The Bishops' Conference of the Netherlands () is a permanent body within the Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands which determines policies and directs the apostolic mission within the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. It is governed by bishops from around the country.

Description

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 In the Catholic Church, ''sede vacante'' is the state during which a diocese or archdiocese is without a prelate installed in office, with the prelate's office being the cathedral. The term is used frequently in reference to a papal interre ...

, 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 An apostolic nuncio (; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international organization. A nuncio is ...

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 Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

. The Netherlands Bishops' Conference is usually chaired by a bishop with the highest rank, such as the

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

, but this is not mandatory. When Wim Eijk took offices as archbishop of

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

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.

Members of the Bishops' Conference

* Wim Eijk,

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

, Archbishop of Utrecht * Jan Liesen, Bishop of Breda, Deputy Chairman * Ron van den Hout, Bishop of Groningen-Leeuwarden * Jos Punt, Bishop emeritus of Haarlem-Amsterdam and Military Bishop emeritus * Gerard de Korte, Bishop of 's-Hertogenbosch * Harrie Smeets, Bishop of Roermond * Frans Wiertz, Bishop emeritus of Roermond * Hans van den Hende, Bishop of Rotterdam, Chairman * Jan Hendriks, Bishop of Haarlem-Amsterdam * Rob Mutsaerts, Auxiliary Bishop of 's-Hertogenbosch * Everard de Jong, Auxiliary Bishop of Roermond * Ted Hoogenboom, Auxiliary Bishop of Utrecht * Herman Woorts, Auxiliary Bishop of Utrecht * Jan van Burgsteden, Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus of Haarlem-Amsterdam

Positions Within the Bishops' Conference

Policy Sectors

The Bishops Conference has established a nine policies which referent is still a bishop, assisted by a secretary. *Catechesis - Rob Mutsaerts *Categorical Chaplaincy - Everard de Jong *Communication and Media - Frans Wiertz *Interfaith dialogue - Jan van Burg Cities *Youth - Rob Mutsaerts *Church and Society - Gerard de Korte *Liturgy and Bible - Jan Liesen *Mission and Development - Jos Punt *Ecumenism - Hans van den Hende *Education - Jan Hendriks *Vocation and Training - Wim Eijk

Fields

In addition to the policies is a five thematic fields set, which is still a bishop referent. *Marriage and Family - Anthony Hurkmans *Relations with Judaism - Herman Woorts *Medical Ethics - Wim Eijk * Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community - Ted Hoogenboom * Council of the Bishops' Conferences of Europe - Wim Eijk

Contact Persons

*Church and Elders - Gerard de Korte *New Movements - Jan van Burgsteden *Pilgrimages - Herman Woorts *Religious and Secular Institutes - Jan van Burg Cities *Women and the Church - Gerard de Korte

Former members

There are seven Emeritus Bishop. There are also other Dutch bishops that a non-Dutch diocese boards.

Secretariat

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.

Leaders of the Bishops' Conference

References

External links

Netherlands Bishops' Conference page on RKKerk.nl

RKKerk.nl Official website of the Roman Catholic Church of the Netherlands

{{Episcopal Conferences in Europe Neth Catholic Church in the Netherlands