Posted on 04/08/2026 6:45:06 PM PDT by ebb tide
Cardinal Willem Jacobus Eijk, the Archbishop of Utrecht in the Netherlands, celebrated on March 15th, 2026, a Pontifical High Mass for the first time. It somehow ended up being a huge event that was talked about internationally and still receives attention weeks later. As a Catholic from the Archdiocese of Utrecht, I was surprised a little (though very pleasantly) that the cardinal decided to do this. It was clearly a new experience for him, yet, when I attended, I could see he truly enjoyed it. This was despite the fact that he had recently received hospital treatment due to significant health problems, and he was still recovering somewhat. It was a positive event for this Dutch shepherd and for the many young Catholics, including converts and young parents with a large numbers of kids, who were present.
The significance it acquired for Catholics across the world is perhaps more perplexing. Is it fascination over a small scale (for now) revival of the faith in one of the most atheist countries in the world? Or is it the fact that a cardinal who is not known to be a pro-tradition partisan in the same way as Cardinal Sarah or Cardinal Burke are known, has now so openly joined the side of the Tridentine mass? The latter point has the most relevance for the global Church. That another member of the College of Cardinals so strongly endorses the TLM through personal example, even in a country not known for traditionalism, suggests traditionalism is spreading and solidifying. It also fits the patten of (John Paul II inspired) conservatives and traditionalists unifying, that ironically largely developed under Pope Francis.
Eijk was always tolerant of traditionalists and ignored Traditionis Custodes. Yet, till recently, he had zero affiliation with traditionalism. Cardinal Eijk was originally named bishop of Groningen-Leeuwarden by Pope John Paul II. In a society where disobedience towards Rome and towards this pope had been glorified, he pushed blind loyalty towards the hierarchy. It is why he criticized then Auxiliary Bishop of Utrecht, De Korte, for contradicting his Archbishop Ad Simonis, arguing an auxiliary should simply follow his bishop. In 2008 Eijk himself became the new Archbishop of Utrecht, while De Korte replaced him as bishop in his former diocese in the north of the Netherlands (Groningen-Leeuwarden). Under both John Paul II and Benedict XVI Archbishop Eijk emphasized strict adherence to decisions from Rome against De Korte and dissident Catholics. Under Pope Francis things gradually changed. He wasn’t an early critic in the way Cardinal Burke was (who always remained respectful). Only after Amoris Laetitia did he start to become more opposed to Francis, whereas De Korte started to suddenly blindly defend Rome. Perhaps the pontificate of Francis caused Eijk to become less blindly committed to the Second Vatican Council. This could explain his embrace of traditionalism, although the question remains why he improved his public persona.
While Cardinal Eijk has always been firmly orthodox, he has rarely been one to seek public controversy, or much of a media profile at all. He has usually been more of a strong internal leader who preaches to the choir, rather than an outspoken culture warrior in the American sense. In part this is likely the result of his very reserved and somewhat enigmatic character. However, a big part of it may also have simply been that (at least till recently) the Netherlands is not a fertile place for an ultra-orthodox cardinal to express himself. During the 1960s, the Netherlands experienced one of the most aggressive secularization and libersaliation waves in the Western world. The shameful treatment Pope John Paul II experienced during his visit to the Netherlands in 1985 (where death threats and public confrontations dominated) was very indicative of that.
Unlike in France or Spain, there wasn’t a significant conservative minority that would be receptive towards a countercultural message. The only significant fundamentalist minority in the Netherlands remained the small subgroup of ultra-strict Calvinists in the ‘Biblebelt’ who stuck mostly to themselves. Even the so called right in the Netherlands was secular and liberal for decades. As a result, the Catholic Church here stayed largely in the background, similar to Scandinavia. An orthodox remnant Church that remained after the devastation brought by the Dutch ‘pastoral council’ in Noordwijkerhout, in themes and tone a modernist forerunner of the German Synodal Way, preceding Vatican II, and the ‘spirit of Vatican II’.
As a result, Cardinal Eijk, generally took more outspoken stances in international media or international issues, rather than on the national stage. When he spoke out on the national stage he could be fiercely orthodox. In 2018 he expressed perplexity over Francis’ weak and ambiguous respons to the German push for intercommunion with Protestants, to the point that he suggested it was connected to prophesied end times. Yet, such interventions were so sparse, that Eijk continued to be viewed as a moderate conservative in Catholic media and as a possible papabile at the recent conclave.
Now, under Pope Leo, Eijk has gone for being a quiet conservative, to normalizing and promoting traditionalism, and has grabbed the world’s attention doing so. In many ways, he serves a microcosm of the trend of conservative prelates turning traditionalist, of the normalization of tradition. It is no longer a fringe phenemonom. Eijk’s public celebration is also indicative of how ineffective Francis’ attempt to stigmatize or phase out the traditional mass was. It also suggested fear of retribution is gone under Pope Leo, something since then confirmed by the Pope’s pro-TLM message to the French bishops.
The response by Dutch Catholic commentators has been telling, too. It has revealed how outdated and disconnected progressive journalists (who were triumphant under Francis), seem to have become. For example, a Dutch journalist from ‘Nederlands Dagblad’, Hendro Munsterman,who is often stationed in Rome, touted progressivism under Francis and even suggested Francis had been aware beforehand of the gay blessing proposals of the Belgian bishops. Under Leo, he initially pushed narratives that Prevost had been friendly towards the German Synodal Way and been elected largely by progressive cardinals, only for Leo to promote opponents of the German agenda to key prefect roles. Now, Munsterman suggested Eijk was celebrating a forbidden mass (‘a controversial mass that is not allowed by the Vatican’) and emphasized that the diocese of Den Bosch ‘is violating church rules by celebrating the “Old Mass”. Only for Pope Leo to come out in favour of the TLM, about ten days later.
Eijk’s actions are also part of a broader trend here in the Netherlands. Traditional Catholicism has been on the rise in recent years with increasing numbers of young adult converts with clear orthodox views; and its surprising politically potent, too. In 2017, we saw for the first time a secular conservative party break through that proclaimed support for Christian values (FvD). Some of its key thinkers were linked to the FSSP and its popular Sint Agnes Church in Amsterdam. The same church is sometimes attended by the most conservative member of the nationalist-liberal PVV, Martin Bosma, who in 2023 suddenly managed to become Speaker of the House, when the PVV more than doubled its seats. Other new conservative and pro-Christian parties appeared, in which conservative Catholics also played an important role, from Mona Keijzer (who through the young political party BBB ended up back in government after liberal prime minister Rutte had fired her in 2021, because of her critical public remarks concerning implementation of certain covid-19 mandates) and medical doctor + member of parliament Nicki Pouw-Verweij (JA21 and BBB) to anti-corruption hero Pieter Omtzigt who himself founded a whole new party, New Social Contract (NSC). So, conservative Catholics, some of whom are also TLM-friendly, suddenly became ministers, members of parliament, house speakers and party leaders, while the liberal consensus on abortion, sex education and homosexuality came under growing pressure.
The Netherlands has shown that a church worse than the German example can suddenly grow more orthodox again, that Catholicism can grow influential again in a society almost as secularized as Czech, and that conservative prelates shaped by Vatican II can come to see the value of tradition.
|
Click here: to donate by Credit Card Or here: to donate by PayPal Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794 Thank you very much and God bless you. |
Ping
Interesting! Given the “Dutch Reformed” legacy...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.