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The Bishops' Conference of the Netherlands (Dutch : Nederlandse Bisschoppenconferentie) is a permanent body within the Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands which determines policies and directs the apostolic mission within the Netherlands. It is governed by bishops from around the country.
The Dutch Catholic Church has an archbishopric and six suffragan dioceses under it as well as a Military Ordinariate. An archbishop stands alone at the head of the archdiocese, but he is not the "boss" of his fellow bishops or their dioceses. Each diocese has a bishop (ordinary) and some dioceses also have one or more auxiliary bishops.
If the diocese is sede vacante, then a diocesan administrator is designated. This does not necessarily have to be a bishop and sometimes is the vicar-general. If a non-bishop is diocesan administrator, he will attend meetings of the bishops' conference, but is not a voting member.
The apostolic nuncio usually attends meetings of the Bishops' Conference, but he is not a member of it because he is not a bishop of a diocese within the Netherlands. The nuncio represents the Holy See.
The Netherlands Bishops' Conference is usually chaired by a bishop with the highest rank, such as the Archbishop, but this is not mandatory. When Wim Eijk took offices as archbishop of Utrecht in 2008, he chose not to assume the presidency, in order to have more time for his work as archbishop. Therefore, Ad van Luyn was the President and Frans Wiertz the Vice-President (the two 'seniores "among the seven bishops).
Today Hans van den Hende is President and Jan Liesen is Vice-President.
The Bishops Conference has established a nine policies which referent is still a bishop, assisted by a secretary.
In addition to the policies is a five thematic fields set, which is still a bishop referent.
There are seven Emeritus Bishop. There are also other Dutch bishops that a non-Dutch diocese boards.
The Secretariat of the Bishops Conference and the Dutch Church Province is conducted by the Secretariat of the Roman Catholic Communion (SRKK). The Secretariat is headed by a Secretary-General. Since June 2, 2012 this has been Rev. Mr. (deacon) Hans Nijhuis.
| Diocese | Ordinary | Auxiliary Bishop |
|---|---|---|
| Archdiocese of Utrecht | Wim Eijk, June 22, 1953 | Ted Hoogenboom, August 27, 1960 Herman Woorts, November 12, 1963 |
| Diocese of Breda | Jan Liesen, September 17, 1960 | none |
| Diocese of Groningen-Leeuwarden | Cornelis Franciscus Maria van den Hout November 11, 1964 | none |
| Diocese of Haarlem-Amsterdam | Jos Punt, January 10, 1946 | Jan Hendriks, November 17, 1954 |
| Diocese of 's-Hertogenbosch | Gerard de Korte, June 13, 1955 | Rob Mutsaerts, May 22, 1958 |
| Diocese of Roermond | Frans Wiertz, December 2, 1942 | Everard de Jong, July 4, 1958 |
| Diocese of Rotterdam | Hans van den Hende, January 9, 1964 | none |
| Military Ordinariate of the Netherlands | Jos Punt, January 10, 1946 ( apostolic administrator ) | none |
Adrianus Johannes Simonis was a Dutch cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Utrecht from 1983 to 2007, and was made a cardinal in 1985.
The Archdiocese of Utrecht is an archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the Netherlands. The Archbishop of Utrecht is the metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province of Utrecht. There are six suffragan dioceses in the province: Breda, Groningen-Leeuwarden, Haarlem-Amsterdam, Roermond, Rotterdam, and 's-Hertogenbosch. The cathedral church of the archdiocese is Saint Catherine Cathedral, which replaced the prior cathedral, Saint Martin Cathedral, after it was taken by Protestants in the Reformation.
The Holland Mission or Dutch Mission was the common name of a Catholic Church missionary district in the Low Countries during and after the Protestant Reformation.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Haarlem–Amsterdam is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in the Netherlands. As one of the seven suffragans in the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan Archbishop of Utrecht, the diocesan territory comprises the north west of the Netherlands, including the cities of Haarlem and Amsterdam.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Roermond is a diocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church, located in the Netherlands. The diocese is one of the seven suffragan dioceses in the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan Archbishop of Utrecht. The territory of the diocese covers the Province of Limburg.
The Catholic Church in the Netherlands is part of the worldwide Catholic Church under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. Its primate is the Metropolitan Archbishop of Utrecht, currently Willem Jacobus Eijk since 2008. In 2015 Catholicism was the single largest religion of the Netherlands, forming some 23% of the Dutch people, based on in-depth interviewing, down from 40% in the 1960s.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Breda is a diocese of the Latin Church of the Roman Catholic Church in Breda, the Netherlands.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rotterdam is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in South Holland province of the Netherlands. The diocese is a suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan Archbishop of Utrecht. Since 2011, the bishop has been Hans van den Hende.
The Diocese of 's-Hertogenbosch is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic church in the Netherlands. The modern diocese was created in 1853. It is a suffragan of the archdiocese of Utrecht. It is currently led by bishop Gerard de Korte. Its see is St John's Cathedral, 's-Hertogenbosch.
Willem Jacobus "Wim" Eijk is a Dutch prelate of the Catholic Church, a cardinal since 2012. He has been the Metropolitan Archbishop of Utrecht since 2007. He was Bishop of Groningen-Leeuwarden from 1999 to 2007. Before his clerical career he worked as a doctor; as a priest he made medical ethics the focus of his academic studies.
Joannes Baptist Matthijs Gijsen was a Dutch bishop of the Roman Catholic Church. After being Bishop (emeritus) of Roermond, Limburg, the Netherlands, he became Bishop (emeritus) of the Diocese of Reykjavík (Iceland). His episcopal motto is Parate viam Domini.
Gerard Johannes Nicolaus de Korte is a Dutch Roman Catholic clergyman and Bishop of 's-Hertogenbosch. He was bishop of the diocese of Groningen-Leeuwarden from 2008 to 2016. Before that he was auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Utrecht and dean of the deanery IJsellanden. His motto is Confidens in Christo.
The Belgian Bishops' Conference or the Episcopal Conference of Belgium is the permanent organ of the Roman Catholic bishops in Belgium. It is a member of the Council of European Bishops' Conferences. It includes the bishops, auxiliary bishops and retired bishops of the ecclesiastical province of Belgium.
Johannes Willibrordus Maria "Jan" Hendriks is the current bishop of Roman Catholic Diocese of Haarlem-Amsterdam, appointed 1 June 2020.
Franciscus Jozef Maria (Frans) Wiertz is a prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was bishop of Roermond from 1993 until 2017.
Johannes (Jan) Wilhelmus Maria Liesen is a Dutch clergyman and bishop of the Roman Catholic Church, being appointed on November 26, 2011, by Pope Benedict XVI to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Breda.
On 4 March 1853, Pope Pius IX restored the episcopal hierarchy in the Netherlands with the papal bull Ex qua die arcano, after the Dutch Constitutional Reform of 1848 had made this possible. The re-establishment of the episcopal hierarchy led to the April movement protest in 1853.
