by Staff Reporter, Monday, 30 Oct 2017
The group disrupted the ecumenical service by reciting the rosary out loud
Police removed a group of young Catholics from the cathedral in Brussels after they recited the rosary out loud, disrupting a service celebrating the Reformation.
The Catholic Cathedral of St Michael and St Gudula hosted the service with the United Protestant Church in Belgium, the country’s largest Protestant denomination. UPCB president Steven Fuit, who preached at the service, said the event sent a “strong ecumenical signal”.
However, several young Catholics disrupted the ceremony by reciting the rosary at the back of the Cathedral, preventing the pastor from beginning his sermon.
A video posted on YouTube shows police eventually breaking up the group and escorting them outside.
French website Média-Presse-Info posted a leaflet the group had reportedly handed out, reading:
“Our Cathedral of St Michael and St Gudula is a Catholic building built by our fathers to be a House of God, for the celebration of the holy Mass, for the praise of God and the saints.
“The occupation of our cathedral by Protestants to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation is therefore a profanation.
“Indeed, the so-called Reformation was really a revolt: under the pretext of combatting abuses, Luther rebelled against the divine authority of the Catholic Church, denied numerous Truths of the Faith, abolished the Sacrifice of the Mass and the Sacraments, rejected the necessity of good works and the practice of Christian virtues. Finally, he attacked the veneration of the Virgin Mary and the saints, the religious life and monastic vows.
“This terrible revolution was a great tragedy for Christian society and for the salvation of souls. And the Lutheran errors are still heresies today because the Truth is eternal.”
In his sermon, Pastor Fuit called for Christians to respect differences.
“Our individuality and our unity consist not in the passive acceptance of diversity. Our unity essentially derives from respecting differences. Without the other who is different, who thinks otherwise, who does otherwise, I do not exist, I am nothing. Differences are an inherent part of unity.”