“Because of the actuality and out of respect for the victims of abuse, I consider it, in all humility, inappropriate to celebrate the anniversary of my ordination in a grandiose way.”
A short statement from Bishop Johannes Bluyssen who will mark the 50th anniversary of his consecration to bishop on 27 December. Or won’t mark it, as it turns out. An understandable decision, obviously, but a bit sad all the same. Plans were for the emeritus bishop of ‘s Hertogenbosch to offer a solemn Mass in the cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, whose feast day it’ll also be on the 27th. The bishops age (he’ll turn 86 in April) and health did not allow for much more.
Bishop Bluyssen was ordained a priest in 1950 and a bishop in 1961, at the age of only 35. He worked as auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of ‘s Hertogenbosch, with Aëtus as titular see, and became ordinary after Bishop Willem Bekkers resigned in 1966. Bishop Bluyssen resigned from the post in 1984.
Bishop Bluyssen is one of only three bishops of Dutch decent who participated in the Second Vatican Council, although he would often remain at home while Bishop Bekkers went to Rome, and the only one who was bishop in a Dutch diocese. The others are Bishop Willem Demarteau, emeritus of Banjarmasin, and Bishop Andreas Sol of Amboina, both in Indonesia.
Catholic and secular media have recently interviewed Bishop Bluyssen for his anniversary. The bishop lamented the lack of elan he sees in the post-conciliar Church and criticises the actions of the diocese about anti-celibate and sanctioned priest Jan Peijnenburg. Msgr. Bluyssen admitted to knowing about the priest’s cohabitation with his girlfriend and cautioned them time and again. He didn’t see fit to remove Peijnenburg’s priestly faculties or sanction him in other ways, though.
Photo credit: Jaap van Eeden
In Caelo et in Terra 