That is the percentage of Flemish Catholics who go to church on Sundays. So, in order to uphold Catholic doctrine in Flanders, the bishop of once gloriously-Catholic Antwerp (Anvers) calls all his diocesan faithful to return to the Church, the Mother of Europe; he sends a letter asking the faithful to protest against the slaughter of the new generations of Belgians in the abortion clinics; he publishes a manifesto defending the traditional family. Right? No, not when what is left in Catholic Flanders is another product of the marvelous post-Conciliar age....the Catholic bishop of Antwerp, Paul Van den Berghe, today sent a letter to all 127 Catholic primary and high schools in his diocese, allowing them to let their pupils (between 6 and 18 years of age) participate in a protest demonstration which will be held on 15 February in favour of illegal immigrants. The authorities recently arrested a number of illegal immigrants and intends to send them back to the countries they came from. Leftist activists want to prevent this. They have the support of Monsignor Van den Berghe. The latter is an elderly fool who likes protest demonstrations. In the late 1980s the Antwerp Catholics could see their bishop march in support of the Nicaraguan Sandinistas.The bishop’s letter was sent on the very day that the results were published of a survey which showed that in Flanders, Belgium’s Dutch-speaking and traditionally Catholic northern half, only 3,7 percent of the population still goes to church on Sundays. This is one of the lowest rates in Europe. Belgium has ceased to be a religious country in spite of the fact that over 70 percent of all children attend (government subsidized) Catholic schools that are run by the bishops.
From The Brussels Journal. At least the Cathedral was meticulously preserved, we'll grant that to the Bishop.
