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A cardinal for only one year and five days, Julien Ries did not receive his red hat as the result of a succesful career in the hierarchy. The Belgian prelate rather received it for his work in the quiet of his study and the lecture hall. This morning he passed away at the age of 92.
Julien Ries was born near Arlon and ordained a priest for the Diocese of Namur in 1945. After a few years working as a parish priest and history teacher, Father Ries taught history of religion at the Catholic University of Louvain. After that university was split in a Flemish and a Walloon section in 1968, he remained at the latter. He remained there until his retirement in 1990.
A highly productive author, Fr. Ries was created a cardinal in the consistory of February 2012. Consecrated a bishop a week before the consistory, he held the titular see of Belcastro, and later became Cardinal-Deacon of Sant’Antonio di Padova a Circonvallazione Appia.
With more than 600 publications to his name, Cardinal Ries was convinced that those were the reason for being made a cardinal. Pope Benedict XVI studied his work closely, and in 2012, Cardinal Ries said in an interview: “He phoned me more than once to congratulate me, when he had read a book of mine.”
Cardinal Ries’s work was best know for its focus on religious anthropology and humanities. In 2009, he donated his library and all his notes and correspondence to the Catholic University of Milan.
Cardinal Ries was never an elector. With his passing the total number of cardinals drops to 208.
For a while now, I’ve seen people arrive on my blog via search terms like ‘new archbishop Luxembourg’. Perhaps they knew things I didn’t (not a very radical notion), because just today, the Vatican announced just that, a new archbishop for Luxembourg.
The archbishop emeritus, Msgr. Fernand Franck, was , at 77, already well past the retirement age, but for reasons we can only guess at, it took this long for a successor to be named. And that successor is Jesuit Fr. Jean-Claude Hollerich, pictured to the left with Msgr. Franck. Archbishop elect Hollerich is 52, and a priest since 1990. His biography mentions his education in Rome, Belgium, Germany and Japan, and indicates that Msgr. Hollerich is something of a language scholar, having extensively studied both Japanese and German. His list of publications, varying from writings about the origins of school grammars to European grammar in Asia, and with side excursions to the rise of national awareness of Luxembourg and the history of French Jesuits in Siam. Much of his experience, it would seem, he gained while working in the Archdiocese of Tokyo and as vice rector of the Sophia University there.
The archdiocese that Msgr. Hollerich will soon call his responsibility tends to be too easily forgotten. It wasn’t until 1840, one year after Luxembourg’s independence as a grand duchy was reaffirmed by the First Treaty of London, that it was split off from the Diocese of Namur as a separate apostolic vicariate. In 1870 it was promoted to a diocese, and only in 1988 was it elevated to the status of archdiocese. As the only diocese in Luxembourg, it’s archbishop is not a member of a bishops’ conference, although it does share a papal nuncio with Belgium.
There are an estimated 390,000 Catholics out of a total population of 511,000, served by some 250 priests and 550 religious.
Archbishop elect Hollerich will be consecrated to bishop and installed as Luxembourg’s third archbishop on 16 October. at the cathedral of Our Lady in the city of Luxembourg.
“The main point we must consider is that a bishop isn’t just a bishop on his own. He is a bishop of a Church and that Church must be somewhere. In ancient times there were very many more dioceses, which were effectively swept away either by invasion of Muslims or the erosion of demographics, etc. In more modern times, in the “propaganda” countries, Sees were sometimes established, but the town lost importance for one reason or another and it became impractical to maintain the see there.”
Words from Father Z in this blog post, in which he answers a question about titular dioceses and the rights that bishops may or may not have in them. It prompted me to take a look at the titular sees in my neck of the woods, continental north western Europe. In nine countries (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden), it turns out, there are only seven of those. Compared to southern Europe, north Africa and the Middle East, that is very few indeed, but it does allow for an easy overview of which titular sees they are and who is appointed to them. In other words, who are the other bishops in these countries*?
Let’s take an alphabetical look.
