Bishop Rob Mutsaerts, auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of ’s-Hertogenbosch, in the Netherlands. / Danny Gerrits - wikiportret.nl via Wikimedia (CC-BY-SA 4.0).
CNA Newsroom, Jun 7, 2024 / 16:45 pm (CNA).
A Dutch bishop has described the Vatican’s Fiducia Supplicans declaration, which permits nonliturgical blessings of homosexual couples, as an attempt to “make peace with a secular society.”
However, Auxiliary Bishop Rob Mutsaerts of the Diocese of ’s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands warned: “Peace at the expense of morality and truth” is a “most merciless peace imaginable.”
“God loves everyone. He loves all sinners, but he hates your sins. He fervently hopes that you will return to him, just as he hoped for the prodigal son’s return. He wants nothing more than for you to share in his love,” Mutsaerts wrote in a foreword to a new book that attacks the declaration.
Titled “The Breached Dam: The Fiducia Supplicans Surrender to the Homosexual Movement,” the book was written by José Antonio Ureta and Julio Loredo de Izcue.
Both authors are affiliated with the Tradition, Family, and Property Association. Ureta, in particular, has been a vocal critic of Pope Francis’ pontificate in recent years.
Mutsaerts has published outspoken posts on his blog, “Paarse Pepers” (Purple Peppers), since 2019. Previous posts have included sharp criticism of the Amazon synod, Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, and “cancel culture.”
In his foreword, the Dutch prelate accused Fiducia Supplicans of not addressing “the moral dimension of the relationship,” instead being more “in tune with the current zeitgeist” that fails to acknowledge that “mercy exists because sin exists.”
“Is everyone welcome? Certainly. But not unconditionally. God makes demands. The entire Bible could be summed up as a call to repentance and a promise of forgiveness. One cannot be separated from the other. Everyone is welcome, but not everyone accepts the invitation,” the 66-year-old Mutsaerts wrote.
Published just before Christmas 2023, Fiducia Supplicans has received mixed reactions and produced deep division among Catholic bishops worldwide.
While supporters have welcomed the document, critics of the controversial decree have raised different concerns, including an alleged lack of synodality and even an attempt at “cultural colonization” in Africa.
Despite clarifications by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the decree also caused a rift with the Coptic Orthodox Church.
Pope Francis has publicly responded to some questions raised about Fiducia Supplicans.
In an Italian TV talk show in January, the pope underlined that “the Lord blesses everyone” and that a blessing is an invitation to enter into a conversation “to see what the road is that the Lord proposes to them.”
“The Lord blesses everyone who is capable of being baptized, that is, every person,” Francis repeated.
Asked if he “felt alone” after Fiducia Supplicans was met with some resistance, the 87-year-old pontiff said: “Sometimes decisions are not accepted.”
“But in most cases, when you don’t accept a decision, it’s because you don’t understand.”
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
Denver, Colo., May 3, 2022 / 22:01 pm (CNA).
Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver has written again to the head of the German bishops’ conference reiterating that the country’s synodal path challenges, a… […]
An artist’s rendering of the affordable apartment complex soon to be built by Our Lady Queen of Angels Housing alliance in Los Angeles. / Courtesy of Our Lady Queen of Angels Housing alliance
St. Louis, Mo., Aug 26, 2024 / 06:30 am (CNA).
Los Angeles is one of the most expensive cities in the United States, with an average home price almost touching a million dollars in 2024 — a landscape that crowds out not only the poor, but also young families with children. The high cost of housing is one of the primary reasons why tens of thousands of people live on the streets of LA, and most of those who are housed are “rent burdened,” which means they spend more than 30% of their income just keeping a roof over their heads.
In the face of such challenges, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles recently announced it will provide land for a new housing development dedicated to serving community college students and young people exiting the foster care system.
Amy Anderson, executive director of Our Lady Queen of Angels Housing alliance and a former chief of housing for the City of Los Angeles, told EWTN News that a group of Catholic lay leaders from the business and philanthropic community reached out to the archdiocese with a vision for creating an independent, nonprofit affordable housing development organization.
“Our vision is to really collaborate with the archdiocese and [use] the resources potentially available from the archdiocese to create homes that are affordable to a wide range of populations and incomes,” Anderson told “EWTN News Nightly” anchor Tracy Sabol.
