Sixty percent of the churches in a Catholic diocese in the Netherlands will close within the next five years.
Dwindling numbers of churchgoers, volunteers and income are being being blamed.
Bishop Jan Hendricks unveiled plans to around 90 parish administrators in the Haarlem-Amsterdam diocese last month.
The 450-year old diocese dates back to 1559. It covers North Holland, the southern part of Flevoland province and includes Amsterdam.
Hendricks, who has led the diocese since 2020, said the pandemic accelerated already shrinking numbers of faithful churchgoers, volunteers and choirs. Different Sunday worship formats have also developed.
Figures show Mass attendance has fallen from more than 25,000 people in 2013 to 12,000 in 2021.
Sixty percent of Catholic churches – 99 of the diocese’s 164 – will have to close in five years, says Hendricks.
Of the remaining 65 churches, he says 37 could continue for five to 10 years as “support churches”. That would leave just 28 “central churches” considered viable in the long term.
While the diocese doesn’t have a list of churches that will be closed, local communities will be asked to designate “central churches”.
“The idea is to create 28 active places of evangelisation. And we hope that the parish priests and parish boards can realise that,” Hendricks says.
The diocese has been trying to reduce its church buildings since 2004.
Rural Catholics are likely to be worst affected, says one priest.
A letter from the diocese about church closures didn’t come as much of a surprise, he says.
“We were in fact already in the planning phase of closing down one of our rural churches with a turn-up of maybe 15 every other week.
“We have been asked to close two churches in the next three years, and we will probably have to close one or two more in the two years following.
“This will be harder as there is no ‘natural process’.
“Communities that still feel some vigour in them will have to be asked to wind down, and this is a difficult thing.”
Churchgoers might feel challenged by a “perceived volte-face” over church closures, he says.
“To those ‘more in the loop,’ however, the change is less big.
“We did feel this coming, and these are necessary decisions to make. Church attendance consistently halves every 10 years and has done for decades on end.
“In 10 years, we’re looking at 30 larger parishes with a hopefully diverse offering of liturgies and activities — small parishes simply can’t offer this.
“A challenge in all of this will be that I fear all of the remaining parishes will be in urban areas. How will we service the countryside? I have no answer at this time.”
However, Vicar general Msgr Bart Putter says younger people and families are “more than willing” to drive 45 minutes to church.
“People who really want to go to church now are more motivated than in the past. But it’s a smaller number,” he says.
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