in 2012) and serves as the webmaster of the website "Eglise et sport," which provides news and resources related to the relationship between Church and sport.
On this site, you can find a patient and impressive collection curated by Don Pascal Girard over the years, offering a list of more than 600 testimonies of faith from sports athletes, including Olympic and Paralympic competitors.
This commendable work warrants sharing, so we provide the link to the site to assist you in the development of sports ministry and in recognizing that sports can also be a spiritual journey: www.egliseetsport.fr/temoignages.html.