Young Dutch Jesuits who were popular student pastors in Amsterdam created a stir when they married but insisted on continuing their ministry.

If ever any Congregation of Men could merit eternal Perdition on Earth and in Hell, it is the company of Loyola.

− John Adams, writing to Thomas Jefferson, in 1816

The expense is reckoned, the enterprise is begun; it is of God, it cannot be withstood.

− Edmund Campion, S.J.,…

Cardinal Alfrink returned from Rome after explaining about a controversial high school catechism course. 50 Dutch theologians are convinced, but the Vatican thinks otherwise.

Of all the beneficiaries of the Second Vatican Council, Roman Catholic theologians were among the most blest. Before the Council, most of them seemed to be little more than academic valets to the Popes, limited to being apologists for the fixed doctrinal formulations laid down by the 16th century Council…

The Vatican seems determined that the progressive wing of the church can be curbed. The Dutch church has been forced to cancel a national pastoral council meeting set for October.

The Vatican seems determined to use the Roman Catholic Church of The Netherlands as a test case to prove that the progressive wing of the church can be curbed. What is more, it seems to be winning. First there was the appointment of conservative Msgr. Adrianus Simonis to the see…

In the six months new appointed bishop Gijsen sacked his deputy bishop and two vicar generals. Laying down a strict policy against birth control and abortion.

To the easygoing Roman Catholic burghers of the Dutch diocese of Roermond, their new bishop came on like a thunderclap. Last January, when Johannes Mathias Gijsen, 39, was named to the see from the rectorate of an old-folks home, hardly anyone knew who he was. They soon found out. In…

A year ago Pope Paul introduced the first new conservative, now he has named Johannes Mathias Gijsen, 39, a friend of Simonis, bishop to the diocese of Roermond.

>The seven Roman Catholic bishops of The Netherlands, who presented such a progressive front at the Second Vatican Council, have suffered another breach in their ranks. A year ago Pope Paul introduced the first new conservative into the Dutch hierarchy by appointing Adrianus Simonis to the see of Rotterdam, ignoring…

The appointment by the pope of Simonis as bishop plunged the Vatican and the Dutch church into confrontation once again. Liberals were furious that Paul had bypassed three candidates.

Just a year ago this month, the Dutch Pastoral Council of the Roman Catholic Church voted for a policy statement against compulsory celibacy. During the debates preceding that vote (TIME, Jan. 19, 1970), one of the few voices arguing to preserve the old celibacy rule was a young-looking parish priest…

Theologians met in Brussels to discuss “The Future of the Church.” When Schillebeeckx and his colleagues offered 28 rough-draft resolutions for the congress to consider, the lid came off.

Not since the Reformation has Roman Catholic theology been such a popular topic as in the years following the Second Vatican Council. New opinions by theologians on such diverse subjects as sexual morality, original sin, papal infallibility and even the nature of the Mass and sacraments have provoked applause, shock…

The Vatican announced that all Catholic priests would be asked to make an annual public affirmation of their vows of celibacy and obedience. Another negative answer for the Dutch.

. . . A priest forever, according to the order of Melchisedec.

—the Rite of Ordination

THE Vatican last week announced that all Catholic priests would henceforth be asked to make an annual public affirmation of their vows of celibacy and obedience. The day chosen for this oath was Holy…

Last week, once again, Dutch Catholics demonstrated that they are still the vanguard. The Dutch Pastoral Council, voted 93 to 2 against obligatory celibacy as a condition of priesthood.

Celibacy, No! Ever since the Second Vatican Council, the Roman Catholic Church of The Netherlands has been the single most progressive force in Catholic reformation. Last week, once again, Dutch Catholics demonstrated that they are still the vanguard. The Dutch Pastoral Council, a representative church body composed of bishops, priests,…

The Dutch provincial of the Augustinian order has proposed opening convents to men & women of any Christian faith, married or single. Rome has threatened to disband the Dutch province.

DECEMBER is the darkest month. The sun is lowest in the sky. The nights are longest. Yet in its midst—perhaps in their hunger for warmth and light in the nadir of seasons—believers of the Western world have immemorially celebrated hope. In recent years, God has seemed to many…

Some cloisters renewal started long before the Vatican issued its decree. Most of the 51 cloistered communities in The Netherlands already have TV. One convent packs birth-control pills.

To the secular mind, the vision of monks and nuns living silently and praying ceaselessly behind cloister walls has always seemed, at best, a kind of regrettable eccentricity—harmless enough, but useless too. Yet the Roman Catholic Church, and such Protestant sympathizers as the Monks of Taizé in France, have…

The Dutch Pastoral Council that outlines policy for the country’s Catholics, rejected Pope Paul’s encyclical Humanae Vitae as “not convincing on the basis of the argumentation given.”

The church in The Netherlands is perhaps the most independent and autonomy-minded in the Roman Catholic fold. Time and again, it has challenged Rome’s ideas of orthodoxy. Last week the Dutch defied the Vatican again, this time with particular force. Meeting in the North Sea town of Noordwijkerhout, the…

Rebellion in the Catholic church: Many Dutch Catholic thinkers are suggesting that their national church might have to become as autonomous as Anglicanism in order to preserve its soul.

COVER STORY JULY 29, 1968, may prove to be a major landmark in the long history of the Roman Catholic Church—as significant, perhaps, as the moment when Martin Luther decided to post his theses on indulgences at Wittenberg Castle Church. On that day last summer, Pope Paul VI promulgated…

As usual, the bishops of Holland’s avant-garde church were the first to take issue with the Pope’s encyclical against contraception.

The Pope’s encyclical against contraception is continuing to meet remarkable resistance from Catholics on all levels of the church. A sharp reminder of that fact occurred when Pat rick Cardinal O’Boyle was the speaker at the Sunday noon Mass at St. Mat thew’s Cathedral in Washington. Instead of delivering a…

It maybe that one of the best-known and most creative theologians in the Roman Catholic Church will have to stand trial for doctrinal error, Dominican Father Edward Schillebeeckx.

It may come to pass that one of the best-known and most creative theologians in the Roman Catholic Church will have to stand trial for doctrinal error, an accusation not far short of heresy. Dominican Father Edward Schillebeeckx, the principal theological adviser to the Dutch hierarchy, has been under investigation…