Roman Catholics in The Netherlands
year	population	Roman Catholics	percentage
1970		5.320.000	40,5
1980		5.620.000	39,5
1990		5,560.000	37,0
1995	15.493.889	5.385.258	34,8
2000	15.987.075	5.060.413	31,6
2005	16.335.509	4.406.000	27,0
2006	16.357.992	4.352.000	26,6
2007	16.405.000	4.311.000	26,3
2008	-	4.267.000	25,9

The Catholic Church in the Netherlands; , is part of the worldwide Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope

Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...

 and curia

Curia

A curia in early Roman times was a subdivision of the people, i.e. more or less a tribe, and with a metonymy it came to mean also the meeting place where the tribe discussed its affairs...

 in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

. Although the number of Catholics in the Netherlands has decreased significantly in recent decades, the Dutch Catholic Church is today the largest religious group in the Netherlands. Once known as a Protestant country, in 2007 Protestants made up only 16.8 percent of the Dutch population, considerably less than the 26 percent of Dutch Catholics in 2007. There are an estimated 4.267 million Catholics (31 December 2008) in the Netherlands, 25.9 percent of the population down from more than 40 percent in 1970's. The number of Catholics in the Netherlands continues to decrease, roughly by half a percent annually.

Sunday church attendance by Catholics has decreased in recent decades to less than 200,000 or 1.2 percent of the Dutch population in 2006 (source KASKI – the official Dutch Roman Catholic statistics source). More recent numbers for Sunday church attendance have not been published (with the exception of the diocese of Roermond), although press releases have mentioned a further decline since 2006.

Dioceses

There are seven diocese

Diocese

A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...

s in the Netherlands. Two of the three southern dioceses, the diocese of Den Bosch and the diocese of Roermond

Diocese of Roermond

The Diocese of Roermond is a diocese of the Catholic Church in the Netherlands. The diocese is one of the seven Roman-Catholic dioceses suffragan to the Archdiocese of Utrecht....

, are majority Roman Catholic.

For more demographic details by diocese, see the List of Roman Catholic dioceses of the Netherlands.

Church membership and Sunday church attandance by diocese (2006)

Diocese	Church members	Church members as % of population	Number of Sunday churchgoers	Sunday churchgoers as % of population
Groningen-Leeuwarden	109.000	6,1	7.385	0,4
Utrecht	766.000	19,4	34.155	0,9
Haarlem-Amsterdam	475.000	16,9	26.605	0,9
Rotterdam	531.222	15,0	26.205	0,7
Breda	454.000	40,9	13.960	1,3
's-Hertogenbosch	1.167.000	56,8	45.645	2,2
Roermond (2008)	817.000	72,8	36.640	3,3

History

From the Reformation

Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...

 to the 20th century, Dutch Catholics had largely been confined to certain southern areas in the Netherlands where they still tend to form a majority or large minority of the population. However, with modern population shifts and increasing secularization, these areas tend to be less and less predominantly Catholic. Catholics still form a majority in the two southern provinces of the Netherlands, Noord-Brabant and Limburg

Limburg (Netherlands)

Limburg is the southernmost of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands. It is located in the southeastern part of the country and bordered by the province of Gelderland to the north, Germany to the east, Belgium to the south and part of the west, andthe Dutch province of North Brabant partly to...

 (refer the overview by diocese above).

Historically

Religion in the Netherlands

The Netherlands is historically characterized by multitude of religions. Since the mid of the Middle Ages, the Netherlands was a predominantly Christian country until late into the 20th century. Although religious diversity remains to the present day, there is a major decline of religious adherence...

 In the old days, Catholics were treated as second class citizens.

After the Dutch Republic banned the Catholic religion in the 1580s the Netherlands became a Mission territory under the canonical authority of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith

Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples

The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in Rome is the congregation of the Roman Curia responsible for missionary work and related activities...

 (the so-called Dutch Mission

Dutch Mission

The Dutch Mission was from 1592 until 1853 the name of the former Catholic Church province of Utrecht in the area of the current Netherlands....

). The episcopal

Episcopal polity

Episcopal polity is a form of church governance that is hierarchical in structure with the chief authority over a local Christian church resting in a bishop...

 hierarchy was not restored until 1853.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth Catholics formed a separate social pillar, with their own schools, TV and radio broadcasting

KRO

KRO, or Katholieke Radio Omroep , is a Dutch public broadcasting organization founded on 23 April 1925. Broadly Catholic in its spiritual outlook, KRO broadcasts the bulk of its television output on the Nederland 1 channel. KRO is also responsible for managing broadcasts made by the Catholic Church...

, hospitals, unions, and political party

Catholic People's Party

The Catholic People's Party was a Catholic Christian democratic Dutch political party. During its entire existence, the party was in government. The party is one of the precursors of the Christian Democratic Appeal.- 1945-1965 :The KVP was founded on 22 December, 1945...

. They formed a coalition

Christian democracy in the Netherlands

This article gives an overview of christian democracy in the Netherlands, which is also called confessional politics, including political Catholicism and Protestantism. It is limited to Christian democratic parties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament...

 with orthodox Protestants, who also felt discriminated against. This pillarization and coalition government was important in emancipating the Catholics from their social exclusion. In the period between 1860-1960 Roman Catholic church life and institutions flourished. This period is called "the rich Roman life" (Dutch: "Het Rijke Roomse leven"). During this period, the number of Catholics in the Dutch population grew to approximate parity with Protestants, as in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, and Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.

In the 1980s and 1990s the church became polarized between conservatives, whose main organization was the Contact Roman Catholics, and liberals, whose main organization was the Eighth of May Movement, (Dutch: "Acht Mei-beweging") which was founded in 1985. The founding of the 8 May Movement was inspired by the disputes about the papal visit in that year to the Netherlands. The organization had a difficult relationship with the bishops. It was disbanded in 2003. In spite of that, tensions between conservative elements in the catholic church and more liberal elements have, as of 2011, not completely disappeared.

Church adherence declined from 40% in 1970s to 26% in 2007.

Within the Netherlands the hierarchy consists of:

Archbishopric Bishopric

• Utrecht - Archbishop Willem Jacobus Eijk
  Wim Eijk
  Willem Jacobus "Wim" Eijk is a Dutch prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. On 11 December 2007 Pope Benedict XVI appointed Eijk the Metropolitan Archbishop of Utrecht and, on the 26 January 2008 Eijk was installed in the Sint Catharina Church in Utrecht. He is the 70th successor of Saint...
  
   (since 2007)
  • ’s Hertogenbosch - Bishop Antonius Lambertus Maria Hurkmans (since 1998)
  • Breda - Bishop Johannes van den Hende (since 2007)
  • Groningen-Leeuwarden - Bishop Gerard de Korte
    Gerard de Korte
    Gerard Johannes Nicolaus de Korte is a Dutch Roman Catholic clergyman. He has been bishop of the diocese of Groningen-Leeuwarden since 13 September 2008. Before that he was auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Utrecht and dean of the deanery IJsellanden...
    
     (since 2008)
  • Haarlem - Bishop Jozef Marianus Punt (since 2001)
  • Roermond - Bishop Frans Jozef Marie Wiertz (since 1993)
  • Rotterdam - Bishop Adrianus Henricus van Luijn (Apostolic Administrator (since 2011)