The Katholiek Nieuwsblad survey was conducted three years after the initial lockdown in the Netherlands.

It has confirmed the decline in church attendance from pre-pandemic levels.

The decline, already predicted by many, shows between 2019 and 2022, there was a drop of up to 36 percent in weekend church attendance.

"If you calculate this through, you end up with an average decline of about 14 percent per year, whereas in the years before the pandemic the decline averaged about six percent," said researcher Joris Kregting.

What wasn't anticipated though was that the number of church volunteers also sharply declined.

In the first year of COVID, that number dropped 10 percent. In previous years the decline was three to four percent annually.

"With churchgoers, the interruption caused by COVID may be temporary, with volunteers, quitting is more likely to be permanent," Kregting noted.

Right now, Dutch parishes have the greatest difficulty finding new volunteers, he added.

Besides speaking to researchers and professionals working in parish pastoral ministry, Katholiek Nieuwsblad also conducted an online survey.

They targeted Catholic parishioners in the Low Countries about their experience of the effects of the pandemic.

They heard from 43.8 percent that parish church attendance was slightly less than before the pandemic. According to 23.4 percent, attendance was much less.

However, 78.8 percent stated that they themselves still attend church about as often as before the pandemic.

It is likely though that the survey was completed mainly by active churchgoers. It does not claim to be representative of the entire Catholic community.

The survey results show a sharp contrast in the personal valuation of COVID effects.

It found effects most often valued as positive were also perceived as negative: they include digital developments and non-contact sign of peace.

The survey responses suggest the opposite views might be indicative of a polarisation that has also taken place within the Church community in the Netherlands.

"This madness has created only an even greater divide between people," wrote one participant. Another complained of "inhumane and un-Christian" reactions toward anti-vax believers.

At the same time, churchgoers and church workers also see the pandemic's positive effects in parish life.

One said they got to know a lot more people.

Many survey respondents noted a similar positive social effect.

One wrote about lists of names leading to a welcoming group - who could greet people by name - being created.

Deepening faith and attending to the Church's missionary aspect were other often mentioned positive effects.

Many remarked positively on the additional emphasis on the essentials of the faith during the liturgy and growth in personal devotion and participation in the sacraments.

"The first time together again with people in the same church, praying aloud the Lord's Prayer, the Gloria and the Creed made a deep impression on me," one respondent wrote.

A priest noted livestream celebrations, in particular, lowered the threshold of parishes for those interested.

"The Church itself is mission. COVID has helped to bring more attention to this."

Source

• Crux

A similar proposal in 2016 also faced opposition.

It offers death rather than social support to people who are lonely and depressed, critics say.

Among the critics is Dr. Gordon Macdonald, head of the UK-based alliance Care Not Killing.

The proposal is "deeply troubling," he says.

"The slippery slope is real and the Dutch euthanasia law has already been massively extended."

"To now consider extending the euthanasia law to people who are just tired of life, and may well be depressed, is highly irresponsible, immoral and dangerous."

Assisted suicide became legal in the Netherlands in 2002 for terminally ill adults who are mentally competent.

Since then, the law has been expanded to encompass:

• individuals with non-terminal chronic illnesses and disabilities
• individuals with mental health problems
• children and seriously ill infants.

People suffering from a mental illness but have no physical impairment are the quickest growing category of euthanasia deaths in the Netherlands.

Other opponents to the assisted suicide proposal argue it preys on lonely and possibly depressed elderly people, who need support and resources rather than offers of suicide.

The KNMG Royal Dutch Medical Association has also spoken out against the proposal, as have both Christian parties in government.

The legislation must be reviewed by the State judicial advisory committee before a potential debate and vote next year.

Critics say assisted safeguards built into the Netherlands' suicide laws, that are intended to protect the vulnerable, are not always followed.

Earlier this year, a doctor in the Netherlands was cleared of murder after euthanizing a woman with advanced Alzheimer's who repeatedly said that she did not want to die.

Macdonald says the latest proposal "would further liberalise the most liberal assisted dying laws in the world and risks introducing euthanasia on demand for anybody at any time."

"No doubt those advocating for this change will try to talk about safeguards, but these are illusionary and temporary," he says.

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• Gut Microbiota for Health

Their lack of cooperation with the so-called burqa ban made the new legislation largely unworkable on its first day in law.

Under the terms of the Partial Ban on Face-Covering Clothing Act, various forms of headgear are outlawed in public buildings including schools and hospitals and on public transport. There is no prohibition on wearing these items in the street, however.

