Catholics

The interesting part about Belgium is the diversity. It extends to religion as well as everything else, and Brussels claims to be 60% catholic, 30% no religion and 10% for the rest.  My mum always told me that Belgium was a Catholic country. She must have forgotten about the north half of the country.  In Brussels there are plenty of churches including the Cathedral

and St Catherine’s

The Aisle in St Catherine's

St Catherines Organ

St Catherine's famous for the statue of the black virgin which was thrown into the river by some Jews but floated and was later found. A miracle. Unfortunately, the statue was not there, replaced by a picture on a piece of curled up A4 paper.

 There were other interesting people though, like this one holding up the pulpit.

Although we were at the Cathedral at 9am on a Sunday, the turnout was so low that they were happy to see us at the back making up the numbers.  

Just a private service for a few diehards

We did not manage to keep the priest awake, he even slept through the organ playing which was a shame because it was very good.

This one was dozing, but the one up the front was in full voice.

Looking at the statue of the former King out the front of the Cathedral, the flags on the top and the pictures from the wedding of the current royal incumbents inside the church reminded me that Belgium is a constitutional monarchy where church, state and military live in a symbiotic relationship sharing power harvesting the spoils. 

 

On top of the recent British overkill all over Australian TV, it was just a little too much for this republican.