She said they hope to break ground on the project, known as the Willowbrook development, “about a year from now.”
“The archdiocese is a fantastic partner. They are providing the land for our first development, which is already in process, and we’re working really closely with them to identify additional opportunities.”
The proposed building, which will be located steps from Los Angeles Community College, will feature 74 affordable housing units, as well as “on-site supportive services” for young people transitioning out of foster care — a population that often ends up experiencing homelessness.
The land, located at 4665 Willow Brook Ave just a few miles from the Hollywood Sign, currently hosts a Catholic Charities building, which will move its operations to another site to make way for the apartments.
“Through Catholic Charities and our ministries on Skid Row [an LA street where many unhoused people live] and elsewhere, we have been working for many years to provide shelter and services for our homeless brothers and sisters,” Archbishop Jose Gomez said in a statement to LAist.
“With this new initiative we see exciting possibilities to make more affordable housing available, especially for families and young people.”
Making land work for mission
The Catholic Church is often cited as the largest non-governmental owner of land in the entire world, with an estimated 177 million acres owned by Catholic entities.
Maddy Johnson, program manager for the Church Properties Initiative at the University of Notre Dame’s Fitzgerald Institute for Real Estate (FIRE), noted that the Church as a large landowner is not a new phenomenon, but there is a need today to adapt to modern challenges like regulations, zoning, and the importance of caring for the natural environment.
Many Catholic dioceses and religious orders have properties in their possession that aren’t fulfilling their original purpose, including disused natural land and parking lots, as well as shuttered convents and schools. Sometimes, Johnson said, a diocese or religious order doesn’t even realize the full extent of what they own.
“How can the Church make good strategic decisions, strategic and mission-aligned decisions, if it doesn’t know what properties it’s responsible for?” she said.
The Church of St. Agatha and St. James in Philadelphia, with The Chestnut in the foreground, a housing unit developed on property ground-leased from the church. Courtesy of Maddy Johnson/Church Properties Initiative
Since real estate management is not the Church’s core competency, FIRE aims to “provide a space for peer learning” to educate and equip Church leaders to make better use of their properties in service of the Church’s mission.
To this end, they offer an undergraduate minor at Notre Dame that aims to teach students how to help the Church make strategic real estate decisions that align with the Church’s mission. The Institute also organizes a quarterly networking call with diocesan real estate directors, as well as an annual conference to allow Catholic leaders to convene, share best practices, and learn from each other.
Fr. Patrick Reidy, C.S.C., a professor at Notre Dame Law School and faculty co-director of the Church Properties Initiative, conducts a workshop for diocesan leaders on Notre Dame’s campus in summer 2023. Courtesy of David J. Murphy/Church Properties Initiative
In many cases, Catholic entities that have worked with FIRE have been able to repurpose properties in a way that not only provides income for the church, but also fills a need in the community.
Johnson said the Church is called to respond to the modern problems society faces — one of which is a lack of housing options, especially for the poor.
“Throughout its history, there have been so many different iterations of how the Church expresses its mission…through education, healthcare — those are the ones that we’ve gotten really used to,” Johnson said.
“In our day and age, could it be the need for affordable housing?…that’s a charitable human need in the area that’s not being met.”
Unlocking potential in California
Queen of Angels Housing’s first development, which has been in the works for several years, is being made possible now by a newly-passed state law in California that aims to make it easier for churches to repurpose their land into housing.
California’s SB 4, the Affordable Housing on Faith Lands Act, was signed into law in October 2023. It streamlines some of the trickiest parts of the process of turning church-owned land into housing — the parts most people don’t really think about. These can include permitting and zoning restrictions, which restrict the types of buildings that can be built in a given area and can be difficult and time-consuming to overcome. SB 4 even includes a provision allowing for denser housing on church-owned property than the zoning ordinances would normally allow.
Yes in God’s Backyard
The law coming to fruition in California is part of a larger movement informally dubbed “Yes in God’s Backyard,” or YIGBY — a riff on the term “Not in My Backyard” (NIMBY), a phenomenon whereby neighbors take issue with and oppose new developments.
Several Catholic real estate professionals with ties to California expressed excitement about the possibilities that SB 4 has created in the Golden State.
Steve Cameron, a Catholic real estate developer in Orange County, told CNA that he is currently working with the Diocese of Orange, which abuts the LA archdiocese, to inventory properties that could be repurposed for residential use.
