Declaration of Bishop Roger Joseph Vangheluwe of Bruges, Belgium
“When I was still just a priest, and for a certain period at the beginning of my episcopate, I sexually abused a minor from my immediate environment. The victim is still marked by what happened. Over the course of these decades I have repeatedly recognised my guilt towards him and his family, and I have asked forgiveness; but this did not pacify him, as it did not pacify me. The media storm of recent weeks has increased the trauma, and the situation is no longer tenable. I profoundly regret what I did and offer my most sincere apologies to the victim, to his family, to all the Catholic community and to society in general. I have presented my resignation as bishop of Bruges to Pope Benedict XVI. It was accepted on Friday and so I retire”.
Somebody please make it stop.
April 24, 2010 at 3:45 am
Lee – that is YOUR interpretation. And it does not extend beyond your own nose. You don't need to tell me what to read. I am very well read on scriptures.
SJGmore – I agree with you. But we don't know if this bishop did so on his own accord or is being forced to behind the scenes. Either way, it is good he is gone.
Andrew – I agree. Belgium has suffered with the filth of liberalism through their clergy long enough. They have allowed their most sacred churches to become mosques for the Mohammedan. They are the shame of Europe. BTW, do you know for a fact Daneels is leaving? If so, amen x 10.
Anonymous – I know Our Lady does not lie. I trust in her 100%. I simply do not believe she was present and spoke at Fatima. This does not make me any less of a Catholic anymore than believing she spoke there makes you more of one. Don't forget that.
April 24, 2010 at 9:05 am
a lot of touchiness in this topic and lately, guys. What's important for us is that he has resigned in disgrace, and that's essentially the end of it.
He seems to be tortured by his actions, and I hope he has or will do penance and be healed. I hope the victim of his actions will find peace and know God's love for him, and be healed of these terrible wounds.
Let's all pray for Pope Benedict, as he has truly chosen to become the lightning rod for things he is not guilty of doing. It is Job-ish days, and let it be the bloodless martyrs that are the seed of a renewed church.
April 24, 2010 at 11:14 am
@ Early Riser
"They are the shame of Europe. BTW, do you know for a fact Daneels is leaving? If so, amen x 10."
He was replaced, last month.
The new Bishop is Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard.
April 24, 2010 at 11:19 am
In truth, many (most?) men who have been ordained, NEVER SHOULD HAVE BEEN ORDAINED.
April 24, 2010 at 5:21 pm
Nzie – extremely well said.
Guglielmo – thanks for that. I'm sure Christendom can breathe a sigh of relief at Daneels' departure.
April 24, 2010 at 7:17 pm
Early Riser,
I never suggested you weren't a Catholic. Don't put words in my mouth. Of course, we are not obligated to believe in any Marian apparitions. But many Popes have believed and openly prayed to Our Lady of Fatima. As such, I suspect there might be some truth to her visit. Regardless, this scourge of liberal, homosexual friendly priests, bishops, and cardinals needs to be dealt with promptly and permenantly. To Lee, we don't just exist spiritually. We also must live in the material world. While God deals with our spiritual soul, we of course can not judge who goes to hell or not. But our physical bodies are subject to this world and their punishments. God calls for us to be just. Real justice requires these men to be punished for their crimes and forbidden to be in contact with children. No one here is suggesting these men be tortured and certainly no one is suggesting they can judge these mens souls. We are all JUST to call for these men's punishment. Be careful that you don't confuse the two. Or maybe temporal punishment for one's sins has been truly lost in the Modern Church….
April 24, 2010 at 9:54 pm
Subvet, again and again I have read comments like yours ("Good riddance. Let him enter a monastery and spend the rest of his life in isolation and prayer")in comments on Catholic blogs. What in the world do you have against monasteries that you want to dump the Church's refuse there??? Monasteries aren't penal colonies, you know!
