page_title: Parish transfers of abusive Catholic priests
section_title: Netherlands
hierarchical_section_title: Parish transfers of abusive Catholic priests / By country / Netherlands
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Collectie / Archief&#160;: Fotocollectie Rijksvoorlichtingsdienst Eigen Reportage / Serie&#160;: [ onbekend ] Beschrijving&#160;: Monseigneur Bernard Johan Alfrink (1900-1987) kardinaal en aartsbisschop van Utrecht Datum&#160;: ongedateerd Trefwoorden&#160;: kardinalen, kerkfuncties, portretten Persoonsnaam&#160;: Alfrink Mgr. B J Fotograaf&#160;: Fotograaf Onbekend / Anefo Auteursrechthebbende&#160;: Nationaal Archief Materiaalsoort&#160;: Foto (zwart/wit) Nummer archiefinventaris&#160;: bekijk toegang 2.24.10.02 Bestanddeelnummer&#160;: 119-0233
context_page_description: The parish transfers of abusive Catholic priests, also known as priest shuffling, is a pastoral practice that has greatly contributed to the aggravation of Catholic Church sexual abuse cases. Some bishops have been heavily criticized for moving offending priests from parish to parish, where they still had personal contact with children, rather than seeking to have them permanently returned to the lay state by laicization. The Church was widely criticized when it was discovered that some bishops knew about some of the alleged crimes committed, but reassigned the accused instead of seeking to have them permanently removed from the priesthood.
context_section_description: On 14 September 2018, NRC Handelsblad compiled a list of Roman Catholic cardinals and bishops in the Netherlands who ineptly dealt with accusations of child sexual abuse, including parochial transfers of suspects. At least sixteen cardinals, bishops and auxiliary bishops transferred known paedosexual priests to other parishes, all of whom were no longer in holy orders and their cases all exceeded the statute of limitations by the time of the NRC publication. The next day, a spokesperson of the Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands confirmed that NRC's investigation was carefully conducted and the findings were largely correct.
  Cardinal Bernardus Alfrink, archbishop of Utrecht from 1955 to 1975, moved a pastor, sentenced to 4 months in prison for abuse of underage girls, from Zutphen to Slagharen in 1956 and later to Netterden, where he abused another girl in 1967; Alfrink ignored a warning letter from another pastor and moved the convicted pastor to Eemnes and then to Lunteren. The cardinal did not intervene in a chaplain's case in Groenlo, moved another pastor to Haarle where he molested again, promoted an Utrecht chaplain who confessed to abusing boys to a priest in Braamt where he continued abusing children, and promoted an Arnhem chaplain known to have abused altar servers to pastor in Albergen where he abused another 9 altar servers.
  Cardinal Ad Simonis, bishop of Rotterdam (1970–1983) and archbishop of Utrecht (1983–2007), ignored well-documented accusations against the Albergen pastor in 1983. He appointed a man, that he knew was convicted of sexual abuse of boys in 1990 in Zoetermeer, to pastor in 1991 in Amersfoort where he abused children again, and did not prevent his 2005 appointment to pastor in Eindhoven. He ignored a victim's letter against auxiliary bishop Jan Niënhaus in 2000, and in 2007 ordained a father known to have abused pupils in a Twello boys boarding school to acolyte (leading altar servers) in Oldenzaal. In 2010, he controversially said on live television show Pauw & Witteman that Wir haben es nicht gewußt ("We did not know about it").
  Martinus Jansen, bishop of Rotterdam (1956–1970), in 1965 reappointed a priest convicted of molestation elsewhere in his diocese. He also appointed a priest, that he knew had committed sexual abuse in a pastoral relation in 1965, to religious teacher in an Oudenbosch boys boarding school; the priest went on to sexually abuse three underage boys there around 1970.
  Philippe Bär, bishop of Rotterdam (1983–1993), transferred multiple priests accused or found guilty of abuse to other dioceses when he could no longer maintain their position in his own. Did not undertake action in at least 5 cases, and is known to have had sex with underage students of his own priestly seminary.
  Ad van Luyn, bishop of Rotterdam (1993–2011), when leading a Salesian congregation in 1979 urged the police to stop prosecuting a Rijswijk priest in a case of sexual abuse; the suspect was transferred to a parish in Terneuzen where he abused children again. In 1995 he appointed a priest, who had already confessed to abusing children in 20 separate cases, to doing pastoral and youth work; when the priest transgressed again, Van Luyn waited 6 months before transferring him to Amersfoort in the archdiocese of Utrecht, where he once again abused children. He ignored complaints by three victims in 2002, 2008 and 2010 and covered them up.
  Guillaume Lemmens, bishop of Roermond (1932–1957), maintained a priest in his diocese for 20 years, even though he knew the man was convicted in 1941 for abusing two boys and a girl in Sittard. He died in 1960; in 2011 the diocese acknowledged that a 1946 complaint against the priest for abusing a 7-year-old girl in Doenrade was valid, and that the priest in question (then director of a Heel lunatic asylum and a Sittard hospital) was examined by the police again in 1952.
  Petrus Moors, bishop of Roermond (1959–1970), appointed a Belgian priest, knowing he had been convicted of sexually abusing boys, to chaplain in Broekhem-Valkenburg in 1959, where the chaplain abu
caption: Cardinal Bernardus Alfrink, archbishop of Utrecht (1955–1975)
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