When Norbert Swagemakers was ordained as a priest, there were dozens of students at the Sint-Janscentrum in Den Bosch. Nearly thirty years later, and he is now rector of this institute, only a few follow this course. “We are still of this time, but we must continue to look for opportunities to profile ourselves.”
The diocese of Den Bosch stands for a holiday. Nick Kersten will be ordained as a priest in St. John’s Cathedral in Den Bosch on Saturday. Norbert Swagemakers makes a comparison: “For others it would be the day they got married. The happiest day of your life. You could experience it that way, but I also hope that many more days of pleasant experiences will follow for Nick.”
Norbert Swagemakers, born in Goirle in 1966, speaks from experience. He was ordained a priest in 1994 and was active in various parishes in Brabant and Gelderland. At the beginning of 2021, he was asked by Bishop Gerard de Korte to become rector of the Sint-Janscentrum. In this building people can be trained as priests or other officials who can assist him (deacon or catechist).
“There should be more life in our house.”
Swagemakers were also trained there. “But that was in a completely different time. We then stayed in the seminary with many more students. The big advantage of this was that you could pull yourself together and learn from each other. During the lessons, but also in the evening at dinner. Now it is much less busy in the center. I don’t want to say it’s boring, but there could be more life in our house, as I call the training. Also in the interest of the students.”
The diocese is looking for ways to make the study environment more lively. “I am thinking of combining it with other courses or redesigning the building. We are only just talking about those plans,” says the former pastor of, among others, the Damiaan parish in Helmond, who is in no hurry. His three predecessors, including Bishop Toon Hurkmans, were all rectors for ten years. Swagemakers also wants to keep it there for at least a decade.
“Foreign priests can enrich us and teach us to put things into perspective.”
Meanwhile secularization continues, so far fewer people go to church than years ago and there is still a chronic shortage of priests. For the fifth year in a row, there is only one priestly ordination in the diocese. In the past, there were years when five were ordained.
That is why for some time now priests from Africa and Asia have been called upon. Swagemakers: “I don’t call this a necessary evil, I think that’s too negative an assessment. I also see something very positive in it: the church is a world church. Priests from India, for example, enrich our lives and they teach us to put things into perspective.” Nearly thirty foreign priests work in the diocese.
Fortunately for the diocese of Den Bosch, there are still men like Nick Kersten, born in Ude, who feel called to do so. Swagemakers has confidence in it and would like to give him some life wisdom. “On Saturday he will be lifted briefly in Sint Jan, but I trust that he will remain with both feet on the ground. Above all, I hope he holds the hands of God and the hands of those around him.”
READ ALSO:
Empty churches accelerated by corona, 40 percent fewer people than in 2019
Priest training is closing its doors because there are too few students
Martijn (33) studied to become a general practitioner but is now ordained a priest