He said their focus is on building apartment buildings and townhomes, primarily for rental rather than for sale, in an attempt to address the severe housing shortage and high costs in Southern California.
Unlike some dioceses, the Orange diocese has an electronic GIS (geographic information system) database showing all the properties it owns. Prepared by a civil engineering firm, the database includes details such as parcel numbers, acreage, title information, and demographic reports, which facilitate the planning and development process.
“Strategically, what we’re doing is we’re inventorying all of the property that the diocese and the parishes own, and trying to understand where there might be underutilized property that would make sense to develop some residential use,” Cameron said.
Cameron said he can’t yet share details about the housing projects they’re working on, but said they are looking to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the Queen of Angels housing project as a model for how to take advantage of the new incentives created by SB 4.
“I think it’s great, and it’s exciting that they’re taking the lead and that they are able to find an opportunistic way to repurpose an underutilized property to meet the housing shortage in California,” he said.
“[We] look at them as a role model for what we’re trying to accomplish here in the Diocese of Orange.”
Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago with One Chicago Square in the background, a residential tower constructed on the former cathedral parking lot, which was sold in 2019. Courtesy of Maddy Johnson/Church Properties Initiative
John Meyer, a former president of the California-based Napa Institute who now works in real estate with J2 Development, emphasized the importance of viewing the Church’s vast real estate holdings as an asset rather than a liability.
Meyer said he is currently working with two Catholic entities on the East Coast on ground lease projects, one of which will fund the construction of a new Catholic Student Center at a university. He told CNA he often advises Catholic entities to lease the land they own rather than selling it, allowing the church to maintain ownership of the property while generating income.
Naturally, he noted, any real estate project the Church undertakes ought to align with the Church’s mission of spreading the Gospel, and not merely be a means of making money.
“Any time we look at the Church’s real estate decisions, it’s got to be intertwined with mission and values,” he said.
“We’re not just developing for the sake of developing. What we want to do is we want to create value for the Church, and we also want to create value for the community. So working closely with the municipality to make sure that needs are met, and to be a good neighbor, is important.”
He said Church leaders should strongly consider taking advantage of incentives in various states such as California for projects like affordable housing, which align with the Church’s mission and provide both social and financial benefits.
“Priests and bishops aren’t ordained to do these things, and sometimes they have people in their diocese that have these abilities, and sometimes they don’t,” Meyer said.
“This [new law] in California has created an incentive that we can take advantage of, so we need to take advantage of that incentive…it’s allowing us to unlock potential value in land while at the same time serving a social good that’s part of the mission of the Church.”
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 5, 2022 / 09:13 am (CNA).
Gunmen have killed multiple worshipers Sunday at a Catholic Church in southwestern Nigeria, according to state officials.Dozens of people, including children, are beli… […]
Another Dutchman, Fr. Werenfried van Straaten, founder of Aid to the Church in Need, said it this way: “no peace without justice, and no justice without truth.”
Europe should declare a Jubilee Year. Why? Because a Catholic bishop has spoken out about the lies inherent in that document, “Fiducia supplicans.” Christ said that heaven would rejoice at the return of one sinner out of one hundred who’d returned. So should the Church in Europe rejoice over one bishop who teaches the Truth.
Bishop Mutsaerts understands perfectly, as does Cardinal Eijk and a number of other Dutch bishops who are a trend in what was previously considered a progressive nation. Zeitgeist is the spirit being invoked by the Vatican as well as typifying the mind of our Western world.
“But in most cases, when you don’t accept a decision, it’s because you don’t understand.”
-Wow! This pope definitely sets new standards in clericalism.
Coming soon to your very own neighborhood?: facsimile deacons (non-ordained deaconesses), within a facsimile (c)hurch-within-a-Church, assigned to spread facsimile blessings to a fluid range of facsimile unions (“irregular couples”)– logically to include polygamy and, even more inclusively, such James Martinesque self-validating “experiences” as binocular-goggled (a “couple” of lenses!) virtual-reality sex.
Muhammad received his revelation from the angel Gabriel, Joseph Smith his from the angel Moroni, and now the forwardist-tribe from the angel Tucho and a synodalized Holy Spirit!
“What’s in your wallet,” or in-basket, or whatever?
