CATHOLIC CHURCH IN THE NETHERLANDS IN CRISIS

From time to time, I offer overviews of the status of the Catholic Church in various parts of the world. 

In this post, I wish to focus our attention upon the Roman Catholic Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, a sovereign state and constitutional monarchy with territory in Western Europe and in the Carribean.

The four parts of the Kingdom—the Netherlands, Aruba, Curacao and Sint Maarten are constituent countries and participate on a basis of equality as partners in the Kingdom.   In practice, however, most of the Kingdom's affairs are administered by the Netherlands on behalf of the entire Kingdom.

Although the number of Catholics in the Netherlands has decreased significantly in recent decades, the Catholic Church today represents the largest religious group.

A study conducted in 2012 showed that the Netherlands, once known as a Protestant country, was only 10% Protestant, the decrease resulting from defections. 

As of December, 2013, there were a reported 3.9 million Catholics in the Netherlands, a figure representing 23.3% of the population but significantly down from the more than 40% which had been reported in the 1970s.

Between 2003 and 2013, the Catholic Church suffered a membership loss of over 589,000 members.  And the number of Catholics continues to decrease by about a .5% annually, almost at par with the decrease in the number of Dutch citizens who identify themselves as Protestants.

On the other hand, Mulim immigrants continue to increase and currently represent approximately 6% of the population.

A study conducted in 2006 reported Sunday Mass attendance had decreased to less 1.2 percent of the Dutch population in 2006.   More recent numbers for church attendance have not been published.

In 2015, the head of the Catholic Conference of Bishops in the Netherlands, Cardinal Willem Eijk, Archbishop of Utrecht, told the faithful to prepare for the closure of about a 1000 Catholic parishes, or about 2/3 of those in the country.

In his message, the Cardinal said that parishes were being suppressed because the numbers of parishioners actively practicing their Faith had dwindled to the point where the operation of the parish was no longer possible.

The decline of Dutch Catholicism has been well documented and much commented-upon, but this may be the first time that the head of the Dutch Catholic bishops has admitted to a specific cause:  the post World War II shift to the extreme “progressivist” left on social and family issues.

 In 2002, the Dutch were the first to legalize euthanasia. That decision was followed quickly by a “protocol” that allowed doctors to euthanize infants.  At the present time, patients are being euthanized for depression or other treatable conditions.

The Netherlands has also taken an activist role in the global movement to abolish all legal recognition of the traditional family and to promote the Sexual Revolution throughout the world. One of the first to legalize prostitution, the country is also one of the main funding sources of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA), one of the western world’s most powerful special interest lobby groups working through international bodies like the European Union and the United Nations.

It should be noted that the Dutch bishops actively promoted the so-called “liberalization” of practice and doctrine in the Catholic Church throughout the world. 

The Dutch Catechism, published with the approbation of Pope Paul VI, spread the Dutch style of ultra-liberal Catholicism throughout the Catholic Church. So far did the Dutch Catechism diverge from Catholic doctrine that later editions were ordered to carry a caveat from the Pope that it was not a reliable source of authentic teaching.

Shortly after his election, a delegation of Dutch Bishops told Pope Francis of the upcoming closure of hundreds of churches, a number amounting to the greater part of the country’s Catholic establishment. The visiting Bishops told Pope Francis that a general shutdown has followed the Dutch Church becoming “drastically secularized.” 

In an interview broadcast by Vatican Radio at the time, Cardinal Eijk said, “The number of practicing Catholics is diminishing very quickly.”

The Catholic Church in the Netherlands is in a state of crisis.  Let us join in prayer to the Holy Spirit for our Dutch sisters and brothers.  May there be a rebirth of Christianity and Catholicism throughout the Netherlands.  May the Dutch see the chaos that results when Gospel values are exchanged for the failed promises and deceptions of secularism and materialism. 

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy Faithful and kindle in them the fire of Your Love.