Belgian court rules against archbishops in deacon training case

Brussels (Brussels Morning) – A Belgian court discovered the Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels and his predecessor culpable of discrimination for declining to train a woman as a deacon.

Why did the court rule against the archbishop?

Veer Dusauchoit, a Belgian Catholic woman from a parish near Leuven, was twice refused entrance to training to become a deacon. Believing this denial to be contrary to the Belgian Constitution, Dusauchoit, who led some festivities without a priest, took the case to court. The court judged on June 25 in her favour, charging Archbishop Luc Terlinden of Mechelen-Brussels and his predecessor, Cardinal Jozef De Kesel, to a €1,500 penalty each.

While expressing itself incompetent to consider church matters, “the court believes that the archbishops made a mistake in assessing the application,” clarified Luc De Cleir, press officer for the Mechelen court, as noted by La Libre Belgique. “It affects only admission to training, not the question of actual ordination as a deacon.”

Can women be trained as deacons in Belgium?

The diaconate—one of the three grades of the sacrament of Holy Orders—alongside the priesthood and the episcopate, which respectively decree priests and bishops—is currently available only to men in the Catholic Church. The archdiocese is carefully reviewing the judgment before determining whether to appeal. 

What are the implications of the Belgian court ruling?

Father Tommy Scholtes cited “a certain paradox in the court’s decision, which charges while declaring itself incapable to define who can be permitted to diaconal training.” The French-speaking representative for the Belgian bishops’ conference guarded against accusations of sexism: “It’s not because she is a woman, but, for now, only men can be decreed as deacons. The bishops assumed that since the person could not be decreed, it was inappropriate for her to experience the training.” He added, “We could just as well have been criticized for admitting someone to the training while knowing she could not complete it.”

In France, as in Belgium, it is traditional for wives to be linked with their husbands’ journey towards the diaconate. Anne de C., whose spouse was ordained in 2020 for the Diocese of Nanterre, was approved following four years of diaconal training. According to her, it would not cause much sense to permit other people than couples involved with the diaconate to follow this activity since “its concrete orientation toward the diaconate is incorporated into all those years.” “The same content can be found in other training open to all, like ‘Building on the Rock’ in our diocese or the ‘Formation of Leaders’ in Paris,” she stated.

Father Scholtes for Belgium transfers this observation, illustrating “that it is a pastoral training where the candidate—and his wife, if applicable—is integrated into a local community where he will serve as a deacon, and not just an academic training.” He also mentioned a “certain ambiguity” in the decision. According to his resolutions, the judge rightly believed that he could not intervene in the church’s interior affairs due to religious freedom nor charge that the complainant be admitted to the selected training. He merely ruled on the payment owed to this woman. But, the principal law professor wondered, “What would stop any parishioner from pointing a lawsuit and receiving the same €1,500 sum?”