Tuesday June 15th 2021 | 20:00 – 21:30 | Facebook and Youtube |
Despite being the largest religious group, the position of the Catholic Church in the Netherlands has always been a remarkable one. From being treated as second as second class citizens during the Dutch Republic, to having an own having an own pillar in the typical Dutch phenomenon of ‘pillarisation.’ In the last decades, the number of Catholics in the Netherlands is decreasing, from 40,5% to 21,7% in 2019. Furthermore, the Church is having serious problems such as the abuse scandal and a shortage on priests and money. This raises questions like: Why are people leaving the Church so fast? Is this only because of the secularization? How will the future of the Catholic Church in the Netherlands look like? And will they ever be able to convince large numbers of people to go to Church again or is the time of Catholicism in the Netherlands over?
To find answers on this question, we will be joined Willem Marie Speelman, theologian at Tilburg University and Kees de Groot, sociologist at Tilburg University.
Check out the following links on April 15th at 20:00: