Belgium sees increase in adult baptisms

Monday, August 24th, 2020

There has been a significant rise in adult baptisms in Belgium.

This year 305 adults will be baptized – 61 more than in 2019.

The number of adult baptisms in Belgium has been growing for several years.

There were 143 in 2010, 180 in 2015, 244 last year and over 300 this year.

Although the majority of Belgium’s 11.5 million population are baptized Catholics, only seven percent go to Mass on Sundays.

The largest number of adult baptisms will take place this year in the Diocese of Tournai. This is a primarily French-speaking area in western Belgium.

The diocese will baptize 127 adults, compared to 93 in the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels.

According to CathoBel, which is the website of the Catholic Church in Belgium, those seeking baptism this year included a 42-year-old who arrived in Belgium from Thailand in 1996. He was baptized on Sunday this week – 23 August.

The Thai immigrant, his 18-year-old son and eight-year-old daughter were all baptised together at Our Lady of the Snows Church in Borgerhout by a member of the catechumenate team of the Diocese of Antwerp.

The CathoBel website quoted the family as saying: “This Sunday will mark for our family the beginning of a new life that we have been waiting for so long. We long for our new birth so much.”

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