A seminarian from Belgium's Chaldean community, David Nas (33), was ordained as a priest on Saturday at Koekelberg Basilica – the first priestly ordination of a married man in the archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels since its inception in 1559.
The Chaldean community in Belgium falls under an Eastern Catholic Church that has ties with Rome, yet follows the Eastern rite in its liturgy. Unlike others, its priests are not committed to celibacy.
The ordination ceremony took place under the joint presidency of Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, the patriarch of Baghdad, and Archbishop Luc Terlinden of Mechelen-Brussels.
David Nas during his ordination to the priesthood of the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels. Credit: Belga / Jonas Roosens
The Nas family hails from southeast Turkey and was forced to flee to Europe in 1989 due to religious tensions. The Ursuline sisters in Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-Waver welcomed them and they settled there. Mechelen-born David Nas is the youngest member of the family.
Father Nas married in 2013 and has three children. In 2015, he enrolled for priesthood at the John XIII seminary in Leuven. He was ordained a deacon in Mechelen in February 2023.
