Ethnic Diversity Creates Religious Pluralism in Brussels

By: Anna Drabek

October 11, 2011

Before coming to Brussels, my expectation was that I would easily be able to practice my Catholic faith in this Catholic country. I assumed that there would be many churches, many Masses, and many parishioners in attendance. As of yet, I have not seen very many churches, or any other religious symbols for that matter, in Belgian culture.

I must admit that the late night Masses at Georgetown made attending church unusually easy, and I know that that is not the case at most other universities, let alone other places in the world. However, as perhaps any student studying abroad wanting to travel on the weekends, I realized that finding Sunday Masses to attend has been a struggle. Not only have I had to Google map Roman Catholic churches on several occasions to attempt to find a location near me (there is only one I’ve found in the vicinity), but I have yet to discover a Mass in my neighborhood before 10 a.m. or after noon, making it very difficult to both attend Mass and travel in the same day.

The Sunday I took a day trip to the Belgian coast, we stumbled upon a single church with very similarly inconvenient Mass times. It is almost as if I am forced to choose between exploring what Belgium has to offer, and pursuing my faith. Such a scenario was not on my radar before I set foot in this country.

Apart from the difficulty of finding a Mass to attend, a rather large element of my religious exploration in Brussels stems from the university I am attending. The Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) has as its mission statement freedom from all dogma—religion, cults, and any and all other ideologies included. Seeing as this was the very first thing mentioned during the new student welcome speech, I was struck by how powerful the statement is, and by how strictly the university abides by and promotes it. It is quite a big change to shift from a campus full of Jesuit professors, advisors, and mentors, to a campus that lacks all affiliation.

Upon coming to Brussels, I traded Dahlgren Chapel for a concrete student center, retreat posters for soirée advertisements, and Fr. Steck’s Masses for discussion about the lack of a Belgian government. There is indeed a science of religions and laïcité major; however the only real theology class offered, and one I considered taking, is true to its title—Introduction to Contemporary Religions—and its goal is literally to teach students who know nothing whatsoever about the major world religions. This means learning from square one about the Bible, the prophets, Mohammad, Buddha, dharma-karma-caste-reincarnation-moksha, Laozi, Jesus, Moses, and all of the figures most Georgetown students can at least recognize. Therefore, even if I wanted to fulfill my second theology requirement at the ULB (which I wouldn’t, because the courses at Georgetown are superb), I would not be able to do so.

Perhaps a portion of why there are not very many practicing Catholics in Brussels is because of the city’s ethnic composition. Of course there is a large immigrant population from a number of “Catholic” countries; however, that does not indicate that 1) these immigrants are practicing and/or Catholic, and that 2) these groups make up the majority of the population.

In fact, one of the most surprising things I have found out so far is that Belgians are actually a minority population in Brussels. This fact is put into light quite clearly by my real life example; of all the people I have interacted with during my month-long duration in Brussels, I have actually only met a single Belgian who is not a professor or my landlady. As opposed to Paris, where immigrants (usually Arab) live on the outskirts of the city, in Brussels the immigrant neighborhoods are integrated right into city center.

Because of this, it is not hard to find mosques and churches of other Christian denominations, and there is a large synagogue near the city center as well. The path I take to get to my evening Dutch class requires me to walk past a string of halal restaurants and grocery stores, and most window panes vividly promote travel offers for the hajj.

From what I have come to understand, the city of Brussels differs immensely from the rest of Belgium in its cultural diversity and openness. While I was technically aware of this fact before departure, it is not at all like I had imagined it would be. When I had Brussels in mind as a study abroad destination, I assumed it would be more of a quaint European village than the diverse metropolis that is actually it. I imagined that I would have Sunday Mass handed to me on a platter; instead, it is solely up to me to find a way to church.

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