When Bishop Johan Bonny (shown), the Catholic Bishop of Antwerp, Belgium, publicly called for the Catholic Church to bless same-sex “relationships,” in a recent interview, a rebuke from the Flemish Catholic Student Association of Antwerp was not long in coming. And, in turn, the Catholic student group has come under attack from a militant socialist youth group, which (predictably) accused the Catholic students of being “homophobic” and called on the Belgian government to take action against them.
Bishop Bonny, who is no stranger to controversy, is widely touted as the likely successor to retiring Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard, and, therefore, the next leader of the Catholic hierarchy of Belgium. Last September, Bishop Bonny sent a letter to the Vatican before the Synod on the Family, lamenting, among other things, the Catholic Church’s hard stands on matters relative to sexuality.
In his December 27 interview with the Belgian newspaper DeMorgen, Bishop Bonny was more explicit in his “demands” that the church recognize the prevailing zeitgeist among the worldly ruling elites as it regards “sexual orientation.” Under the headline, “Bishop demands church recognition of homosexual relationships,” the newspaper reported (as translated to English by the blogspot CatholicConclave):
The Bishop of Antwerp, Johan Bonny advocates an ecclesiastical recognition of homosexual relationships. The dogma that the Catholic Church can only accept male-female relationships, he put in question in an interview with this newspaper. “There should be a diversity of recognition forms.”
“With his plea,” continued the DeMorgen article, “Bonny is one of the first church leaders who attacks the absolute monopoly of the male-female marriage. ‘We have to look inside the church for a formal recognition of the relationality which is also present in many gay couples. As a variety of legal frameworks in society exist for partners, he wants to instate a diversity of recognition forms in the church.’”
The Flemish Catholic Student Association of Antwerp (KVHV), which seems to have a better grasp of theology than does Bishop Bonny, did not mince words. “Your Excellency, what you are proposing is not Catholic!”, the students declared in their bold, but respectful, response to the prelate’s outrageous stance.
“With his call to offer homosexual relationships within the Roman Catholic Church a position within the structure, Mgr. Bonny crosses a new frontier. Not this time of decency, but of faith and morals,” notes the KVHV student statement.
“This Church has its rules, structures and traditions, which are the same for everyone, and contrary to what one suspects, still very well known,” the statement continues, “But the rules of morality apply universally to every Catholic, at any place and any time.”
The Flemish student declaration concludes: “Mgr. Bonny, successor of the Apostles, wants to change the Faith in a veiled way. The Flemish Catholic Student Association of Antwerp also clearly raises its voice and says: no Monsignor, what you are proposing is not Catholic.”
This reasonable objection by Belgian Catholic students was immediately denounced by the Young Socialists, the youth wing of Belgium’s Socialist Party, which is a member of the radical Socialist International.
According to the Young Socialists, the KVHV rebuke to the wayward cleric is “beyond the bounds of what is acceptable.”
The Young Socialists’ reaction, as reported by DeStandaard, was translated by CatholicConclave:
“Back to the years quietly, where sexuality was not discussed and gays best remained in the closet. This is unworthy of a modern, inclusive and welcoming society. We did not know that the H in KVHV stood for ‘homophobic,’ ‘says the Antwerp Young Socialists.
The youth wing of the Socialist Party finds the judgments of the KVHV discriminatory and unacceptable and has filed a complaint with the Interfederal Equal Opportunity Centre. “The statements suggest that homosexuality and gay marriage are sinful. For us, it is beyond the bounds of what is acceptable. If this is the so-called Flemish elite, we are deeply concerned about the future.”
In view of the non-stop attacks by the global militant homosexual lobby against the Boy Scouts, Duck Dynasty, churches and church ministries, schools, Christian companies, and family businesses, the threat to use state force against the Flemish Catholic Student Association for merely voicing support of traditional Church teaching is not in the least surprising; it merely reinforces a clearly obvious fact: that the homosexual propagandists that are most loudly denouncing “bullying” are themselves the most guilty practitioners of Stalinist-style bullying.
Photo: Bishop Johan Bonny of Antwerp, Belgium
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