The U.S. bishops have entrusted their recently closed Belgian
seminary to the local Katholieke Universiteit in Leuven in order to
preserve the Catholic identity of the 19th century building.
The
American College of the Immaculate Conception in Belgium closed in June
of this year because of the small number of seminarians and a lack of
available priests for faculty.
Archbishop Timothy Dolan, head of
the U.S. bishops' conference and archbishop of New York, praised the new
agreement on Aug. 22 as a step forward in the relationship between
Belgian and American Catholics.
“The American College has
provided a major contribution to the life of the Catholic Church. With
this agreement, we are able to respond to the changing needs of our
faithful and those who serve them.”
The U.S. bishops said on
Monday that the agreement will hand the seminary building over to K.U.
Leuven, which will renovate the building for use by future students.
The
bishops founded the college in 1857 to train young European men to
serve as missionary priests in North America and to offer American
seminarians the philosophical and theological riches of Europe’s oldest
Catholic university, located in Leuven.
Besides serving as a
residence for new university students, the building will now house a
project headed by the U.S. bishops, K.U. Leuven, the bishops’ conference
of Belgium and the French-speaking sister university of K.U. Leuven,
Louvain-la-Neuve.
The project will recruit students and
researchers from the worldwide Catholic community – including priests,
deacons, members of religious institutes and lay people – to promote
educational initiatives in theology, canon law and philosophy.
The
effort will be aimed at U.S. residents in particular, and will offer
students assistance from the “Peter Kindekens Fund,” named after the
first rector of the American College and created in honor of the U.S.
bishops’ conference.
Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard of Mechelen-Brussel, president of the Belgian Bishops Conference, welcomed the agreement.
“We
are pleased to see that the historical link between the Church in
Belgium and the Church in the United States can continue, albeit in a
new form,” he said.
“Worldwide collaboration within the Church is our
strength and enriches our own experiences.”