What happened?
The Netherlands is facing mass closures of churches, with the Diocese of Utrecht likely to lose five in six, a researcher has warned.
Joris Kregting, from the Dutch research centre KASKI, said that some dioceses are planning to merge parishes, “while others are looking more towards the cooperation of parishes”.
Why was it under-reported?
The story represents, not a sudden headline-grabbing development, but a long-term trend: according to KASKI. In the 1960s, 55 per cent of the Netherlands’ 2.7 million Catholics still went to Mass regularly. By 2000 average weekly Mass attendance was down to 439,000; in 2017, to 157,900 people.
