François Houtart (7 March 1925 in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

– 6 June 2017 in

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

) was a Belgian

marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

sociologist and Catholic priest.

Education

Houtart studied philosophy and theology at the seminary of

Mechelen Mechelen (; ; historically known as ''Mechlin'' in EnglishMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical context. T ...

(

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

) and became a priest in 1949. He earned a master's degree in political and

social science Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the ...

s at the Catholic University of

Leuven Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...

(Belgium). He earned a degree at the International Superior Institute of Urbanism (Brussels, Belgium). He earned a PhD in sociology from the

Catholic University of Louvain The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and served as professor there from 1958 till 1990. His doctoral thesis was based on the sociology of Buddhism in Sri Lanka.

Author and activist

Houtart was an author and co-author of numerous publications on socio-religious matters. He served as the chief editor of the International Journal of Sociology of Religion, "''Social Compass''" for nearly forty years (1960–1999). He also advised the international Catholic journal ''Concilium'' which was founded at the Nijmegen University, on the issues of sociology of religion. He participated as a

peritus ''Peritus'' (Latin for "expert"; plural ''periti'') is the title given to Roman Catholic theologians attending an ecumenical council to give advice. At the Second Vatican Council (also known as 'Vatican II'), some ''periti'' accompanied indivi ...

expert in the sessions of

Vatican II The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilic ...

(1962–1965) playing a key role in the formation of the introduction of the ''

Gaudium et spes (, "Joys and Hopes"), the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, is one of the four constitutions promulgated during the Second Vatican Council between 1963 and 1965. Issued on 7 December 1965, it was the last and longest publ ...

''. Over the years, Houtart developed a dialectical approach to the study of world religions. During the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

, in October 2008, Houtart was invited by the UN to address the issues of globalisation of capital by the president of the UN in New York. In 2009, Houtart was awarded the

UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize The UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence is a prize awarded every two years by UNESCO. It was inaugurated in 1996, following the 1995 United Nations Year for Tolerance and in connection with the 125th anniv ...

for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence "for his lifelong commitment to world peace, intercultural dialogue, human rights and the promotion of tolerance, and in recognition of his outstanding efforts to advance the cause of social justice in the world." He shared the award with Pakistani philanthropist

Abdul Sattar Edhi Abdul Sattar Edhi (; 28 February 1928 – 8 July 2016) was a Pakistani Humanitarianism, humanitarian, Philanthropy, philanthropist and Asceticism, ascetic who founded the Edhi Foundation, which runs the world's largest ambulance network, along ...

. In 2009, Houtart signed the Appeal for the removal of Hamas from the EU terror list and he was instrumental in the Russell Tribunals against the state of Israel.

CETRI and sexual abuse

In 2010, allegations were made that Houtart had sexually abused a minor. At the time, Houtart served as an advisor to CETRI (

Centre Tricontinental Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

), a Belgian non-governmental organisation which he founded in 1976. CETRI describes its aim as being the promotion of dialogue and cooperation between third world social movements and social forces, and to encourage resistance and action. Houtart was one of the most active members of the

World Social Forum The World Social Forum (WSF, ) is an annual meeting of civil society organizations, first held in Brazil, which offers a self-conscious effort to develop an alternative future through the championing of counter-hegemonic globalization. The Worl ...

, and was active in the Globalisation and Ethics discourse. In October 2010, the CETRI leadership requested Houtart's resignation. The Director, Bernard Duterme, stated that Houtart's actions were in contradiction with the values of CETRI.DH: Pédophilie: une ONG prend ses distances avec le chanoine Houtart
/ref> In November, after a confrontation with his accusing niece, he contacted the support committee set up to present him for the Nobel Peace Prize and requested that its action be terminated.

Organisational Activities

*Center Tricontinental (CETRI) *International Association of Sociology of Religion *World Forum for Alternatives

Publications

*''The Church and Revolution: from the French Revolution of 1789 to the Paris riots of 1968, from Cuba to Southern Africa, from Vietnam to Latin America'', by François Houtart and André Rousseau. Translated by Violet Nevile (1971) *''Religions and ideology in Sri Lanka,'' Colombo, Hansa, (1974) *''El campesino como actor,'' Managua, Ed. Nicarao, (1982) *''Religion et modes de production précapitalistes,'' Bruxelles, editions de l'ULB, (1992) *''Sociología de la Religión,'' Mexico, Plaza y Valdés, (2000) *''Mondialisation des Résistances'' (with Samir Amin), Paris, L'Harmattan, (2002) *''Haïti et la culture dans une commune vietnamienne,'' Paris, Les Indes Savantes, (2004)

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Houtart, Francois 1925 births 2017 deaths 20th-century Belgian Roman Catholic priests Canons (priests) Belgian writers in French Belgian sociologists Catholic Church sexual abuse scandals in Belgium Religious controversies in Belgium Sex scandals in Belgium Writers from Brussels