Bishop Budzik
We start way up north, in Iceland, with the titular see of Hólar. Currently all of Iceland is part of the Diocese of Reykjavík, but in the twelfth century there were two others, once of which was Hólar. It was suppressed in 1550, after which the island fell under various ecclesiastical jurisdictions. The village of Hólar lies on Iceland’s northern coast and nowadays is home to some 100 people. In the past it was the heart of Iceland’s Catholicism and a major centre of learning. Today, it is the titular see of Bishop Stanisław Budzik, auxiliary bishop of the Polish diocese of Tarnów.
Next is one of the two titular sees located in Belgium. Ieper (in Dutch) or Ypres (in French) was one of the dioceses established in answer to the Reformation in the Low Countries. Unlike the dioceses further north, it existed for a fair amount of time. It wasn’t until 1801, when it was suppressed to become part of the Diocese of Gent. The establishment of the diocese reflected its importance as a commercial trading city and also its origins as a French enclave in the Holy Roman Empire. Its current titular bishop is one of the three new auxiliary bishops of the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels, Msgr. Jean Kockerols.
Not far from there lies the third see on our list, and the only Dutch titular see: Maastricht. It can trace its origins to the first arrival of Christianity in the Netherlands. It was created in 530 from the Diocese of Tongeren and Maastricht and survived for almost two centuries. In 720 it was incorporated into the powerful Diocese of Liège, an indication that the centre of Catholic gravity in that area had moved south. Bishop Marco Pérez Caicedo is the titular bishop of Maastricht. In daily life he is one of the auxiliary bishops of the Archdiocese of Guayaquil in Ecuador.
Bishop Sudar
From Maastricht we go back to Scandinavia, to Norway where, in 1070, a Diocese of Selja was established. Also know as Selia, the titular see is based on a tiny island near the city of Bergen and is the predecessor of the Diocese of Bergen. In fact, it was named so only 10 years after its establishment, and survived until the Reformation. It was suppressed in 1537. The current titular bishop is Auxiliary Bishop Pero Sudar of Vrhbosna in Bosnia and Hercegovina.
Then back to Belgium it is, to the ancient titular see of Tongeren or Tongres. This is the oldest diocese in the Low Countries, established in 344 from Cologne. From here, the Diocese of Maastricht was established in 530, the same year that saw the end of Tongeren as a diocese. Later, it was one of the seeds for the powerful prince-bishopric of Liège. Like Belgium’s other titular see, a Belgian bishop holds it. He is Msgr. Pierre Warin, auxiliary of the nearby Diocese of Namur.
That leaves only two titular dioceses on our list, and both are currently vacant. The first is Chiemsee in Germany, that country’s only titular see. It’s been vacant for a long time: it’s last titular bishop was Bishop Sigmund Christoph, Count of Waldburg-Zeil-Trauchburg. His tenure ended in 1808.
The last diocese on our last takes us back to our starting point, Iceland. When Hólar was an important centre in the north, its equivalent in the south was the Diocese of Skálholt. It’s history is very similar to that of Hólar, although it is a few years older. It is vacant, but it hasn’t been for as long as Chiemsee. It’s last titular bishop died in 2008, and he was Dutch: Bishop Alphons Castermans, auxiliary of Roermond.
Skálholt today
*Not that these bishops have any rights or duties in their titular sees, as Father Z explains in the aforementioned post.
A little over a year since the appointment of a new archbishop, the Brussels episcopate returns to full force. As has become standard in the Belgian archdiocese, the three vicariates (Brussels, Brabant Wallon and Flemish Brabant & Malines) are headed by one auxiliary bishop each. When Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard started his job in succession of Cardinal Danneels, two of these vicariates still had their auxiliaries in place, but soon after a reshuffle which saw Bishop De Kesel switch vicariates, Archbishop Léonard was left with no auxiliaries at all. Bishop Jozef de Kesel went to Bruges and Bishop Remy Vancottem to Léonard’s old stomping grounds in Namur.
Today, Brussels and Rome simultaneously announced the appointment of three auxiliary bishops. Pictured above with the archbishop they are, from left to right; Msgr. Léon Lemmens (56), who will be the vicar for Flemish Brabant & Malines; Msgr. Jean Kockerols (52) for Brussels; and Msgr. Jean-Luc Hudsyn for Brabant Wallon (63). The three new bishops will be consecrated at the National Basilica in Koekelberg on 3 April.
