An episcopal appointment Monday to a small Dutch diocese might have an outsized influence in the future of the Netherlands’ episcopal map.
Pope Leo XIV appointed on July 7 Msgr. Ronald Cornelissen, a priest of the Archdiocese of Utrecht, as the new Bishop of Groningen-Leeuwarden.
Cornelissen, a close collaborator of Cardinal Wim Eijk of Utrecht, will now take the helm of the smallest diocese in the Netherlands — a diocese that has for years faced the prospect of merger or even suppression.
But the Gronningen diocese is also widely considered an episcopal launching pad, with all three of Cornelissen’s immediate predecessors in Groningen moving to larger dioceses, including Eijk himself.
Moreover, the move could also shape Eijk’s own succession in the Dutch primatial see, as the cardinal is set to tender his resignation to the pope in four years.
With Cornelissen becoming the youngest bishop in the Netherlands and widely regarded as one of Eijk’s most trusted collaborators, his episcopal consecration in Groningen is seen by some Church-watchers as a stepping stone toward the Archdiocese of Utrecht.
Cornelissen was in 1996 ordained a priest in the Archdiocese of Utrecht, by Cardinal Adrianus Simonis, a leading critic of the Dutch Church’s progressive post-conciliar experiments.
Since 2009, Cornelissen has been regional vicar for the city of Deventer. For 15 years, he also served as episcopal vicar for marriage and family ministry, which oversees family activities and marriage preparation programs that are widely praised in the Netherlands for their doctrinal clarity — not always a certainty in the Dutch church.
During his time in Utrecht, Cornelissen has earned a reputation as a doctrinally orthodox, non-ideological, hard working priest.
“Within the archdiocese, Cornelissen was a great inspirer and supporter for ideas and activities in marriage and family pastoral activities. He saw the need of couples and families and was always able to connect the right people within the parishes and the diocese. If you needed anything, big or small, he would get it done,” one official in the Archdiocese of Utrecht told The Pillar Monday.
“He is an enthusiastic, optimistic priest who works hard. He is not a theologian, but more of a pastoral type of bishop,” a Dutch bishops’ conference official told The Pillar.
But Cornelissen raised some eyebrows Monday, in the press conference following his appointment, when he said he was not planning to change diocesan policy permitting widespread use of communion services led by deacons or laypeople — an approach contrary Eijk’s own policy on the matter, and the opinion of many other Dutch bishops.
In many parts of the Netherlands, such communion services are charged with theological or ideological symbolism — of an anti-clerical bent — of carrying the idea that women and married men should be eligible for priesthood.
But observers say that in Groningen-Leeuwarden, the bishop’s approach is likely more missionary, and pragmatic, than ideological.
The Diocese of Groningen-Leeuwarden, though the second-largest in the country by territory, has the fewest Catholics, parishes, and priests of any Dutch diocese.
Covering the traditionally Protestant provinces of Groningen, Friesland, Drenthe, and part of Flevoland, the diocese has only 26 priests — fewer than half the number in any other Dutch see.
With a ratio of one priest for every 3,700 Catholics, and following a 2017 parish reorganization that reduced the number of parishes from 81 to just 21, ending lay-led services would prove difficult.
“He said he wanted to continue with communion services guided by lay pastoral workers because there are not many priests and the distances are big,” the same bishops’ conference official told The Pillar.
“It’s both a political and practical matter, I think he doesn’t want to come to Groningen and rock the boat too quickly. But if there’s a diocese in the Netherlands in which these services are justified, it’s Groningen, because you have [only about] 20 priests for the whole north of the country,” an Utrecht priest added.
In fact, Cornelissen himself said in the press conference that “there are relatively few churches and few priests in the North. It is important and very Catholic that people can receive communion regularly. The practice of pastoral workers and workers leading celebrations will therefore remain as far as I am concerned.”
