The ordination of a priest is, today, an increasingly rare event in Belgium, a country with a Catholic tradition where in recent times there have been no more than half a dozen a year, but the one held last Sunday in Brussels is even more extraordinary and not only because of the youth of the protagonist, David Nas, but above all because of his marital status. The 33-year-old young man has been married for a decade and is the father of three young children.
Descended from a family of Turkish emigrants, Nas is the first non-celibate Catholic priest ordained in Belgium since the creation of the archdiocese of Brussels-Mechelen in 1559, but – here is the key – not the only one in the branch of Christianity to which he belongs. , the Chaldean Church. His supreme authority is the Pope, but, as in other churches that follow the Eastern rite, he does accept married men as priests (what he does not foresee is the reverse path, the possibility of a priest getting married). But even taking into account the tradition in which it is framed, Nas's ordination is a unique case and reflects an open position of the Belgian Catholic Church in the debate on priestly celibacy. The Archbishop of Brussels-Mechelen, Luc Terlinden, present at the ceremony, declared himself in favor of not requiring celibacy from future priests.
Founded, according to tradition, by Saint Thomas, the Chaldean Catholic Church has its roots in ancient Mesopotamia and is one of the eastern churches reunited with Rome. Their supreme authority is the Pope, but they celebrate the liturgy according to the Eastern rite and have their own internal rules and hierarchies, in addition to their own patriarch, Cardinal Luis Rafael Sako, who last week traveled from Irbil (Iraq) to Brussels to ordain to the young priest together with Archbishop Terlinden.
Like so many members of this community, Nas's family had to leave the town where they lived, in southern Turkey, as a result of the religious persecution they suffered. In the late 1980s, they emigrated and sought refuge in Belgium. They were welcomed by the Ursuline sisters and settled in Mechelen, where Nas, the youngest of the family, was born. In 2013 he got married and a couple of years later he entered the seminary of John XXIII in Leuven. Meanwhile, he has had three children: Luka, Maria and Clara. This Saturday, everyone attended the joyful ordination of his father as a priest, which culminated with applause, cheers and songs typical of eastern churches. “I don't feel special,” says the pastor, who will be able to celebrate mass according to both rites. “Eastern Christians are being persecuted in such a way that they have to flee, and now being represented in the West will be an enrichment for the Church in Belgium,” Nas told public television RTBF. He believes his case can inspire other men in the Western Church. “I think it would be a good thing,” he says.
For the primate of the Catholic Church in Belgium, the priestly ordination of a married man has been the first but it should not be the last. “Personally, I want it because I believe it would enrich the life of the Church. They are not competition for single priests, because I think there will always be them, but it is richer to have priests who contribute that peculiarity,” Terlinden says. In several interviews given since he was appointed archbishop by Pope Francis in June 2023, he has already defended learning from the experience of the Eastern churches and other open positions, such as giving more space and responsibility to women in the Church.
Within the Chaldean Church itself, married priests are a rarity. But the Patriarch of Baghdad has been actively defending resorting to this option for some time, which is not a cause of theological dispute within the Eastern rite, to alleviate the decline in vocations and the consequences of the religious persecution they suffer, since there are not enough Chaldean priests. to serve all the communities that are dispersed around the world due to migration. “It is always worth remembering that priestly celibacy is not a dogma of faith. And that decisions are always made with the salvation of souls as the ultimate criterion,” Cardinal Sako defended a few years ago in a letter addressed to the bishops of the Chaldean communities in exile.
