The Roman Catholic Diocese of Roermond is a

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associ ...

of the

Latin Church , native_name_lang = la , image = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , alt = Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran , caption = Archbasilica of Saint Jo ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

, located in the

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 ...

. The diocese is one of the seven suffragan dioceses in the

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of sev ...

of the Metropolitan Archbishop of Utrecht. The territory of the diocese covers the Province of

Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium * Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands * Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...

. Its

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations ...

episcopal see is the Cathedral of St. Christopher in

Roermond Roermond (; li, Remunj or ) is a city, municipality, and diocese in the Limburg province of the Netherlands. Roermond is a historically important town on the lower Roer on the east bank of the river Meuse. It received town rights in 1231. Ro ...

. Its main

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...

sites are and Valkenburg. The

Dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

of Roermond is responsible for the parishes in that city and a few other municipalities in the diocese.

History

Originally established on 12 May 1559, on territories split off from the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Cologne (Keulen, now in Germany) and

Diocese of Liège In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

(Luik, now in Belgium). During the

Napoleonic era The Napoleonic era is a period in the history of France and Europe. It is generally classified as including the fourth and final stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly, the second being the Legislativ ...

, on 1801.07.15 it lost territory to establish the Apostolic Vicariate of Grave–Nijmegen, on 1801.11.29 the diocese was suppressed, its territory being divided between the above vicariate and to establish the (German)

Diocese of Aachen The Diocese of Aachen is one of 27 dioceses in Germany and one of the six dioceses in the ecclesiastical province of Cologne. The incumbent bishop is Helmut Dieser, who was appointed by Pope Francis on 23 September 2016. The bishop's seat is Aach ...

(Aix-la-Chapelle). It was re-established in 1840 by the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

as (pre-diocesan) Apostolic Vicariate of Limburg. In 1853 it was promoted as Diocese of Roermond and gained territory from the Belgian Diocese of

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far fro ...

. During the sixties of the twentieth century, the relatively strong

demarcation Demarcation is the act of creating a boundary around a place or thing. Demarcation may also refer to: *Demarcation line, a temporary border between the countries *Demarcation problem, the question of which practices of doing science permit the re ...

between the Catholic south on one side and the

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John C ...

west and north on the other side of the Netherlands started to diminish. In the second half of the twentieth century a rapid secularization and strong loss of

religious affiliation Religious identity is a specific type of identity formation. Particularly, it is the sense of group membership to a religion and the importance of this group membership as it pertains to one's self-concept. Religious identity is not necessarily the ...

have taken place in Limburg.

Statistics and population

The diocese has roughly 817,000 registered

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

s (about 72.3% of the population of Limburg). Roughly 3 percent of the population in the Diocese Roermond attends

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different ele ...

on Sundays (as per official Church (KASKI) data). The Roermond diocese is one of the two in the Netherlands that is in a majority-Catholic region, as per the most recent KASKI data. As per 2014, it pastorally served 1,091,000 Catholics (96.0% of 1,136,000 total) on 2,209 km² in 303 parishes with 471 priests (219 diocesan, 252 religious), 71 deacons, 1,210 lay religious (440 brothers, 770 sisters) and 24 seminarians.

is mostly

by tradition and still uses the term and certain traditions as a base for its cultural identity, though the vast majority of the population is now largely irreligious in practice. Research among Dutch Catholics in 2006 shows that only 27% of the Dutch Catholics can be regarded as a

theist Theism is broadly defined as the belief in the existence of a supreme being or deities. In common parlance, or when contrasted with ''deism'', the term often describes the classical conception of God that is found in monotheism (also referred to ...

, 55% as an ietsist /

agnostic theist Agnostic theism, agnostotheism, or agnostitheism is the philosophical view that encompasses both theism and agnosticism. An agnostic theist believes in the existence of one or more gods, but regards the basis of this proposition as ''unknown or in ...

and 17% as

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficien ...

.God in the Netherlands' (1996-2006), by Ronald Meester, G. Dekker,

Episcopal Ordinaries

;''Suffragan Bishops (first diocese) * Willem Damasus Van der Lindt (1562–1588) * Hendrik van Cuyk (1596–1609) * Jacobus a Castro (1611–1639) * Andreas Creusen (1651–1657) * Eugène, Count d'Allamont (1659–1666) * Lancelot de Gottignies (1670–1673) * Reginald Cools, O.P. (1677–1700) * Angèle, Count d'Ongnies et d'Estrees, O.F.M. Cap. (1701–1722) * François-Louis Sanguessa, O.F.M. (1722–1741) * Jan-Baptist de Castillion (1742-1743) * Joseph Anselme François Werbrouck (1743–1746) * Jean-Antoine de Robiano (1746–1769) * Jan Hendrik van Kerens, S.J. (1770–1775) * Philippus, Empire Count van en tot Hoensbroeck (1775–1793) * Jan, Baron van Velde tot Melroy en Sart-Bomal (1794–1801) ;''Apostolic Vicar of Limburg'' * Joannes Augustus Paredis (1840.12.18 – 1853.03.04 ''see below''),

Titular Bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox a ...

of Hirina (1840.12.18 – 1853.03.04) ;''Suffragan Bishops (present diocese) * Jan Augustus Paredis (''see above'' 1853.03.04 – death 1886.06.18) * Frans Boermans (1886–1900) * Jozesh Hubertus Drehmans (1900–1913) * Lorenz Schrijnen (1914–1932) * Jozef Hubertus Willem Lemmens (1932–1958) * Jan Michiel Jozef Antoon Hanssen (1958-1958) * Pieter Jan Antoon Moors (1959–1970) * Jan Baptist Matthijs Gijsen (1972–1993) ** Alphons Castermans, auxiliary (1982-1997) * Frans Jozef Maria Wiertz (1993-2017) **

Everard de Jong Everardus Johannes (Everard) de Jong (July 4, 1958) is a Dutch prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He is auxiliary bishop of Roermond since 1999.Hendrikus Smeets (2018–present)

References

Sources and external links

GCatholic.org - data for all sections

Website of the diocese of Roermond

-

Catholic Encyclopedia The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') i ...

article * Wikipedia page in Dutch about the cathedral {{DEFAULTSORT:Roermond, Roman Catholic diocese Roman Catholic dioceses in the Netherlands Roman Catholic dioceses established in the 16th century Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 19th century Culture of Limburg

History

Statistics and population

Episcopal Ordinaries

See also

References

Sources and external links