In that sense, Cornelissen’s appointment fits the Vatican’s recent trend in the Netherlands — continued even under Pope Francis — of naming bishops with a conservative theological outlook and a missionary disposition, especially after the Dutch Church endured some of the worst excesses of the post-conciliar period.
While Cornelissen hasn’t made many public statements, his longstanding work in the marriage and family apostolate with Cardinal Eijk has earned him a reputation of theological orthodoxy and a Christocentric outlook.
In a 2021 interview, advised young priests to “Hold on… to Christ as a beacon. Nourish yourself with Christ in the Eucharist. Your prayer life is so important. The Church has existed for 2,000 years and has known many difficult moments and dark pages. The environment changes, but the core of our faith remains the same. And above all: remain optimistic, despite all the changes.”
But he arrives in a diocese with two defining realities: Groningen-Leeuwarden is both an episcopal training ground and long shadowed by talk of merger.
All three of Cornelissen’s immediate predecessors have gone on to move to three major episcopal posts in the Netherlands.
Cardinal Wim Eijk served as Bishop of Groningen-Leeuwarden until 2008, when he was made Archbishop of Utrecht, the country’s primatial see.
Then, his successor Bishop Gerard de Korte was made Bishop of Den Bosch, the diocese with the largest number of Catholics in the country in 2016.
Lastly, Bishop Cornelis van den Hout was appointed as bishop of Roermond, the diocese with the largest seminary in the country, last year.
Therefore, it wouldn’t be strange for Cornelissen to eventually leave the Netherlands’ cold white north.
And with bluntness typical of Dutch people, the topic came up at Cornelissen’s press conference.
But the bishop-elect downplayed the issue there, saying that his predecessors “were a lot younger when they took office here. I think the intention is for me to stay here until I retire. I hope for the diocese that I can offer some stability and continuity.'
Still, the Dutch Church’s situation suggests otherwise. Eijk, De Korte, and Bishop Jan Hendriks of Haarlem-Amsterdam are over 70, and all three serve in dioceses rarely filled by non-bishops.
Moreover, Cornelissen is one of the three Dutch bishops under 61 years old, alongside van den Hout and Rotterdam’s bishop and president of the bishops’ conference, Ron van den Hende.
However, van den Hout just arrived in Roermond, an already major post needing stability after his predecessor, Harrie Smeets, died of brain cancer at just 63 years old.
That makes Cornelissen well-suited for a move sooner rather than later. And, if Pope Leo continues his preference of appointing bishops who come from their own diocesan clergy, that means Cornelissen might return home sooner rather than later.
Still — as is often the case with small dioceses worldwide — an episcopal revolving door can hinder long-term outlook in a diocese.
But as speculation about a merger has grown in the last couple of decades, many seem keen to believe that perhaps the solution would be to merge Groningen with Utrecht, as it was before the 1950s, or to unite both dioceses in persona episcopi, a trend that grew significantly under Francis’ pontificate throughout Europe.
For his part, Cornelissen also downplayed talk of a merger at the press conference saying that “'I was not asked in any way to work on a merger or anything like that. The diocese can just function, otherwise they would not have appointed me. A diocese does not have to be mega-large… We can’t end up in a situation of vulnerability, but I am an optimist: I trust in the work of the Holy Spirit.”
“He’s a skilled bestuurder (administrator),” a priest close to the situation told The Pillar, speculating that Cornelissen may be tasked to try to fix the complex situation facing the diocese, which may take time — and exclude the possibility of a short-term promotion for Cornelissen.
But many local watchers ask themselves how long can Groningen continue existing in its current form with just 26 priests, fewer than half of the number in any other Dutch diocese, and with a parish restructuring that could further decrease the number of parishes beyond the current 22.
That suggests a possible ecclesiastical double play: That the diocese might eventually be merged with the Archdiocese of Utrecht and see Cornelissen return home.
This might, as the Dutch say, “twee vliegen in één klap slaan" — hit two flies with one blow.
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