University Parishes and Student
Churches in Europe
Past and Present
A historical and comparative survey
International colloquium on the
occasion of the 50th anniversary
of the University Parish of Leuven
(1963-2013)
Leuven 19-22 | 03 | 2014
Leuven Institute for Ireland in Europe
Janseniusstraat 1 | 3000 Leuven
In November 1963, the Leuven University Parish was ecclesiastically recognized as a personal parish and its operations among students and the academic community
(professors, researchers and administrative staff ) was
enthusiastically launched. In its fifty years of development,
the Leuven University Parish covered a remarkable course,
one that has already drawn the interest of historians such as
Lieve Gevers, Louis Vos, and Bart Latré. Their studies indicate the importance of student parishes in many areas. In
the first place, there was the parish in the context of the student revolts of the 1960s, which manifested itself as a laboratory/breeding ground for socially critical movements. But
the cited authors also situate the Leuven Parish in the context of the renewal of the Catholic Action during the 1950s
and the élan inspired by the aggiornamento of the Church
in the context of the second Vatican Council (1962-1965).
The enthusiasm of the University Parish, from its beginnings
in the 1970s up until today, led to the breaking open of new
ground in the areas of liturgy, the place of women in the
Church, the concept of sexuality and the forming of relationships and social mission. In brief, the Leuven University
Parish saw itself and was also active as “active yeast in the
dough.”
The need for a comparative perspective
The Leuven University Parish is no isolated issue. In the
wake of the development in the nineteenth century (especially in the last quarter of the century) from a number
of Catholic universities and the Church’s growing concern
to provide the necessary religious framework for the students – who were considered to be the future elite – affiliated university fraternities, study groups, and all sorts of
organized expressions of devotion and pilgrimages became
established. The Neo-Thomism and the related new apologetic gave to this university pastoral activity an additional
élan avant-la-lettre, even if its primary support came from
Dominicans and Jesuits. During the period between the two
World Wars, the emphases shifted to the abovementioned
Catholic Action.
It seems therefore to be particularly interesting to contrast
the story of the Leuven University Parish with the pastoral
structures and initiatives for student/academic communities that were present elsewhere in Europe. Did the various
initiatives have contact with each other? Were there forms
of interaction concerning vision and specific activities? To
what extent did the “Leuven model” have an influence elsewhere, or did other parishes look to the student churches
in the Netherlands or to the student pastoral work as it
developed for example in France or Germany? What was
the role/position of the secular or regular clergy in this and
what place did the laity – men and women –have in the
whole? The comparison may enable a better understanding
of the relativity or the uniqueness of the Leuven parish.
In light of this intended comparison, an International Colloquium will be held in Leuven from Wednesday evening,
19 March, until Saturday, 22 March 2014. The colloquium is
structured systematically. Taking the history of the Leuven
Parish as departure point, it will subsequently, through keynote lectures that portray the developments of a university
and student church in Western Europe, provide a framework for the desired comparative perspective.
English will be the main language of the colloquium.
WEDNESDAY, 19 MARCH 2014
OPENING SESSION
Current language: English
7:00 p.m.Registration of participants
7:30
Welcome and opening of the colloquium by Johan
Vanpée, University Parish & Jan De Maeyer,
KADOC-KU Leuven
8:00
Lecture
The Catholic Church in Flanders: Context of the
emerging University Parish in Leuven |
Em. Prof. Lieve Gevers, KU Leuven
8:45
Questions | moderator: Jan De Maeyer,
KADOC-KU Leuven
9:00
Reception
THURSDAY, 20 MARCH 2014
UNIVERSITY AND STUDENT CHURCHES IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Current language: English
9:15
The University Parish Leuven, 1959-1974: A catalyst
for Church renewal in Flanders | Em. Prof. Louis
Vos, KU Leuven
Questions
10:15 Les étudiants catholiques en France des années 1920
aux années 1960 | Em. Prof. Etienne Fouilloux,
Université Lumière Lyon
Questions
11:15 Coffee Break
11:45 Catholic Students Pastorate in the Netherlands |
Dr. Lodewijk Winkeler, Radboud University
Nijmegen
Questions
12:45p.m.Lunch
2:00
A mirror of the catholic church? - University
pastoral care and university chaplaincies in
Germany from the postwar era to the 1990s |
Dr. Lukas Rölli, Forum Hochschule und
Kirche, Bonn
Questions
3:00
Coffee Break
3:20
University Parishes in Italy as a Marginal
Phenomenon in a Context of a University Pastoral
Care in an Adopted Catholic Action Atmosphere
(c. 1950 – c. 2014) | Prof. Jan De Maeyer in
collaboration with Prof. Daniele Menozzi
(SNS, Pisa) & Jacopo Cellini (SNS, Pisa)
Questions
4:20
L’aumônerie universitaire en Suisse: Berne et
Fribourg | Prof. Mariano Delgado, Univer
sité de Fribourg (CH)
Questions
5:20
Coffee Break
5:40
Panel discussion / round-table
led by Prof. Leo Kenis, KU Leuven
6:30
End
FRIDAY, 21 MARCH 2014
UNIVERSITY AND STUDENTS PASTORAL WORK
Current language: English
9.00a.m. De la « Paroisse Universitaire » francophone à la
« Communion de Louvain », communion de
communautés (1963-1973). Dix ans de pastorale
vers une ecclésiologie novatrice | Paul Thielen
(Louvain-la-Neuve, BE)
9:30
Albert Dondeyne and his Idea of a University.
