Mark De Vries, Author at Catholic Herald

Mark De Vries

The Netherlands: Empty pews, empty coffers

September 27, 2018

A row about church closures has prompted one politician to leave Catholicism Last month the medieval church of St Walburga in the Dutch city of Arnhem (pictured) was sold for almost one million euros so that it could be converted into flats. First used in 1375, the church had been elevated to the status of

The Netherlands: Apocalypse now?

May 17, 2018

A cardinal invokes the End Times in a critique of the Vatican In an article for the National Catholic Register last week, a cardinal offered a strikingly blunt assessment of the Vatican under Pope Francis. Rome’s refusal to rule on the German bishops’ new guidelines on Communion for Protestants was “completely incomprehensible”, he said. His conclusion

Belgium: A mysterious decree

April 26, 2018

When the Fraternity of the Holy Apostles, an orthodox group of priests, deacons and seminarians, was unceremoniously booted out of the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels in 2016, the archbishop, Cardinal Jozef De Kesel (right), claimed that his decision to shut down the apparently flourishing fraternity was motivated by solidarity with his French brother bishops. As the

A post-Catholic election

March 09, 2017

In many ways, next week’s Dutch parliamentary elections are a repeat exercise. The populism of Geert Wilders, frontman of the Party for Freedom (PVV), will once again draw many votes. Some polls predict that the PVV will become the largest party, although Wilders’s chances of participating in government remain negligible. Many parties, from the liberal

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