The auxiliary bishop of ‘s-Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch), Robert Mutsaerts, has publicly denounced that a boy was excluded from Confirmation preparation in a Dutch parish that calls itself “LGBTQ” after he described a pro-LGBT initiative promoted in the Netherlands as “nonsense.”
The story was recounted by the bishop himself in an extensive reflection published on his personal blog under the title Visit to an LGBTQ Parish. Mutsaerts describes in detail the atmosphere experienced during a Confirmation celebration in a parish where a rainbow flag flew at the entrance of the church.
“A boy with opinion and character”
Although he was ultimately able to administer the sacrament to the young man in another location a week later, the prelate explained that the conflict began after the minor expressed his rejection of “Purple Friday,” an initiative promoted in the Netherlands to advance the social acceptance of the LGBT agenda in schools and public spaces.
“A boy with opinion and character. Apparently, that does not fit in this tolerant, inclusive, open, welcoming, and understanding parish,” wrote Mutsaerts with evident irony.
Mutsaerts later visited the parish to administer Confirmations and personally observed the ideological atmosphere of the place. A rainbow flag flew in front of the church, and after the Mass, parish officials explained to him that it was a “Rainbow Church.”
Inclusion for some, exclusion for others
The bishop denounced the contradiction between the rhetoric of inclusion and the attitude shown toward those who defend traditional Catholic doctrine on sexuality.
When he attempted to address these issues after the ceremony, he said he was immediately rejected for not sharing the ideological premises of the so-called “rainbow religion.”
“Inclusion turns out not to be an open door, but a carefully guarded access,” he wrote.
A growing fracture within the Church
The episode recounted by Mutsaerts also reflects a growing tension within numerous European ecclesial environments, where the discourse of “inclusion” increasingly coexists with greater difficulties in accepting positions aligned with traditional Catholic doctrine.
Robert Mutsaerts has become in recent years one of the few European episcopal voices openly criticizing the expansion of the LGBT agenda within ecclesial structures.
“The real question is not whether these churches are inclusive or exclusive, but what truth they are willing to recognize and what limits they dare to admit honestly,” he wrote in his reflection.