Roger Vangheluwe
|
His Excellency Roger Vangheluwe |
|
|---|---|
| Bishop Emeritus of Bruges | |
 |
|
| Church | Roman Catholic |
| See | Brugge |
| Installed | 3 February 1985 |
| Term ended | 23 April 2010 |
| Predecessor | Emiel-Jozef De Smedt |
| Successor | Jozef De Kesel |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 1 February 1963 |
| Consecration | 3 February 1985 by Godfried Danneels |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
7 November 1936 Roeselare |
| Nationality | Belgian |
Roger Joseph Vangheluwe (born 7 November 1936) is the former Bishop of Bruges. He gained notoriety after admitting to having sexually abused two nephews over the course of a 15-year period while serving first as a priest and then as bishop, though the admission came after the statute of limitations for the crimes had expired, leaving him beyond the reach of state prosecution.
Roger Vangheluwe was born on 7 November 1936 at Roeselare and studied Christian theology and mathematics. He was ordained in February 1963. From 1968 to 1984 he was professor at the Seminary of Bruges. He was appointed as Bishop of Bruges on 15 December 1984 by Pope John Paul II. He was consecrated on 3 February 1985 by Cardinal Godfried Danneels.
On 23 April 2010 Pope Benedict XVI accepted Vangheluwe's resignation after his admission that he had repeatedly sexually abused his nephew for 13 years, starting when the boy was just 5 years old. The abuse began when Vangheluwe was a priest and continued after he was made a bishop. His is the first episcopal resignation in Belgium relating to the sexual abuse of minors.
Vangheluwe's resignation was announced at a press conference by Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard. Leonard said that Vangheluwe's resignation shows that the Catholic Church in Belgium wants to "turn over a leaf from a not very distant past."
When asked during a university lecture on 19 April 2010 how pedophilia should best be discussed in class, Vangheluwe replied: "I think you need to be well informed about these things. In a way, it's not a tougher subject than many others. Yes, it's embarrassing, it's scandalous. But then again, so are many other things [...] Also, there have been some articles that imply that pedophilia is nowhere so little prevalent as in the Church [...]".
As late as 21 April 2010, Vangheluwe had written a column in a regional edition of the Flemish Catholic weekly Kerk en Leven ("Church and Life"), saying that "at present we suffer from the scandals that batter the Church: everywhere there are stories of priests abusing children. It's horrible to see these things surface, and they hurt us deeply. Nevertheless, this shouldn't blind us from the fact that the majority of priests lead exemplary lives and represent a support to many. (...) They aspire to imitate Jesus."
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