Non of the three new episcopal faces are that familiar, but the question unavoidable rises: what school of clergy do they represent? The one at odds with Catholic teachings and their own archbishop, or the small percentage who are firmly at home in the Catholic Church and their own archdiocese? That will remain to be seen. It is perhaps indicative that Archbishop Léonard welcomed the appointments: “The new auxiliary bishops have much complementary pastoral experience. [...] We entrust them to your prayer so that the Lord may help them in their new pastoral mission.”
Msgr. Léonard also plans to give them each a task beyond their responsibilities in the vicariates, based on his pastoral priorities and the individual competences of the bishops.
Bishop elect Lemmens is a priest of the Diocese of Hasselt, ordained in 1977. His titular see will be Municipa in modern Algeria. Bishop elect Kockerols was the dean of Brussels South and director of the Centre d’Etudes Pastorales. His see will be Ypres in Belgium. He was ordained in 1993 for the archdiocese. Lastly, Bishop elect Hudsyn already was the vicar for Brabant Wallon. He was ordained for the archdiocese in 1972 and will have the titular see of Apt, in the south of France, as that diocese’s first titular bishop.
Photo credit: BELGA/Julien Warnard
Bishop Jozef De Kesel
He’s been moved around a bit within the Archdiocese of Malines-Brussels, but now the news breaks that Bishop Jozef De Kesel will be the new Bishop of Bruges. Only in March did Archbishop Léonard name him vicar general for the vicariate Flemish Brabant and Malines. With this appointment, Léonard is left with no auxiliaries, despite his express desire to have a third one appointed. But then Bishop Vancottem was sent to Namur and now Bishop De Kesel goes to Bruges.
Seen from the archdiocese, it looks like stages in a new start. First the most orthodox bishop in the Church province is sent there and now the former auxiliaries are sent off to head their own dioceses. That certainly leaves Archbishop Léonard free to suggest his own candidates for the episcopate.
As for Bruges, it went unexpectedly fast. The previous bishop, Msgr. Roger Vangheluwe, resigned in April and the expectation was then that it would take at least a year before a new bishop was appointed. In the end it took almost exactly two months. Bruges has been left in shock by the unexpected news of Vangheluwe’s abuse history, so I can imagine the diocese will benefit greatly with having a new bishop so soon. After all, a clear head of the diocese provides a sense of stability.
Msgr. De Kesel, then, was quite popular in his time in Malines-Brussels. He has been auxiliary bishop there since 2002. His recent appointments, first to a new vicariate and now to Bruges, may also show some measure of confidence in him from Brussels and Rome.
Some facts about the bishop-elect: Msgr. De Kesel is 63, born in Ghand, where he was also ordained a priest in 1972. His uncle was Bishop Leo De Kesel, auxiliary bishop of Ghand from 1961 to 1990. Between 1980 and 1996, Msgr. De Kesel was rector of the seminary in Ghand, where he also taught dogmatic and fundamental theology. He also taught at the Diocesan Religious Institute in that city, and taught Christology at the Catholic University of Louvain. An educated man, it would seem, with his theological roots firmly in the very basis of theology.
Despite all the bad news from Belgium today and yesterday, this is a reason to be glad, especially for Bruges.
Msgr. Rémy Vancottem, to be the new ordinary bishop of Namur
At Dutch Catholic news website Rorate I read an announcement that a new bishop has been announced for the Belgian Diocese of Namur. Of course, said website offers no sources or links to other websites, and merely states that the official announcement will be made at noon today. One can only guess where. I have been unable to find any confirmation of it on the official websites of the Church in Belgium. It’s quite annoying that a website like Rorate, which presents itself as a news source, limits itself to just stating such bare facts (if they are facts). I would have liked a bit more information, if only to find out where I can read or see the noon announcement.
Anyway, if true, it is of course welcome news for Namur, which has been vacant since Bishop André-Mutien Léonard became Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard if Malines-Brussels in January of this year. Namur has been headed by a diocesan administrator, Msgr. Jean-Marie Huet, since then. The diocese also has an Auxiliary Bishop, Msgr. Pierre Warin. Either of them could be appointed as the new diocesan bishop, or the choice could be for any other cleric from within or without the diocese. It will be interesting to see who it is and how he will compare to Msgr. Léonard.
Anyway, more at noon today.
