Catholics in Belgium Start Parishes of Their Own

[NewEnglandPriest]

nytimes.com/2010/11/17/world/europe/17iht-belgium.html?pagewanted=all

“Who takes this bread and eats,” he murmured, cracking a communion wafer with his wife at his side, “declares a desire for a new world.”

With those words, Mr. Delsaert, 60, and his fellow parishioners are discreetly pioneering a grass-roots movement that defies centuries of Roman Catholic Church doctrine by worshiping and sharing communion without a priest…

The primate of Belgium, Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard of Mechelen-Brussels, has already raised objections to the alternative services, calling them “unacceptable practices.” But he declined to respond to questions, maintaining a pledge to keep silent until December. He was engulfed in controversy this month after he criticized prosecution of elderly priests for pedophile acts as “vengeance” and described AIDS as a “sort of inherent justice” for promiscuous homosexual acts.

 

[ChadS]

So … some people got together and read out of the Bible and ate some bread together. Their only problem isn’t that they’re doing this without a priest, it’s also that they have poorly formed theology that they don’t even know that what they’re doing isn’t even communion.

ChadS

 

[jilly4ski]

So … some people got together and read out of the Bible and ate some bread together. Their only problem isn’t that they’re doing this without a priest, it’s also that they have poorly formed theology that they don’t even know that what they’re doing isn’t even communion.

ChadS

Indeed, and the New York Times can’t even get a factual title. These people are not starting new parishes, they are starting a new religion.

“Who takes this bread and eats,” he murmured, cracking a communion wafer with his wife at his side, “declares a desire for a new world.”

Where did that come from?
I don’t like to indulge too much in stereo types, but I guess this is what you get when Catholics who don’t know their Bible (or tradition) try to start a new religion.

I especially like these comments

For some Catholics in the ecclesia movement and academics at the Catholic University of Louvain, Archbishop Léonard is emblematic of a remote church disconnected from a flock that yearns for more relevant rituals and active participation.
**
“Something is beginning to crack,” said the Rev. Gabriel Ringlet, a priest and former vice rector at the Catholic University of Louvain, which is considering dropping the “Catholic” from its name. “I think the Belgian Catholic Church is starting to feel something exceptional for the first time in 40 years**. A lot of Catholics are waking up and speaking out.”

I can’t tell if they think the Ordinary form didn’t go far enough, which is implied in the first paragraph, or if they think changing the liturgy was a bad idea as expressed in the second paragraph.

 

[EmperorNapoleon]

So … some people got together and read out of the Bible and ate some bread together. Their only problem isn’t that they’re doing this without a priest, it’s also that they have poorly formed theology that they don’t even know that what they’re doing isn’t even communion.

Belgian Catholics have been rocked by one scandal after another ranging from sexual abuse to embezzlement and going straight to the top. The Church betrayed their trust on multiple occassions so it’s no surprise that they have lost faith and respect for the traditional structure of the Catholic Church. In fact, Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard was pied in the face while presiding over All Saints Day mass. They have no confidence in the clergy they’ve been assigned and have no recourse within the Church so they’re doing things on their own.

 

[ChadS]

Belgian Catholics have been rocked by one scandal after another ranging from sexual abuse to embezzlement and going straight to the top. The Church betrayed their trust on multiple occassions so it’s no surprise that they have lost faith and respect for the traditional structure of the Catholic Church. In fact, Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard was pied in the face while presiding over All Saints Day mass. They have no confidence in the clergy they’ve been assigned and have no recourse within the Church so they’re doing things on their own.

So the guy that threw the pie was a faithful and loyal Catholic that’s disgusted with Church leadership? The article you linked to makes no claims about the guy’s motives, but some how I doubt he’s upset over a financial scandal. More likely than not he’s an activist of one stripe or another that doesn’t attend Church anywhere and is upset over the Archbishop’s comments about [pick your topic].

ChadS

 

[EmperorNapoleon]

So the guy that threw the pie was a faithful and loyal Catholic that’s disgusted with Church leadership? The article you linked to makes no claims about the guy’s motives, but some how I doubt he’s upset over a financial scandal. More likely than not he’s an activist of one stripe or another that doesn’t attend Church anywhere and is upset over the Archbishop’s comments about

Perhaps but I also took note that not a single parishoner budged from the pews to help him. He’s a consistent source of outrage both within and outside of the clergy in Belgium. His own spokesman jumped ship.

 

[Michael_C]

How misleading. The title says** 'Catholics"** in Belgium. I can tell from the article by their behavior they are not Catholics. I would say they are more New Age then anything else.

Of course the Times article feels it’s important to state: **"“dissatisfaction with Vatican appointments of conservative bishops". **

Another reason is unhappiness about the sexual abuse** “by bishop of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe”**

The article doesn’t state if Bishop Vangheluwe was a conservative Bishop…was he?

Also the artlce says: **“They say if there is no priest, there is no Mass. But Christ is here.” ** But the article doesn’t report on the alleged Catholics response to the absence of the real presence.

As usual, poor reporting by a paper that allows people with no knowlegde of Catholicism to report on what they state is Catholicism.

 

[NewEnglandPriest]

Until there’s some kind of canonial penalty attached to them then these individuals are indeed considered Catholic by the Church. So I think saying that they’re not Catholic is a step too far.
But this kind of activity, IMHO, shows the complete lack of leadership in Europe as well as the extent of the aftershocks to the sex abuse crisis. Since the 1990’s the worldwide Church has been aware of the coming storm and decided to simply ignore it. Now that the rain, wind, and waves have come many are being swept out to sea…

 

[AcolyteLector]

And that’s how the cookie crumbled…

… or cracker, as the case may be!

 

[manualman]

This isn’t exactly a NEW phenomenon in continental Europe. These folks are simply doing the exact same thing that a disgusted fellow named Martin Luther did 500 years ago. (though this current crop appears to know far less about christianity in general and catholic theology in particular than Luther did).

It’s sad, it’s regrettable, it’s understandable and it will be utterly self destructive to the people involved, just like it always has been.

 

[Elizabeth502]

Until there’s some kind of canonial penalty attached to them then these individuals are indeed considered Catholic by the Church. So I think saying that they’re not Catholic is a step too far.
But this kind of activity, IMHO, shows the complete lack of leadership in Europe as well as the extent of the aftershocks to the sex abuse crisis. Since the 1990’s the worldwide Church has been aware of the coming storm and decided to simply ignore it. Now that the rain, wind, and waves have come many are being swept out to sea…

I agree, Father. They ignored it at their (and our) peril, and peril came. I don’t rejoice whatsoever in the peril, but such is often the fruit of denial.

 

[tzarno1]

"Doing their own thing.’

What a stupid reply. If you had been paying attention, the situation in Austria and Belgium has been heterodox for a long time. It wasn’t because of some ‘Conservative Bishop’ suddenly supporting Church Doctrine. These ‘Catholics’ support abortion, homosexuality,contraception, and just about every immorality that the Church condemns.

That bishop’s aide himself does not support Church teaching on moral issues as he
himself said. He ridiculed the previous bishop on the single time he actually quoted
from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

These people were ‘rocked’ years ago by the actual moral teachings of the Church
and use the sex scandal as cover to ‘do their own thing.’