All of Western Europe, and ESPECIALLY Belgium, has truly become "mission territory." When I was in Rome in 1988, I remember talking to a Belgian priest who said - in 1988 remember! - that Mass attendance had dwindled to 3%. He was there in Rome with two seminarians studying at a seminary whose name I've forgotten. Why? Because there were *no* seminaries left active in the entire country of Belgium.
I imagine, if anything, the situation is even worse now...
A recent article I read stated that beginning in 2007, the word "Christ" would be written without a capital "C" in both the Netherlands and Belgium. The word "Jewish" would retain the capital "J" for the people but not the religion.
It seems our friends are secularizing themselves into oblivion. And to think they were once bastions of Christianity.
Frank