Johan Bonny - Priest

Priest

On 20 July 1980, he was ordained priest by Msgr. Emiel-Jozef De Smedt, then Bishop of Bruges. Bonny helped founding the community of l'Arche in Moerkerke and remained attached to it as a priest.

In 1982 he obtained a doctorate in theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. Then Msgr. De Smedt appointed him archivist and professor to the Major Seminary of Bruges, where he taught Church History, Dogmatic theology, Ecumenism and spirituality. At the same time, he worked with the renowned expert in Christian mystics Albert de Blaere. He defended in 1988 a doctorate on the Flemish mystic John of Ruysbroeck, entitled "Het ghemeyne leven in de werken van Jan van Ruusbroec" (English: The "ghemeyne leven" in the works of John of Ruysbroeck). In 1985 Msgr. Roger Vangheluwe appointed him director of the department of theology and, in 1991, spiritual director of the Major Seminary of Bruges .

Johan Bonny moved in 1997 to Rome with two new appointments. Firstly, on June 5, he was appointed collaborator to the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Johan Bonny was responsible for ecumenical relations between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox churches, mainly in the Middle East. He took part in theological dialogue with the Orthodox church, with the Eastern Orthodox churches (including the Coptic, Syrian, Armenian and Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church) and the Assyrian Church of the East. He also kept the relationship between the Council and a number of communities or movements, such as Taizé and L'Arche. Secondly, Cardinal Godfried Danneels and the Belgian bishops appointed him rector of the Belgian Papal College in Rome in succession to Msgr. Werner Quintens.

On 9 January 2002 he was appointed Chaplain of His Holiness by Pope John Paul II.