More than 3.5 million volunteer hours!
In 2023, the Catholic Church of Belgium was able to count on the help of 76,397 volunteers, active in pastoral services and pastoral activities. Together, they volunteered nearly 3,574,925 hours, which corresponds to the working time of 2,103 full-time equivalents. These volunteers have been particularly active in different sectors such as the liturgy; the organization, management and administration of church and parish factories; diakonia, but also catechesis.
For Monseigneur Jean-Pierre Delville, Bishop of Liège:
The Church is founded on volunteerism above all. The volunteer is also gratified by the service they provide, which allows them to build relationships and achieve real personal fulfillment.
Despite these impressive figures, it is however specified in this report from the Catholic Church that in certain parishes, there is still a shortage of volunteers, particularly to carry out tasks such as confirmation catechism, service to children or even support and support. family support.
Young people increasingly in search of meaning
Throughout the year, the Church regularly organizes events for young people. These activities can be international, as in August 2023 when nearly 2,000 Belgians participated in World Youth Day in Lisbon, but also national or even local thanks to the work of diocesan or interdiocesan teams. This proximity allows young people, on the one hand, to easily engage in exchanges, to share experiences with other believers in a familiar environment and on the other hand to address current issues such as, for example, migration, climate, sexuality, forgiveness, synodality, etc.
These events respond, according to the Catholic Church report, “to the demand for meaning and spirituality of young people”. “A growing spirituality among us”, confirms Jean-Pierre Delville, he also declares on this occasion that:
Today’s young people are seriously thinking about the future of the world and are also looking for a true spirituality to confront society’s questions.
What place for women in the Church?
According to this new report from the Catholic Church, Belgium has 7,790 religious men and women, a large majority of whom are women, namely 5758 nuns.
In the pastoral teams surrounding the parish priest, half of the members are generally women. For the Bishop of Liège: “The place of women in the Church is growing”. Moreover, within his diocese, three members of the fairer sex are episcopal delegates. They thus have the same authority as their male counterparts. Monsignor Jean-Pierre Delville specifies that:
This complementarity is really positive, women often go further than men in analyzing problems, which allows them to see things more clearly and resolve concerns with more sensitivity.
New measures to combat sexual abuse
The latest Annual Report on sexual abuse in a pastoral relationship in the Catholic Church in Belgium covers the period from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024. During this period, 218 reports have been carried out, 110 victims are men, 55 women and 53 cases have not yet been processed. All abusers still able to carry out a pastoral function were suspended immediately.
Faced with this problem, the Catholic Church recently announced that it was launching a “reinforced” action plan. It consists of better fighting against sexual violence and providing more support to people who suffer from it. This new policy of the bishops also focuses on prevention so that religious congregations and dioceses intensify training in matters of abuse. Let us also point out that this “reinforced” action plan is based on the conclusions of the parliamentary commissions on sexual abuse set up after the broadcast of the documentary “Godvergeten”, on contributions from victims during several preparatory meetings for the meeting with the pope, and on the results of an investigation carried out by the Church, in collaboration with the KULeuven in recent months.
Explosion of debaptizations
While most sacraments (baptisms, communions, religious marriages, confirmations and religious funerals) are in decline, requests for removal from the baptism register are exploding.
14,251 debaptizations were requested in 2023 compared to 1,270 in 2022, it is more than ten times more in barely a year. For the Bishop of Liège, this significant increase is “the consequence of the publication of the VRT documentary “Godvergeten” dealing with cases of sexual abuse committed within the Catholic Church. “Godvergeten” itself being a consequence of the situation that developed in Flanders 50 years ago.”
An explanation which may seem plausible since 98% of requests for deregistration were recorded in Flanders as well as within the archdiocese of Maline-Brussels according to the Catholic Church report.
Note, however, that adult baptisms are, for their part, slightly increasing. 260 in 2023 compared to 225 in 2022.
This new report from the Catholic Church in Belgium, covering the year 2023, is the subject at 1:30 p.m. this Wednesday, December 18 on RCF Liège (93.8 FM / DAB+) of the program “L’hebdo Liégeois”. The Bishop of Liège will answer our questions. If you missed this meeting, a free replay is available here.
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