“In most cases, it’s because they don’t understand.” What are the other cases Francis? Is it because we are sane enough to understand there are evil consequences of pretending evil doesn’t exist in culturally sanctioned categories of evil?
What kind of “understanding” fails to understand that there is more evil to be considered in evil behavior than the troubling feelings of guilt? Is ameliorating the troubled souls of sinners all that matters while the cost of such requires ignoring victims? All the victims, including the damage the sinners do to themselves? Is your pretend care more important to you than the victims you fail to understand and refuse to think about?
An additional thought: Pope Francis, do you not understand that guilt, which you have at times described as a frivolous burden, carried forth from an unenlightened Church, to be discarded, is a gift from God?
We read: “‘Asked if he “felt alone’ after Fiducia Supplicans was met with some resistance, the 87-year-old pontiff said: ‘Sometimes decisions are not accepted’.”
“Decisions”?
Here’s another un-accepted piece–about “decisions” that pretend to replace morality:
“A separation, or even an opposition, is thus established in some cases between the teaching [!] of the precept, which is valid and general, and the norm of the individual conscience, which would in fact make the final decision [only a ‘decision’ and no longer a ‘moral judgment’!] about what is good and what is evil. On this basis, an attempt is made to legitimize so-called ‘pastoral’ solutions [!] contrary to the teaching of the Magisterium, and to justify a ‘creative’ hermeneutic according to which the moral conscience is in no way obliged, in every case, by a particular negative precept [‘Thou shalt not…”]” (St. John Paul II, Veritatis Splendor, 1993, n. 56).
Did Christ “decide” pastorally to bless the prostitute only after she first decided to stand beside probably one of her accusers? And then suddenly give the irregular couple–as a “couple”–a pastoral, “informal, non-ecclesial, and spontaneous” facsimile-blessing?
Or, likewise, decide to bless not one but, indifferently, both the criminals on Calvary, again as a “couple”? Or, the woman at the well only when she returned with all of her interchangeable five “husbands”–to be pastorally blessed as an expanding sequence of irregular “couples”…
Or ultra-irregular “throples,” soon to be expanded to group marriages of four or more. Not multiple wives, but multiples of all varieties. Are there termination points of “blessings?” Can Satan, were he to take human form, receive a “blessing?” After all, we might give him credit for something. He probably does work hard.
Wait a minute. He is not from Africa, and we have been told by the Vatican that not being a team Feducia Supplicans player is purely an African thing. Is he allowed to say that or is this cultural appropriation?
In this insane world (stop the world, I want to get off), he likely will be accused of exactly that, and worse, and maybe even from high atop the thing.
Pope Francis has no problem telling us we don’t understand, or that we will go extinct as he also said about Catholics who disagree with his radical pastoral opinions. He also demotes those who point out his lack of orthodoxy and promotes open dissenters in our own Church. What were Catholics thinking when we had antipopes in our own history? Was any Catholic back then allowed to question what was going on or were they forced to live in denial by the peer Catholic groups around them?
Praying that Cardinal Eijk and other Dutch Bishops will continue to defend Auxiliary Bishop Mutsaerts from being “accompanied” by this pontificate. Same for Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider. The lonely Ordinaries in Puerto Rico and Texas were offered up to this pontificate for a lack of collegiality, as if the Church was a corporation and not the Body of Christ.
I’d say Bishop Mutsaerts understands perfectly.
The perfect comment on this story. Thank you, Cleo.
Bergoglio’s Dark Vatican must be opposed in all of its heresies and lies.
As everyone else has noted, this is the perfect comment on that article. Thank you.
Another Dutchman, Fr. Werenfried van Straaten, founder of Aid to the Church in Need, said it this way: “no peace without justice, and no justice without truth.”
Europe should declare a Jubilee Year. Why? Because a Catholic bishop has spoken out about the lies inherent in that document, “Fiducia supplicans.” Christ said that heaven would rejoice at the return of one sinner out of one hundred who’d returned. So should the Church in Europe rejoice over one bishop who teaches the Truth.
Bishop Mutsaerts understands perfectly, as does Cardinal Eijk and a number of other Dutch bishops who are a trend in what was previously considered a progressive nation. Zeitgeist is the spirit being invoked by the Vatican as well as typifying the mind of our Western world.