-KM
April 24, 2010 at 11:13 pm
KM – monasteries separate the wheat from the chaff through their rules and strict codes of morality. I can't speak for Subvet, but I agree that if this guy is serious about doing his penance, he should do so there where he will definitely find it and have no opportunity to abuse again.
Anonymous – when you wrote "Whether you believe her words personally or not are of no signficance. She does not lie." it kind of implied I am "less of a Catholic" for not "believing her words". And once again, I DO believe her words– just not that she said anything at Fatima. We can save the reasons why for another time. But I pretty much agree with everything else you said in your last post.
April 25, 2010 at 5:26 am
Make it stop, Patrick? NO, let's get the cancer ALL OUT while the surgery is in progress!!!
April 25, 2010 at 10:14 am
After having read most of the comments here I have to say that after analyzing the present situation we must realise that this is the year of the priests and this is the grace of St. Jean Vianney that the darkness that is in the church will be brought out. This will purify the church and bring it into great holiness. God will separate the wheat from the shaft and as the scripture states "Judgement begins first in the the house of the Lord." There are many holy priests and nuns in the church who are greatly grieved by their brothers' sins against the victims.
As the scripture states we do not fight against flesh and blood but against powers and pricipalities of darkness and darkness has entered the church So we must pray for priests as well as the victims. Just before this happened my husband and I had been praying that God would bring out the darKness that is in the church into the light to purify it.
As one who has worked with sexual abuse survivors I know their pain and their sufffering. In fact when a vicitm truly gets in touch with their pain I have often heard a howling in their cries that is unique to anything I have ever heard. It is unbearable suffering that I believe that can only be healed through Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.
On th other time at the time that the abuse was occurrring during the 50's 60's 70's families were at a loss as to how to deal with these situations. Many did not report it to the police. Some hid it,told their children to forget about it and really did not know how to deal with it. The church is no different. Until the early 80's when people like Christine Curtois and others began to look at this idea of Post Traumatic Stress and how to deal with it society was at a loss. Abuse crosses across all economic ,social and religious lines. It is no respector of persons. This is not unique to other walks of life.Yes we hold priest to a higher standard but the chruch is full of men and full of sinners. Hope fully these perpetrators will repent and will come to a clear understanding of the harm that they have caused their victims.
The church is making efforts now and has been in the past to correct the problem. In the US alone the church has developed a zero tolerance policy. Perhaps in Europe we will see the same thing. We know now that in families as well as the church these things should never be hidden or the perpetrators never be protected in any way for the mere fact that they will go onto to abuse again. We know this .In the past it was thought that if someone received treatment and repented this would not occurred.
We must pray for the church and all its priest and also for the victims of sexual abuse. This is a heinous crime against children and one needs to understand that it is the desire of Satan to want to distroy children whether they are unborn or born.
Society itself must face the realities of abuse that often times abuse begins with pornography and sadly some people who have been abused become abusers themselves not all but some because hey have not dealt with their own abuse.
I encorage all of you to pray one rosary a day for the victims of sexual abuse as well as the priest of the church. Pray for holiness, humility and purity of heart. Pray that the God will raise up priests in the shoes of Padre Pio and ST. John Vianney. The church will never be distroyed and as the scriptures states " Upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will never prevail against it."
For those of you who are victims I say to you taht it is possible to heal from this and to recover from this. Pray if you can and ask God for his graces. He desires to heal you from your deepest hurts and pain that you have eperienced.
April 26, 2010 at 12:30 am
KM, you wrote "What in the world do you have against monasteries that you want to dump the Church's refuse there??? Monasteries aren't penal colonies, you know!"
I have nothing against monasteries and realize they're NOT penal colonies. The man is not beyond redemption, for that reason he should be afforded the opportunity for repentance. At the same time he shouldn't be trusted anywhere near children or other potential victims.
Short of life in a REAL penal coloncy, what would suggest other than a monastery where he can spend his last days in useful labor, prayer, meditation and reflection?