Cucumber time

Apart from the chaos in Belgium not a whole is happening in the Church. It must be summer soon, maybe an early silly season, which we in Dutch call ‘komkommertijd’ (‘cucumber time’), but that’s usually in August.

So in the mean time we’ll have to make do with what’s available. I have refrained from writing much about the Belgian situation, serious though it is. There are many Catholic blogs and news outlets which devote much space to the desecration of the graves of two cardinals, the resignation of Prof. Peter Adriaenssens as head of the abuse commission (citing betrayal of the victims’ trust and agreements between the commission and Justice) and strong words of criticism from both Cardinal Bertone and Pope Benedict XVI at the address of the Belgian magistrate who ordered the search (Cardinal Bertone said that this situation has no precedent, not even in formerly Communist countries). I don’t think that I have much to add to that.

In the Church in the Netherlands there is also not much out of the ordinary going on (at least not much I am at liberty to discuss). Only the appointment of a new chief editor of Katholiek Nieuwsblad has certain bloggers in an uproar, but that’s par of the course for them. Nothing out of the ordinary there either, then.

So, quiet time. Time to enjoy the summer outside (or inside, what with the World Cup going on…).

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