New beginnings and returning home at the Dutch seminaries

Everywhere the summer holidays are over, and that means that the seminaries are staring their new academic years as well. Notable among them is the Ariëns Institute of the Archdiocese of Utrecht, which opens its doors for the first time. After several years outside the archdiocese, the seminarians have returned to the city of Utrecht to live in the newly refurbished house and to study at the University of Tilburg in Utrecht or the Fontys University of Applied Sciences. Yesterday Cardinal Wim Eijk opened and blessed the house, which is home to six seminarians. A further two are studying parttime at Bovendonk seminary in the Diocese of Breda, one is spending a pastoral year in a parish, and four Colombian members of the Misioneros de Cristo Maestro live nearby, in their own communal house. The cardinal blessed that house a day earlier.

^The seminarians for the Archdiocese of Utrecht, posing in front of the seminary house with their families and Cardinal Eijk and auxiliary bishop Hoogenboom and Woorts.

At the aforementioned Bovendonk, 21 students for the priesthood or the diaconate  (re)started their studies and formation. They come from the Dutch dioceses of Breda, Rotterdam and Utrecht, as well as the Belgian (Arch)dioceses of Breda, Rotterdam and Utrecht, as well as the Belgian (Arch)dioceses of Antwerp and Mechelen-Brussels. Two seminarians from the Diocese of Groningen-Leeuwarden also live, not at Bovendonk, but in the Diocese of Breda, studying at the University of Tilburg.

The eight men preparing at Bovendonk for service as permanent deacons.

The Vronesteyn centre in the Diocese of Rotterdam coordinates the formation of seminarians for that diocese. It has six men studying in the Dioceses of Haarlem-Amsterdam and Breda, as well as Eichstätt in Germany.

The seminaries of the Tiltenberg (Haarlem-Amsterdam), Rolduc (Roermond) and the St. John’s Centre (‘s Hertogenbosch) have not (yet) made statements about their numbers of seminarians this year.

Photo credit: [1] Ariënsinstituut, [2] R. Mangold

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“It’s better in Heaven…” – On the death of Bishop Joseph Lescrauwaet

Less than two weeks ago, a short tweet from a priest friend broke the news that Bishop Joseph Frans Lescrauwaet was coming to the end of his earthly life. That end came today. At the age of 90, the retired auxiliary bishop of Haarlem leaves a heritage of study, education and engagement in numerous fields, from Church politics to ecumenism. Bishop Lescrauwaet was the second most senior Dutch bishop, with only the emeritus Bishop of Breda, Huub Ernst, before him.

Joining the congregation of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart after a youth in Amsterdam, young Jos Lescrauwaet followed his formation as a priest during the war; his philosophical studies in Stein, Diocese of Roermond, and his theology in Raalte, Archdiocese of Utrecht. His ordination in 1948 was followed by a doctoral thesis in 1957 on a topic that would mark the rest of his active ministry: ecumenism. As a theologian, he taught systematic theology at the University of Tilburg and various subjects at the seminary of his congregation, also in Tilburg.

Originally one of the contributing authors to the journal Concilium, Fr. Lescrauwaet followed the example of Joseph Ratzinger and Hans Urs von Balthasar and started writing for the more orthodox Communio. He was one of the editors of the Dutch edition of that journal when it was launched in 1976.

Bishop Lescrauwaet’s theological expertise led to several high-profile appointments. In 1969 he became a member of the International Theological Commission. He was chairman of the council of the disastrous (though not disastrous through his fault) Dutch Pastoral Council (1966-1970) and secretary and expert during the Special Synod of the Bishops of the Netherlands, called by Pope John Paul II to repair some of the damage done in previous years.

This latter function played a part in his appointment as a bishop later on as it did for most other priests involved, such as the later bishop of Rotterdam, Ad van Luyn. In 1983, Fr. Lescrauwaet (at right, pictured around that time) was appointed as Auxiliary Bishop of Haarlem and Titular Bishop of Turres Concordiae. He was consecrated by the Coadjutor Bishop of Haarlem, Msgr. Henny Bomers, appointed on the very same day as Bishop Lescrauwaet (Bishop Bomers was already a bishop, having been ordained in 1978 as Vicar Apostolic of Gimma in Ethiopia). Bishop Ernst of Breda and Bishop Jan de Kok, Auxiliary of Utrecht, served as co-conserators.

As auxiliary bishop, Msgr. Lescrauwaet was active in many fields, and not necessary always only within the Diocese of Haarlem. These activities were often ecumenical in nature. In the final years before his retirement, Bishop Lescrauwaet was a member of the board of the Dutch Council of Churches.

It is said that there have always been tensions between Bishops Bomers and Lescrauwaet, and that these were the reason for the latter’s frequent absence from the diocese. Some blame the bishop for this absence, but those who knew him personally cherished him for his pastoral acumen and his sense of humour, which was evident even when discussing the most difficult of theological concepts.

Bishop Lescrauwaet retired in 1995 at the age of 71, for reasons of age and health, and returned to the south, where he had worked and lived before his appointment to Haarlem. He moved into the diocesan seminary of the Diocese of ‘s Hertogenbosch, the St. John’s Centre, and picked up his old job of teaching theology again. He also served as spiritual counsellor of the seminary. At left, he is pictured with Bishop Antoon Hurkmans, during the celebration of his 90th birthday last year. Ultimately, in 2011, the bishop moved back to Tilburg, to live in the retirement home of his congregation.

The Diocese of Haarlem-Amsterdam announces that Bishop Lescrauwaet’s  funeral will take place from the Basilica of Saint John in Den Bosch, the cathedral near which he spent most of the years since his retirement, on 23 November. The Mass starts at 10:30. The day before, faithful will have the opportunity to visit the late bishop at the St. John’s Centre, the diocesan seminary around the corner from the basilica.

Photo credit: [1] Bisdom Haarlem-Amsterdam, [2] ANP – Cor Out, [3] Sint-Janscentrum