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| The Communities of Jerusalem Leave Belgium (photo of their establishment in Great St. Martin Church in Cologne) |
Jozef De Kesel was appointed Archbishop of Brussels and Primate of Belgium at the end of 2015 by Pope Francis. His appointment ended a five-year-old plan begun by Pope Benedict XVI. in an attempt to correct the progressive course of the Belgian Church. With the appointment of De Kesel, the old squad of Cardinal Godfried Danneels returned. De Kesel had already been Danneel's chosen successor in 2010. In November 2016 De Kesel was elevated to the rank of Cardinal by Francis. A dignity denied to his predecessor, Léonard.
Priestly Society of the Holy Apostles
De Kesel's predecessor and Danneel's successor, Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard had brought the Fraternité des Saints Apetres / Broederschap van de Saint Apostles of the French priest, Michel-Marie Zanotti, into the country. The Society took over the care of two parishes in the Brussels region and founded a seminary. Archbishop Léonard insisted on this parallel priestly training, hoping to train a new clergy. Three years after the foundation, 21 young men were already preparing for the priesthood. The new foundation was "too successful," as it was described behind the scenes. De Kesel, only a few months in office, blocked the priestly seminary and threw the priestly brotherhood "from solidarity with France's bishops" out of his archdiocese. At the same time, he made sure that they were not included in any other Belgian diocese. "France also needs priests", was the well-founded reasoning.
In reality, De Kesel strives to make a tabula rasa of the "restorative" phase of his predecessor. The Church understanding of the Priestly Society of the Holy Apostles was "miles" away from that Danneels, as it was said in Brussels. The traditional priesthood of the Society and the numerous priestly confreres, which were attracted to the Society were considered undesirable in progressive circles. De Kesel himself promoted the abolition of priestly celibacy shortly after his inauguration.
Brothers and Sisters of the Communities of Jerusalem
Now the brothers and sisters of the Communities of Jerusalem must also pack their bags. The Fraternités Monastiques de Jérusalem 2001, founded in France in 1975, were brought to Brussels by Cardinal Danneels. The monastic communities have two offices in Rome in Trinità dei Monti and in San Sebastiano al Palatino. Their charism is, among other things, to live in monastic isolation in the midst of large cities. Communities have been settled in the famous abbey of Mont Saint Michel in Normandy and also the abbey with the famous cathedral of St. Mary Magdalene of Vezelay. In the German-speaking world, there are branches in Greater St. Martin in Cologne and in Strasbourg.
The Belgian branch is located in Saint-Gilles, Flemish Sint Gillis, in the Brussels region, a highly multicultural area with social problems. In the parish there are adult catechumenates, numerous missionary and apostolic initiatives, bible circles and a community of Eucharistic worship.
The reason for the expulsion is in this case: reform of the pastoral units. Churches are abandoned and parishes are united. The Sint-Gilliskerk is to become the center of a larger pastoral unit, but the presence of the monastic communities, although they have revitalized the parish, is no longer desired.
Their Presence Not Desired by the Archdiocese
At the suggestion of the Archdiocese, the Community agreed to seek a new place of action. "We have complete confidence and are ready to work together," quotes Nuova Bussola Quotidiana (NBQ) Soeur Violaine and Frere Jean-Christophe, who are responsible for the Brussels branch. A new site has also been found, but the Archdiocese is only prepared to issue a guarantee for two years. This is too little for a community. When the community pressed for a longer time, the Archdiocese was opposed. After a discussion with the Archbishop and the delegates for consecrated life, "we have decided to withdraw," as the two leaders of the communities write. There was no room left.
The explanation bears a bitter undertone, which makes the disappointment of being forced out of the archdiocese after fifteen years. The leaders ask for prayer: "The future belongs to God. If He wants our Communities to return to Brussels one day, we will be very pleased."
The ouster of the Priestly Society of the Holy Apostles and now of the monastic Communities of Jerusalem raises questions. Can an archdiocese like Brussels afford to set aside two of its most fruitful communities?
"These are episodes that show that the Church in Brussels, or at least some of its high-ranking representatives, has a tendency to self-mutilation and an urge to centralize power," NBQ said.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Wikicommons
Image: Wikicommons
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG
Theological liberals hate anything monastic. It challenges their wish to pretend that Christianity involves no renunciation or self-denial.
