On 27 December 2022, the Provincial Chapter of the Dominicans of Belgium and The Netherlands, currently taking place in Huissen (near Arnhem), has elected brother Didier Croonenberghs as new Prior Provincial. The Master of the Order, brother Gerard Francisco Timoner III, has confirmed this election and brother Didier has accepted it on 28 December 2022.
Brother Didier Croonenberghs was born on 4 July 1978 in Namur, Belgium. He is the last of a family of 4 children. He spent his early years in the region of Rixensart, where he did his secondary studies at the Collège du Christ-Roi in Ottignies. After studying law (licence) and philosophy (DECII) at the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve, he entered the Order in 2002 and made his novitiate in Strasbourg.
He then studied religious sciences in Louvain-la-Neuve and theology in Oxford, where he obtained a Master’s in 2008. He made solemn profession in the Order on 17 September 2006 and was ordained a priest on 15 December 2007. Brother Didier was superior of the convent of Liège from 2009 to 2018. In terms of pastoral activities, brother Didier has worked as coordinator of the English-speaking parish of Saint-Nicolas-Bourse in Brussels, member of the team of the pub The Blackfriars in Louvain-la-Neuve, responsible for the websites of the Belgian Dominicans, coordinator of the Logos student chaplaincy in Liège,… Since 2013, he has been responsible for the pastoral and liturgical care of the radio (on La Première) and television (on La Deux and France 2) Masses for CathoBel, which he directed for three years. He is currently prior of the convent in Antwerp and parish priest of St. Paul’s in Antwerp.
We wish brother Didier every success in this new task and thank the outgoing provincial, brother Philippe Cochinaux for his numerous years of service.
