“In the Netherlands, churches have been closing at a rate of one or two a week. The bishops told the pope in Rome on Monday that about two-thirds of all Roman Catholic churches in the Netherlands would have to be shut or sold by 2025, and many parishes merged, because congregations and finances were ‘in a long-term shrinking process’.”
However…..
“Ad de Groot, a lay Catholic leader in Eijk’s archdiocese of Utrecht, said secularization and the sexual abuse crisis had prompted people to leave in the past. But now, the very plan to close churches is alienating the Catholics who are left, he said.
De Groot’s group accuses the bishops of merging parishes without consulting those who are losing their local churches. “Many people are angry and disappointed,” he said.
His group told the Vatican last week that half of practicing Catholics would drift away in coming years as their churches closed.
(My bolding)
Related Articles
No user responded in this post
Leave A Reply