Christian Humanism as the Interaction between
Catholic Action and the University (1933-­1957) |
Dries Bosschaert, KU Leuven
10:00 Discussion
10:30 Coffee Break
11:00 The ‘Ecumunical Cultural Centre’ (Villeurbanne,
France) : from the student chaplaincy to the urban
policy | Olivier Chatelan (Lyon, FR)
11:30 La Paroisse universitaire de France. Entre ‘Auto
nomie des réalité terrestres’ et ‘Réinvention d’un
homme chrétien’ | Claire Toupin- Guyot
(Rennes, FR)
12:30 p.m.Discussion
1:00 Lunch
2:00 Royal Holloway: an English Case Study in post
Vatican II Catholic University Chaplaincy in an
ecumenical and secular context| John Dickson
(London, UK)
2:30 Vive la différence! Anglican university chaplaincy in
Cambridge and Protestant university chaplaincy in
Strasbourg: different church structures, different
theological methodologies, common pastoral mis
sion | Jack McDonald (KU Leuven, BE)
3:00 Discussion
3:30 Coffee Break
4:00 Pastoral and architectural phenomenology of Ita
lian University Chapels | Flavia Radice (Torino, IT)
4:30 Humankind and the World: vision and action.
Ukrainian Greek-Catholic student parish in Leuven:
the Present gives thanks to the Past | Mykola
Paliukh (Leuven, BE)
5:00 From the Margins to the Core. How the Delft
Campus Chaplaincy changed content and position
over 30 year of development | Hans van Drongelen,
Renkse Oldenboom, Joline van Poppel, Günther
Sturms (Delft, NL)
5:30 Discussion
6:00 Closing debate led by Prof. Louis Vos (KU Leuven)
SATURDAY, 22 MARCH 2014
GENERAL PUBLIC DAY: REFLECTIONS ON UNIVERSITY
PASTORAL WORK YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW
Official language: Dutch
9:30 a.m.Welkom en registratie
10.00 Verwelkoming | Studentenpastor Johan Vanpée
10.10 Toespraak | Prof. Rik Torfs, rector
KU Leuven
10.40 Coffee Break
11.00 Op de golfslag van de geschiedenis. Een historische
terugblik op 50 jaar UP | Dr. Bart Latré
12:45 Wandelbuffet
2:00 p.m.Heden en toekomst van de Universitaire Parochie:
Presentatie van een visie | Renilde Vos en Johan
Vanpée
15.30 Coffee Break
16.15 Panelgesprek met oud-pastores en sleutelfiguren
over 50 jaar Universitaire Parochie en dialoog met
de aanwezigen
17.30 vertrek naar de Begijnhofkerk
17.45 Inzingen in de Begijnhofkerk
18.15 Viering in de Begijnhofkerk en receptie
REGISTRATION
http://kadoc.kuleuven.be/eng/acti/stu/up50_form.php
at the very latest by the 1st of March 2014
• € 75 on Thur.
• Free on Wed.
• € 75 on Fri.
•€ 150 Thur.-Sat.
• € 30 on Sat.
•€ 125 Thur.-Fri.
Reduced student fee [please append a copy of your student
ID card]:
• € 30 on Thur.
•Free on Wed.
• € 30 on Fri.
•€ 75 Thur.-Sat.
• € 25 on Sat.
•€ 50 Thur. -Fri.
This fee includes participation in all lectures, the conference
brochure, coffee and light refreshments, sandwich lunches at
noon and the opening reception Wednesday night.
ORGANIZING COMITEE
Jan De Maeyer | Joris Geldhof| Lieve Gevers | Peter Heyrman
| Leo Kenis | Magda Pluymers | Johan Vanpée | Louis Vos |
Renilde Vos
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
SCIENTIFIQUE COMITEE
Prof. Luc Courtois (UCL) | Prof. Wilhelm Damberg
(Ruhruniversität Böchum, DL) | Prof. Mariano Delgado
(Université de Fribourg, CH) | Prof. Jan De Maeyer
(KADOC-KU Leuven) | Prof. Joris Geldhof (KU Leuven) |
Em. Prof. Lieve Gevers (KU Leuven) | Dr. Peter Heyrman
(KADOC-KU Leuven) | Prof. Leo Kenis (KU Leuven) | Prof.
Peter Nissen (Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, NL) | Prof.
Didier Pollefeyt (KU Leuven) | Em. Prof. Louis Vos (KU
Leuven)
PAYMENT
Please deposit the fee [before the 1st of March 2014] to
KADOC-KU Leuven, Vlamingenstraat 39, B-3000 Leuven
into account n°IBAN: BE39 4320 0003 6119; BIC: KREDBEBB
(name and address of the bank:)
KBC - Bedrijvenkantoor Leuven
Brusselsesteenweg 100 - B-3000 Leuven
mentioning “ 400/0009/38414” – [followed by name participant]”
Venue LIIE - Louvain Institute for Ireland in Europe
Janseniusstraat 1 B-3000 Leuven
Tel : +32 16 31 04 30 - http://www.louvaininstitute.com
Languages
Conference languages will be English and French, but
Dutch on Saturday.
Accommodation Toerisme Leuven, Naamsestraat 3, B-3000 Leuven
Tel. +32 16 20 30 20 - E-mail: tourism@leuven.be
http://www.leuven.be/vrije-tijd/toerisme/overnachten/
For more information
magda.pluymers@kadoc.kuleuven.be
Tel. +32 16 32 35 12 - http://kadoc.kuleuven.be