ReplyDeleteWith the forced departure of those two saintly orders, along with the graces that their presence had brought with them, De Kesel tries to drag Brussels down to hell with him. Then in July, Cardinal Tagle will be appointed head of the CDF, thereby securing all the De Kesels in the world, and the face of the anti-Christ/anti-Church will have become complete.
ReplyDeleteInstances like these are why sedevacantist type chapels open up in various communities.
ReplyDeleteI know the sede position is not as popular in Europe as it is North America.
With that said I know for a fact sede chapels have opened in Germany & France within the past year.These chapels ARE NOT operated by BP's Sanborn or Dolan.
The only thing that will save the Faith are many sede chapels preaching the true faith as a contrast to the heresies coming from the NO church. All trads need to abandon the hererical NO sect. As the author says, its being dragged down to hell.
DeleteI wish the Sede's,SSPV,and SSPX-Resistance would all unite and work together.
DeleteOur divisions are holding up the restoration.
I see Thuc,Mendez,and Lefevbre line Bishops to be valid and catholic.I forgot the Hnilica line in England and the clergy from the original 9 Duarte-Costa bishops to be valid.
All we can do is pray and make personal sacrifice's of comfort.
Dominus Vobiscum
The news from Brussels, vis-à-vis both the EU and Wunderkind de Kesel has been fairly light since Brexit. Have the Moslems quit desecrating churches and EUrocrats started saying rosaries, or something?
ReplyDeleteBelgians (at least the Dutch speaking part) are no longer surprised when they hear of yet another act of demolition by the Archbishop of Malines. Ecclesiastical life in this country is basically ruled by mitred antifa who hate Roman Catholicism. Jacobin fury against all that is sacred, and a fanatical obsession with sodomy, are the elements that form the public image of the Danneelsian clique.
ReplyDeleteI would almost call it miraculous how the FSSP parish in Brussels has survived until now. It was given to them by Mgr. Léonard during his reign as archbishop.
Even atheists in this country say that the local Churches here are destroying themselves. It is the cursed legacy of Cardinal Suenens that haunts the once glorious Archbishopric of Malines, and only Our Lady of Fatima can destroy that legacy. To compare the state of the Malinois See in the days of Cardinal Mercier with what it has become today is enough to make one tremble.
Parce, Domine, populum Gallobelgicum, clamans et rogans te in miseria et paupertate eius! Gloriam eius delebant inimici eius, et nomen eius mittebant in stercorem mundi.
Eleutherius.
To hear and commiserate the agonized cries from suffering Catholics like myself is one of the chief reasons I have made this attempt. If nothing else, we can encourage one another, holding on to the barque for dear life in this storm... God will provide.
DeleteIndeed Tancred, we hang together, or we hang separately, but hang we shall, always and everything for Our Lord Jesus Christ and His Blessed Mother!
DeleteOur Lady of Fatima will obtain victory. Catholics must become a strong political force again, and forge transatlantic alliances to overthrow liberalism in the Vatican and elsewhere.
DeleteThe diabolical deception that Catholicism is supposedly apolitical must be defeated by a renewed Catholic militancy.
As the pederast shadowgovernments wail because of "pedogate", which is about to explode into their faces, we must attack them without granting them rest and destroy them completely.
"We will make America Catholic as the conquistadores made half the world Catholic." - Frederick D. Wilhelmsen.
That which Wilhelmsen said of America, we, European Christians, will roar in the face of the godless ideologies that terrorise our fatherlands.
Eleutherius.
The only good thing about this clown is that he's going to by 70 this year. In a few years, let us pray we have a Catholic Pope, who will retire this scumbag and replace him with a Catholic.
ReplyDeleteDamian Malliapalli
I am afraid that, unless a miraculous intervention of the Holy Spirit in the next conclave, we will get a worse pope than Francis, the one who will complete his ongoing demolition of the Church.
DeleteIndeed he has made cardinals a lot of modernist prelates like him since he was elected to the See of Peter. Now they have a large majority in the college of cardinals allowed to participate in the election of the next pope.