A pro-family group is looking for help from Rome to discipline a
Belgian bishop who is encouraging a "diversity of rituals" to bless
homosexual pairs.Speaking with ChurchMilitant.com, Erwin Wolff, spokesman for the group Pro Familia, wrote, "We at Pro Familia feel that Bp. Bonny is setting aside the Bible. His file is getting bigger and bigger. As laymen we do not understand how this can go on."
Bishop Johan Bonny of Antwerp, Belgium, who has a history of pushing homosexuality, published a book earlier this month titled "May I? Thank You. Sorry."
In it, Bp. Bonny writes, "There is no way we can continue to claim that there can be no other forms of love than heterosexual marriage. We find the same kind of love between a man and a woman who live together in homo-pairs and lesbian couples."
Pro Familia issued
a statement earlier this month announcing its intent to file a
complaint to Rome's Congregation for the Clergy, which has the authority
to discipline Bp. Bonny.
The statement read in part:
Speaking with ChurchMilitant.com, Wolff commented on Bonny and the Catholic Church, saying, "If this were a real company and a mid-level manager openly defied the mission statement of that company, his contract would be terminated. But in the Belgian Catholic Church the normal rules do not seem to apply."
Wolff continued, "Because of this, Rome needs to respond. We feel Bp. Bonny is no longer ashamed of his opinions and therefore this is a test case. Does Rome agree with Bp. Bonny or not?"
Responding to Pro Familia's announcement, Bishop Bonny remarked, "I would just like to invite them, before they step to Rome, to read what came from Rome, from the present Pope: 'Gaudium Evangelii' — 'The Joy of the Gospel' – and 'Amoris Laetitia,'" he said.
This latest book is an outgrowth of Bp. Bonny's liberal, pro-homosexual stance. The statement read in part:
The relationships of homosexual couples, divorced and remarried Catholics, and cohabiting pairs cannot possibly be recognized by the Church. To Catholic standards, the outrageous statements and writings of Johan Bonny cause public scandal, are offensive to pious ears, are absurd and even downright blasphemous.
The Church cannot "bless" what God has forbidden. As a consequence, Pro Familia is to file a complaint against Johan Bonny with the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, Beniamino Stella, in Rome.
Pro Familia will ask the Cardinal Prefect to investigate and condemn the statements and writings of Johan Bonny. When appropriate, Johan Bonny should be called to order by the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in Rome.Beniamo was made a Cardinal by Pope Francis in 2014.
Speaking with ChurchMilitant.com, Wolff commented on Bonny and the Catholic Church, saying, "If this were a real company and a mid-level manager openly defied the mission statement of that company, his contract would be terminated. But in the Belgian Catholic Church the normal rules do not seem to apply."
Wolff continued, "Because of this, Rome needs to respond. We feel Bp. Bonny is no longer ashamed of his opinions and therefore this is a test case. Does Rome agree with Bp. Bonny or not?"
Responding to Pro Familia's announcement, Bishop Bonny remarked, "I would just like to invite them, before they step to Rome, to read what came from Rome, from the present Pope: 'Gaudium Evangelii' — 'The Joy of the Gospel' – and 'Amoris Laetitia,'" he said.
Bishop Bonny, who was invited to the 2015 Synod alongside two other Belgian cardinals, tried vigorously to push the homosexual agenda. At the time, he revealed, "In the Synod this question was not really discussed. Most bishops in Western Europe speak more or less the same language but the atmosphere and readiness was not there at the Synod."
Reacting to Bp. Bonny and other liberal bishops' gay advocacy at the 2015 Synod, traditionally minded, African cardinal Robert Sarah compared gender ideology to Islamic State fundamentalism and Nazism.
Even further back, in a 2014 interview, Bp. Bonny said, "I find that in the Church more space must be given to acknowledge the actual quality of gay and lesbian couples; and such a form of shared life should meet the same criteria as found in an ecclesiastical marriage."
He continued with his heterodox speculation, "Indeed, we need to seek a formal recognition of the kind of relationship that exists between many gay and lesbian couples. Does that recognition have to be a sacramental marriage? Perhaps the Church could much better reflect on a diversity of forms of relationships."
Wolff reveals Pro Familia is also preparing a test case out of the actions of Brussels archbishop Joseph de Kesel, who "closed one of the most successful seminaries in the whole of Belgium called the fraternity of the Holy Apostles, causing big upheaval."
De Kesel is another prelate known to be gay-friendly.