Ski masks, full-face helmets, balaclavas, niqabs and burqas are all prohibited.

The trouble is, making a decree is one thing, enforcing it is entirely different - especially when the enforcers won't play ball.

The law says people wearing banned clothing can either remove the offending item or, if they refuse, pay a police fine of between €150 and €415.

However, police say enforcing the ban is not a priority and are concerned that veiled women could be put off from entering a police station to make unrelated complaints if they first had to remove their face-coverings.

Furthermore, as the police aren't prepared to back them up on enforcing the ban, transport companies say they won't be asking staff to take on an enforcement role.

"The police have told us the ban is not a priority and that therefore they will not be able to respond inside the usual 30 minutes, if at all," a transport network spokesman says.

"This means that if a person wearing a burqa or a niqab is challenged trying to use a service, our staff will have no police backup to adjudicate on what they should do. It is not up to transport workers to impose the law and hand out fines."

Staff will advise women wearing face-covering clothing of the law but will allow entry.

A local newspaper has waded into the various views on the ban, suggesting people who "bothered" by the wearing of the prohibited clothing could make a citizen's arrest. The national police tweeted their confirmation of this option.

One political party says it will pay niqab wearers' fine and has opened an account where people can deposit money. An Algerian entrepreneur and activist also says he'll cover the costs of fines.

Amsterdam's mayor says the city's authorities are expected to ignore the ban, which Amnesty International says is an infringement of women's right to choose what they wear.

But in 2014 the European human rights court ruled such bans did not violate the European Human Rights Convention.

The Netherlands is the sixth EU country to enact face-covering legislation.

Source

• The Guardian
• Image: Mirror

The Dutch bishops' conference said "much of the information" provided by NRC Handelsblad had been "public knowledge" since 2011.

"The time for praying and apologizing is clearly over; we're in a new phase of firmer commitment to prevent all abuse," Daphne De Roosendaal, conference spokeswoman says.

"But while many people know how much the bishops have done, some media reports still give the impression cases from decades ago have only just occurred."

The spokeswoman says NRC Handelsblad's aim in publishing the story was intended "as a service to the people of Holland" after a mid-August grand jury report on clerical abuse in Pennsylvania.

However, Handelsblad drew its material from previous church-commissioned reports, mostly listing "well-known cases" that had been investigated.

"Since 2010, the church has initiated large-scale investigations as well as a contact point for people to file complaints, arrange mediation and seek financial compensation," she says.

"Although people have been shocked by these latest stories, leaving victims and survivors in pain again, they mostly cover old news. Everything is now in place to ensure sexual abuse no longer happens anywhere in our church."

Sources

• NCR Online
• The Catholic Spirit
• Image: TripAdvisor

Eijk was responding to Francis's response this week to a delegation of German bishops about allowing the non-Catholic partners of Catholics to receive Communion in certain circumstances.

Rather than make a direct ruling, Francis urged the bishops to come to a unanimous decision themselves.

In his open letter to Francis, Eijk said this response is "completely incomprehensible."

He said Francis's "failure to give German bishops proper directives, based on the clear doctrine and practice of the church, points to a drift towards apostasy from the truth.

"The Church's doctrine and practice regarding the administration of the Sacrament of the Eucharist to Protestants is perfectly clear."

He then quoted the Code of Canon Law (844 § 4). This says:

"If the danger of death is present or if, in the judgment of the diocesan bishop or conference of bishops, some other grave necessity urges it, Catholic ministers administer these same sacraments licitly also to other Christians not having full communion with the Catholic Church, who cannot approach a minister of their own community and who seek such on their own accord, provided that they manifest Catholic faith in respect to these sacraments and are properly disposed."

Eijk said Eastern Orthodox Christians "have true sacraments and above all, by virtue of their apostolic succession, a valid priesthood and a valid Eucharist," so administering the Eucharist to them is allowable.

However, Protestants do not share faith in the priesthood or the Eucharist, he said.

Therefore if someone receives the bread and wine without believing in transubstantiation, the Body and Blood of Christ are not really present.

This is why communion should not be administered to a Protestant, Eijk said.

The differences between consubstantiation (which the Lutheran church, for example, believes in) and transubstantiation are so great, that except in case of danger of death the Church must ask the person to explicitly and formally enter into full communion with the Catholic Church.

Only in this way can the person explicitly confirm acceptance of the faith of the Catholic Church, including the Eucharist, Eijk said.

Source

• Dutch News
• The Tablet
• Image: Twitter

Islam is an ideology that "poses an existential threat to core European values", he says.

