On June 25, the Civil Tribunal of Mechelen, in Belgium, made an unusual ruling against two Roman Catholic bishops.
Jozef De Kesel, the former Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, and Luc Terlinden, the current Archbishop of the same Archdiocese, have been ordered to pay a fine of 1,500 euros to a woman named Veer Dusauchoit.
The woman attempted to enrol in training to become a Catholic deacon twice, but she was rejected because only men were allowed to become deacons in the Roman Catholic Church.
Dusauchoit has served at her parish church in a Flemish part of Belgium for years. As her parish no longer has a priest, Dusauchoit got involved with arranging funerals and scriptural readings,
The decision is both surprising and dangerous since it is yet another intrusion of secular courts into the internal affairs of a religious organisation.
However, it should be read in its entirety and has been somewhat misinterpreted by some international media. The decision does not compel the Belgian Catholic Church to ordain women as deacons. It emphasises that its subject matter was Dusauchoit’s right to attend training, irrespective of whether she might be ordained at the end of the training.
The court’s decision was made carefully, affirming the importance of respecting religious liberty. It was made clear that the court cannot force the Catholic Church to admit Dusauchoit to the training. Instead, the court can only require her bishops to pay her a monetary indemnification. Read more
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