Johannes Willem Maria Bluyssen or Bluijssen (

Nijmegen Nijmegen (;; Spanish and it, Nimega. Nijmeegs: ''Nimwèège'' ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and tenth largest of the Netherlands as a whole, located on the Waal river close to the German border. It is about 6 ...

10 April 1926 − 8 August 2013) was a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

bishop.

Life

Ordained to the priesthood in 1950, Bluyssen attained a degree in theology and was professor for Spirituality at the seminary. At the age of 35, younger than any Dutchman since the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

, he was appointed titular bishop of ''Aëtus'' and auxiliary bishop of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of 's-Hertogenbosch The Roman Catholic Diocese of 's-Hertogenbosch ( la, Dioecesis Buscoducensis) is a 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 ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in 1961 and was named bishop of the diocese in 1966, after his predecessor, the outspoken bishop

Willem Marinus Bekkers Willem () is a Dutch and West FrisianRienk de Haan, ''Fryske Foarnammen'', Leeuwarden, 2002 (Friese Pers Boekerij), , p. 158. masculine given name. The name is Germanic, and can be seen as the Dutch equivalent of the name William in English, Gui ...

, died only 58 years old (brain tumor). Bluyssen resigned in 1984 due to health reasons following an open heart surgery. He died after a short illness on 8 August 2013, aged 87, in

's-Hertogenbosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a city and municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 157,486. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant and its fourth largest by population. The city is south of th ...

.Bisschop Bluyssen overleden
Bluyssen was the last living Dutch bishop who actually took part in the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions) ...

. Furthermore he was able to celebrate his 50th anniversary of his episcopacy, a rare jubilee. At that particular time the Church in the Netherlands was heavily buried under sexual scandals by priests and religious of minors. Bluyssen called off all the already planned festivities, telling it was not a time for a feast but for shame. In Bluyssen's years as an ordinary Bluyssen was just like his predecessor Bekkers, be it less outspoken, a strong believer in the ''aggiornamento'', the renewal of his Church. Rather than renewal he saw to his grief a period where many quit the priesthood and the religious life, the Church participation declined and serious discord spread among Catholics, clergy and bishops. In his almost 30 years as an emeritus he published four books, mainly in the field of his earlier profession, spirituality.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bluyssen, Johannes 1926 births 2013 deaths People from Nijmegen 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the Netherlands