Wilders wants to close all mosques, ban the Quran and seal the Dutch borders to asylum seekers and immigrants from Islamic countries.

He said they make the country unsafe, referring to Moroccans as "scum" though he said this didn't apply to all Moroccans.

"Dutch values are based on Christianity, on Judaism, on humanism. Islam and freedom are not compatible," he said.

Wildres thinks a populist wave against free-flowing immigration and rules set by the European Union will continue to affect Europe regardless of what happens in the election.

Many Dutch voters find Wilders' views repugnant.

He has been convicted of inciting discrimination through hate speech.

"Even if I lose this election, the genie will not go back in the bottle again," he said.

"People are fed up with the combination of mass immigration, Islamization and austerity measures that require us to cut pensions and support for health care and the elderly while giving (debt bailout) money to Greece and the euro zone."

Source:

• National Catholic Reporter
• The Philadelphia Tribune
• Image: Dr Rich Swier

Dr Peter Saunders, now chief executive officer of the Christian Medical Fellowship, said the number of euthanasia cases increased from 24 to 1133 in the 10 years to 2011.

He said Belgium has eclipsed the Netherlands, the American state of Oregon and Switzerland "in the race to become the ‘world leader'".

Continue reading

Archbishop of Utrecht Wim Eijk apologised to victims on behalf of the entire Dutch Catholic church.

He said the report "fills us with shame and sorrow."

"It's terrible."

Eijk's apology comes after a damning report into sexual abuse was released on Saturday which confirmed more than 800 priests, brothers and lay people in Catholic organizations abused as many as 20,000 children in their care between 1945 and 1985.

Based on a survey among more than 34,000 people, the commission estimated that one in 10 Dutch children suffered some form of abuse "broadly in society" and the number doubled if they spent time in a youth institution such as a school or orphanage, whether Catholic or not.

The Deetman Commission concluded knowledge of the abuse was widespread and it accused dioceses, religious orders and local church communities of failing to help victims and take action against the abusers.

The report

• names 800 alleged abusers
• identifies 105 who are still alive
• says some 2,000 victims came forward to make official complaints
• 1,800 of the complains could be classed as "very serious".

According to report author, former education minister Wim Deetman, nothing was done to prevent the scandal, church authorities preferring a "culture of silence".

Deetman said there was an unwillingness to "hang out their dirty washing".

With lay people also identified as having offended, Deetman told a press conference in the Hague that celibacy was not a critical element in the abuse, rather labeling it "an additional risk factor".

"The idea that people did not now there was a risk ... is untenable," Deetman said.

The abuse continued in part because the Catholic church in the Netherlands was splintered, so bishops and religious orders sometimes worked autonomously to deal with abuse.

Victims' organization Klook said the Deetman Commission report was even more shocking than they had expected.

Deetman told the ABC that he did not know how many of the accused were still working for the Church and it was up to prosecutors to decide if the surviving alleged abusers should face criminal charges.

Sources

• Dutch News
• Yorkshire Post
• LA Times
• Irish Times
• ABC
• Image: Irish Times

Over the weekend, Spronck, known as the Delegate, said that sexual relationships between children and adults were not always damaging.

"Formally I always say that everyone must obey the law. But these relationships do not necessarily have to be damaging." Nieuws quoted Spronck as saying.

Spronck was commenting on another Salesian priest's committee membership in "Martijn", a Dutch pro-pedophilia group.

RTL quoted Spronck, Fr Van B.'s superior — as saying he was aware of repeated transgressions in Van B.'s past. However he didn't try to stop him from moving through three dioceses and six parishes in the Netherlands, often leaving under a cloud of suspicion, because he believed in the priest's promises to reform.

"Herman Spronck is no longer the delegate from the Salesian delegation in the Netherlands," his superior Rev. Jos Claes, leader of the Salesians in Belgium and the Netherlands, told RTL. "We fully distance ourselves from the words we find in your interview with Herman Spronck."

Fr Van B "can longer perform any pastoral duties as of today," he added.

The Salesian priest, simply known as Fr Van B, was a committee member of the "Martijn" association and also has two convictions for exposing himself to children. Although suspended from ministry, he worked as a "volunteer" helping prepare children for the first Holy Communion.

An independent commission investigating abuse cases dating back to 1945 has found that the Netherlands ranks worst behind only Ireland in a scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church in Europe and the United States.

Sources

• DutchNews.nl
• Radio Netherlands
• Reuters
• Houston Chronicle
• Sun Sentinal