New Archbishop Eijk makes drastic budget cuts

UTRECHT – The financial situation of the Archdiocese of Utrecht, which encompasses the Netherlands, has been called very critical by the country’s Archbishop Dr. W. Eijk. Without cutbacks in its budget, the Archdiocese would face insolvency at some point in the current financial year, Eijk announced recently. In recent times, the Archdiocese has become dependent on the annual Kerkbalans drive, a national fundraising campaign in which a number of denominations participate with each collecting contributions from their own constituency. Eijk expects the percentage of Roman Catholics in the country to drop to 10 percent by 2020 from the current 16 percent. This drop also has consequences for the upkeep of buildings, the Archbishop noted. He expects that over the next ten years 1,000 church buildings will become redundant, 400 of them Roman Catholic. Eijk also announced the closure of the Arienskonvikt, and the transfer of its students to De Tiltenburg seminary in the neighbouring Haarlem-Amsterdam diocese.