2023-12-19 17:36:00
Casually, here’s a little palace revolution. This December 31, Mgr Hudsyn, auxiliary bishop for Walloon Brabant, will retire and it is… a woman who will replace him: Rebecca Charlier-Alsberge. For the first time in Belgium, a lay woman, a mother, will take the reins of a vicariate (a “province” of the archbishopric of Mechelen-Brussels) for a period of five years. “I knew that my appointment was possible, she reacted to La Libre, but I did not really expect it: this decision testifies to a certain audacity on the part of Mgr Terlinden, the Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels. ”
In fact, only Switzerland preceded Belgium in such a choice. For the rest, never had a woman held such a position in a national church. “This decision was taken at the level of the archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels, but in consultation with Rome”, specifies Rebecca Charlier-Alsberge, who emphasizes that she is not “a bishop”. She will therefore not carry any of the liturgical responsibilities of Bishop Hudsyn, but will take over, for the rest, all the files for which he was responsible. As for the faithful of Walloon Brabant, they will no longer have two bishops – Mgr Hudsyn and Mgr Terlinden – but only the latter. Note also that Rebecca Charlier-Alsberge will have priest Alain de Maere as deputy. From the point of view of canon law (Church law) it was necessary that there be a priest between the new leader and the clergy of the vicariate. A lay person cannot, in fact, give “orders” to priests on all subjects. “I am also very happy that Alain de Maere is my deputy. I was asking to be able to work in complementarity with a priest.”
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A third within the Council
Born in 1982, mother of four children, Rebecca Charlier-Alsberge is not entering unfamiliar territory: she has been Mgr Hudsyn’s deputy for almost ten years and is therefore perfectly familiar with the files she will have to deal with. “Despite the magnitude of the responsibilities, I am calm and joyful to be able to take on these challenges.” On this level, the episcopal delegate evokes the strengthening of collaborations between the parishes of Walloon Brabant (in a context of reduction of forces), as well as the training of priests, deacons, leaders and lay people.
Her appointment does not come out of nowhere, she concludes. “It is quite natural in the Church in Walloon Brabant, where almost all those responsible for the vicariate are women. I do not know what the situation is for the entire institution at the Belgian level, but I note that I am the second woman (and the third in total) appointed in a few months within the episcopal council which surrounds the “Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels.”
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