Bonny says married men are studying for 2028 ordinations in Antwerp
The Diocese of Antwerp ‘can no longer assign priests exclusively to its hospitals, youth movements or schools’, Bishop Johan Bonny said.
Nicolas Maeterlinck / Belga Photo / Alamy
Archbishop Luc Terlinden of Mechelen-Brussels said in July that married priests would be ‘an enrichment for the Church’ but left Bishop Johan Bonny to take the initiative in his diocese.
Bishop Johan Bonny of Antwerp told the Holy See that several married men are now studying for ordination in his diocese in 2028, after warning six months ago that he had to do this because of a severe lack of priests.
“Necessity compels me,” he told the daily La Libre Belgique on 14 September, saying his diocese has fewer than 70 priests aged under 70, nearly two-thirds of whom are from abroad.
The Belgian diocese “can no longer assign priests exclusively to its hospitals, youth movements or schools, while only one of five prisons in Antwerp province has a permanent chaplain”, he said. “This is woefully insufficient.”
In June, Bonny discussed this in Rome with Cardinal Lazarus You Heung-sik, prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy, and Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary general of the Synod of Bishops.
“I explained to them, with figures, that Flanders had exhausted its reserves,” he said. They replied they would raise the issue with Pope Leo XIV but no public reaction has yet come from the Holy See.
Bonny announced his plan to ordain viri probati in a pastoral letter to his diocese that carefully quoted guidelines for the Synod on Synodality’s implementation phase (2025-2028) to justify this.
He praised the many foreign priests who work in his diocese but said: “They come to help us, not replace us. Moreover, it would not be fair to put the burden of our shortages on their shoulders.”
The Belgian bishops discussed this with the late Pope Francis on their last ad limina visit. Their head, Archbishop Luc Terlinden of Mechelen-Brussels, said in July that married priests would be “an enrichment for the Church” but left Bonny to take the initiative.
Bonny said the training was being conducted discreetly. A bishop does not need explicit approval from Rome to ordain someone. They would still be valid but illicit if Rome came out publicly against it, and he could face restrictions.
The traditionalist Society of Saint Pius X was recently excommunicated after consecrating four bishops validly but illicitly. Rome has been less clear on progressive bishops testing restrictions, but that is no guarantee that Bonny will get his way.
No comments:
Post a Comment