EDIT: Well, it’s past noon, and the name is known. The new bishop of Namur will be Msgr. Remy Vancottem, until now Auxiliary Bishop for Brabant Wallon in the Archdiocese of Malines-Brussels. For the archdiocese this appointment means that there are now two vacant auxiliary sees instead available: a mere relocation of the problem. Belgium is still expecting two more new bishops: an ordinary for Bruges and now two new auxiliaries for Malines-Brussels.
I’ll devote a proper blog post to Bishop Vancottem tonight.
An interview with Archbishop Léonard of Malines-Brussels in Het Nieuwsblad, coinciding with the five-yearly ad limina visit of the Belgian bishops to Rome. The Vangheluwe affair, the shortage of priests and the state of the seminaries in belgium are all discussed, but most interesting are the measures Msgr. Léonard proposes in regard to religious education in schools.
Pope Benedict XVI with four Belgian bishops. Archbishop Léonard is second from left.
During their retreat [sic] in Rome, the Belgian bishops developed a plan to turn the tide for the Belgian Church. One of the most striking measures is that religious education in schools should once again be religious education. In other words: those classes should be about Christ and christianity.
Msgr. André [sic] Léonard did not beat around the bush last night during a meeting in the Belgian College in Rome. “Things have never been as bad for us as now,” the archbishop said , and added that he and his fellow bishop experienced their five-yearly pilgrimage to the graves of the Apostles Peter and Paul as a Church in pain.
You mean the Vangheluwe affair?
Msgr. Léonard: Not only that. The churches are emptying and there is a massive shortage of priests. There is little to be happy about.
But about Vangheluwe. Aren’t you afraid of what may yet surface?
I am not afraid of that. Everything must come out. Only then can we start rebuilding. That is the reason why I urged everyone not to become a priest or let themselves be consecrated a bishop if they’re hypocritical. And to the victims: go to the abuse committee or to the courts. The sooner the better.
What did the pope say about the entire affair?
Benedict was even more silent than John Paul II! “Tell me”, he said. So I told him. He mainly listened. And spoke an encouraging word every now and then.
There are rumours that he intends to remove Roger Vangheluwe from the priesthood…
I don’t know anything about that. That won’t happen as long as the Vangheluwe file is not complete. And if it will happen? I don’t know.
On Thursday you urged the offenders to report to the Committee. Has there been any response yet?
I know that one offender, a cleric, has turned himself in. That concerns very serious matters which are legally barred.
When will the pope complete the shortage of bishops in our country?
I asked him that too. He is working on it. A new one for Namur, where I left an empty see; a new one for Bruges and a new auxiliary for Brussels. If Brazil, with its three hundred bishops, misses three, that doesn’t do much harm. But we really feel it.
In the past weeks you have also discussed the shortage of priests. What will you be doing about that?
We must expand the seminaries even more to qualitative places of education which have a firm charisma towards young people. They say that I am a conservative. Well, that conservatism is already bearing fruit. There are some fifteen Flemish priests working in the Dutch diocese of Den Bosch. They are over there because they found things too unclear here. Isn’t that a shame? I can tell you that the conservative you are speaking with now is meeting with several young men who initially considered going to the Netherlands, but who now may be going to the seminary in Louvain. You also notice that there are vocations in new communities. We must encourage those.
How do you intend to involve young people with the Church?
The majority of young people has religious education in school, but after all those years of so-called religious education they know far too little. The reason is that religious education hasn’t been religious education for a long time, but a clutter of philosophical things. So many different teachers, so many different books, so many different contents. I want a new line in that. Religious education should be about christianity and the person of Jesus. If young people don’t learn that anymore, how do you think they’ll stick with the Church? Religious education is not social studies. Let that be clear for once.
How about the strenuous relationship between the Church and the Catholic universities in Louvain and Louvain-la-Neuve?
We should make much more use of the expertise that is there. By now we know that there are many people in those universities who want to help us, the Belgian Church. It would be stupid not to find each other in that matter. So yes, there is an approach.
You do things rather differently than your predecessor, don’t you?
I will answer you with the words of my predecessor. The menu is the same, just the waiter is different.
Adds Léonard’s spokesman, Eric de Beukelaer: “And the spices are different. It’s all a bit more spicy now.”