Dear Pontiff Francis:
Christ forbids the ideology of idolatry, pederasty, sodomo-filia, and I understand why Christ forbids them.
“But in most cases, when you don’t accept a decision, it’s because you don’t understand.”
-Wow! This pope definitely sets new standards in clericalism.
Hey, what’s to “understand”?
Coming soon to your very own neighborhood?: facsimile deacons (non-ordained deaconesses), within a facsimile (c)hurch-within-a-Church, assigned to spread facsimile blessings to a fluid range of facsimile unions (“irregular couples”)– logically to include polygamy and, even more inclusively, such James Martinesque self-validating “experiences” as binocular-goggled (a “couple” of lenses!) virtual-reality sex.
Muhammad received his revelation from the angel Gabriel, Joseph Smith his from the angel Moroni, and now the forwardist-tribe from the angel Tucho and a synodalized Holy Spirit!
“What’s in your wallet,” or in-basket, or whatever?
Touche!
“In most cases, it’s because they don’t understand.” What are the other cases Francis? Is it because we are sane enough to understand there are evil consequences of pretending evil doesn’t exist in culturally sanctioned categories of evil?
What kind of “understanding” fails to understand that there is more evil to be considered in evil behavior than the troubling feelings of guilt? Is ameliorating the troubled souls of sinners all that matters while the cost of such requires ignoring victims? All the victims, including the damage the sinners do to themselves? Is your pretend care more important to you than the victims you fail to understand and refuse to think about?
An additional thought: Pope Francis, do you not understand that guilt, which you have at times described as a frivolous burden, carried forth from an unenlightened Church, to be discarded, is a gift from God?
We read: “‘Asked if he “felt alone’ after Fiducia Supplicans was met with some resistance, the 87-year-old pontiff said: ‘Sometimes decisions are not accepted’.”
“Decisions”?
Here’s another un-accepted piece–about “decisions” that pretend to replace morality:
“A separation, or even an opposition, is thus established in some cases between the teaching [!] of the precept, which is valid and general, and the norm of the individual conscience, which would in fact make the final decision [only a ‘decision’ and no longer a ‘moral judgment’!] about what is good and what is evil. On this basis, an attempt is made to legitimize so-called ‘pastoral’ solutions [!] contrary to the teaching of the Magisterium, and to justify a ‘creative’ hermeneutic according to which the moral conscience is in no way obliged, in every case, by a particular negative precept [‘Thou shalt not…”]” (St. John Paul II, Veritatis Splendor, 1993, n. 56).
Did Christ “decide” pastorally to bless the prostitute only after she first decided to stand beside probably one of her accusers? And then suddenly give the irregular couple–as a “couple”–a pastoral, “informal, non-ecclesial, and spontaneous” facsimile-blessing?
Or, likewise, decide to bless not one but, indifferently, both the criminals on Calvary, again as a “couple”? Or, the woman at the well only when she returned with all of her interchangeable five “husbands”–to be pastorally blessed as an expanding sequence of irregular “couples”…
Or ultra-irregular “throples,” soon to be expanded to group marriages of four or more. Not multiple wives, but multiples of all varieties. Are there termination points of “blessings?” Can Satan, were he to take human form, receive a “blessing?” After all, we might give him credit for something. He probably does work hard.
Wait a minute. He is not from Africa, and we have been told by the Vatican that not being a team Feducia Supplicans player is purely an African thing. Is he allowed to say that or is this cultural appropriation?
In this insane world (stop the world, I want to get off), he likely will be accused of exactly that, and worse, and maybe even from high atop the thing.
Pope Francis has no problem telling us we don’t understand, or that we will go extinct as he also said about Catholics who disagree with his radical pastoral opinions. He also demotes those who point out his lack of orthodoxy and promotes open dissenters in our own Church. What were Catholics thinking when we had antipopes in our own history? Was any Catholic back then allowed to question what was going on or were they forced to live in denial by the peer Catholic groups around them?
Praying that Cardinal Eijk and other Dutch Bishops will continue to defend Auxiliary Bishop Mutsaerts from being “accompanied” by this pontificate. Same for Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider. The lonely Ordinaries in Puerto Rico and Texas were offered up to this pontificate for a lack of collegiality, as if the Church was a corporation and not the Body of Christ.
Glad the Faith still burns in that microcosm of the modern world, The Netherlands!!!