Belgian bishops ordered to pay damages to woman denied deacon training
June 27, 2024
» Continue to this story on Pillar
CWN Editor's Note: A court in Belgium has ruled that two Catholic prelates must pay financial damages to a woman who was denied a place in a training program for deacons.
Cardinal Jozef De Kesel, the retired Archbishop of Brussels, and his successor, Archbishop Luc Terlinden, were ordered to pay €1,500 to Veer Dusauchoit, who had twice applied and been rejected for the training program.
Dusauchoit, who had long been a member of a lay-ministry team in a priestless parish, described herself as “a religious, socially committed, feminist, and ecologically inspired woman.”
“The court finds that the archbishops made a mistake when assessing the application,” the ruling stated. Brushing aside the Church’s teaching that only men can be ordained, the court said that the question at issue “only concerns admission to a training course, not the question of effective appointment [sic] as a deacon.”
Church leaders in Brussels said that they are weighing their response to the court ruling.
The above note supplements, highlights, or corrects details in the original source (link above). About CWN news coverage.
For all current news, visit our News home page.
All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a current donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off!
