Amsterdam Diocese: 60% of Churches Need to Close in Five Years [Netherlands]

The Pillar ^ | 9/26/22 | Luke Coppen

[marshmallow]

Almost 100 churches face imminent closure due to dwindling churchgoers, volunteers, and income.

A Catholic diocese in the Netherlands has announced that 60% of its churches need to close in the next five years due to dwindling churchgoers, volunteers, and income.

Bishop Jan Hendricks unveiled the plans for the Diocese of Haarlem-Amsterdam at a meeting with around 90 parish administrators on Sept. 10.

The diocese, which dates back to 1559, covers the province of North Holland, in the northwestern Netherlands, as well as the southern part of Flevoland province. It includes Amsterdam, the country’s capital and most populous city.

Hendricks, who has led the diocese since 2020, said it was clear “that the coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the process of shrinkage we were already in: faithful churchgoers of an advanced age have grown even older and have sometimes stopped attending church; others have become accustomed to a different format for Sunday mornings, volunteers have dropped out, choirs have stopped.”

Diocesan authorities said that 99 out of the current 164 Catholic churches would have to close in five years. Of the remaining 65 churches, 37 could continue for five to 10 years as “support churches,” leaving just 28 “central churches” considered viable in the long term.

[Zathras]

It is unbelievable how expensive paying to keep a church building up and running.
In many cases, it becomes much like politicians who then spend increasing amount of their time in fund raising.
Look for large denominations to start selling off property in the next 10 years.

[Leaning Right]

This is happening pretty much everywhere in Europe and in the United States.

As I see it (and I could be wrong), it’s a self-inflicted wound. The faithful want an emphasis on the Gospel. We are not interested in the latest woke social movement. And we are definitely upset about the Church’s practice of shuffling around problem priests.

The Pope and the church hierarchy are doing nothing to address these problems. Instead, it appears that they are making things worse.

It’s a pity, and a great tragedy.

[neverevergiveup]

We live during a time when technology allows us to see pictures of the universe from 10-20 billion light years away (1.176e23 miles), seeing events that occurred a long time before there was an Earth. The grandeur of creation is well beyond comprehension. We know so very little, but we have become ‘too cool’ for God.

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

You would figure it would work out the other way. One time I was sitting on my back porch looking at my cellphone when a tiny, tiny winged insect landed on the screen. I watched it as it walked around and preened itself and finally flew away.
I was struck by its perfection and complexity, and I thought what a remarkable little creature God has made.

[neverevergiveup]

Agree entirely.

[Torahman]

This is what happens when you depart from Torah. Like the prodigal son, Christianity took the rich inheritance of the Covenant and wandered away from its roots. Eventually that spiritual capital ran out; the checks are bouncing. The only hope for the churches and the world is to repent, and return to the Life of the Torah walk.

[himno hero]

In the meanwhile mosques are up 600%....

[A strike]

Netherlands is predominately Protestant.

[Montana_Sam]

Weak-minded men are weak leaders, and the Church hierarchy is full of those. Too many have become ‘wokesters’ who are more militant about never-mind concerns like ‘climate change’ than the matters it should care about such as saving men’s souls.
The Church will never disappear. But it will be changed.