The Military Ordinariate of the Netherlands is a military ordinariate of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. Immediately subject to the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

, it provides

pastoral care ''The Book of Pastoral Rule'' (Latin: ''Liber Regulae Pastoralis'', ''Regula Pastoralis'' or ''Cura Pastoralis'' — sometimes translated into English ''Pastoral Care'') is a treatise on the responsibilities of the clergy written by Pope Greg ...

to Roman Catholics serving in the

Dutch Armed Forces The Netherlands Armed Forces () are the military forces of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (mainland Netherlands in Europe and islands of the Dutch Caribbean). The armed forces consist of four service branches: the Royal Netherlands Navy (), the ...

and their families.

History

It was established as a military vicariate on 16 April 1957 and elevated to a military ordinariate on 21 July 1986. Since 1993, no military ordinaries have been appointed.

Office holders

Military vicars

Bernard Jan Alfrink Bernardus Johannes Alfrink (5 July 1900 – 17 December 1987) was a Dutch Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Utrecht from 1955 to 1975, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1960. Biography Born in Nijkerk, ...

(appointed 1957 – retired 1975) * Johannes Gerardus Maria Willebrands (appointed 6 December 1975 – resigned 22 November 1982) *

Ronald Philippe Bär Ronald is a masculine given name derived from the Old Norse ''Rögnvaldr'', Hanks; Hardcastle; Hodges (2006) p. 234; Hanks; Hodges (2003) § Ronald. or possibly from Old English '' Regenweald''. In some cases ''Ronald'' is an Anglicised form of ...

O.S.B. The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, they ...

(appointed 22 November 1982 – became Military

Ordinary Ordinary or The Ordinary often refer to: Music * ''Ordinary'' (EP) (2015), by South Korean group Beast * ''Ordinary'' (album) (2011), by Every Little Thing * "Ordinary" (Alex Warren song) (2025) * "Ordinary" (Two Door Cinema Club song) (2016 ...

21 July 1986)

Military ordinaries

(appointed 21 July 1986 – resigned 13 March 1993). No military ordinaries appointed since 1993: * Joseph Marianus Punt (appointed 1 April 1995 as

apostolic administrator An apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...

, - retired 1 June 2020). * Everardus Johannes de Jong (appointed 1 June 2020 as apostolic administrator - now)

References

Military Ordinariate of the Netherlands
(Catholic-Hierarchy)

(GCatholic.org) {{coord missing, Netherlands Catholic Church in the Netherlands Netherlands, Military Ordinariate of the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

History

Office holders

Military vicars

Military ordinaries

See also

References