Het Jaarlijks Algemeen Huisbezoek in Katholiek Nederland Rond De Eeuwwisseling: The annual general house visit in Catholic Netherlands around the turn of the century.
In the years after the Provincial Council of 1865, the general yearly house call was introduced in all the Dutch bishoprics as a duty of the pastor. Its goal was not only to familiarize the parish clergy with the outward living conditions of the parishioners, but also with what took place in their c...
| Published in: | Trajecta |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic/Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Amsterdam University Press
1995
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| In: |
Trajecta
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| Further subjects: | B
Netherlands
B Laity B Catholic Church B Visitations (Church work) B Clergy |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | In the years after the Provincial Council of 1865, the general yearly house call was introduced in all the Dutch bishoprics as a duty of the pastor. Its goal was not only to familiarize the parish clergy with the outward living conditions of the parishioners, but also with what took place in their consciences. The new pastoral practice had a slow start and required adjustments several times. Around the turn of the century the conditions to make the house call a success seemed at their most favorable; the number of parishes in the Netherlands had increased rapidly, and these were always amply supplied with a priest and several chaplains. Under these conditions, the Dutch Church found itself the object of envy from abroad, especially from German-speaking countries, but the opportunity was missed. The extra time that became available by the increase in the parish clergy was spent on Catholic social activities. The remaining time - what there was of it - was for house calls. The bishops continued to insist on the duty to increase the number of house calls, but did not indicate which duties the parish clergy was supposed to abandon in its place. It was not until after World War I - and earlier in the views of a prophetic author like Jacques Schreurs (1893-1966) - that Catholic pastoral theologians pointed out Catholic social activities as the main cause. But by then it was too late; the opportunity of 1900 no longer existed in 1950, when the threatening shortage of priests was clearly on its way. The observation that the parish clergy invested much of its time in organizational work is a first, general explanation for the limited success of the house call. There is, however, a more profound explanation for this discrepancy between norm and practice. It is a fact that many pastors as well as the parishioners they visited experienced this work as humiliating. The recurring frustrations on the part of the church leaders and similar experiences with house calls among Protestants in the Netherlands show that this aspect of humiliation is continuous in nature. From the mid-19th to the mid-20th centuries, quite a few Church institutions were built and then abandoned. In these changing conditions the family, including the Catholic family, continued to cherish its privacy. The visiting priests were left with the conclusion that there was, even after they entered the living room, a wall between them and the members of the family they visited. |
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| ISSN: | 0778-8304 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Trajecta
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