Theodorus Zwartkruis

Theodorus Zwartkruis around 1966.

Theodorus Henricus Johannes Zwartkruis (born November 22, 1909 in Amsterdam , † October 21, 1983 in Haarlem ) was a Dutch Roman Catholic clergyman and bishop of Haarlem .

Life

Zwartkruis was the son of the city official Theodorus Zwartkruis and his wife Theodora Christina Maria van Brandenburg. He graduated from the Jesuit high school at St. Ignatius College in Amsterdam from 1920 to 1926, after which he studied philosophy at the Catholic University of Leuven . His theological training took place at the Major Seminary of the Haarlem diocese in Warmond . He received the sacrament of ordination on May 26, 1934 and then studied English language and literature in Nijmegen . From March 1939 he worked for 22 years as an English teacher at the Episcopal Gymnasium Hageveld in Heemstede .Bernard Cardinal Griffin appointed Zwartkruis as honorary chaplain of Westminster Cathedral in 1959 on the occasion of his 25th anniversary as a priest . In the summer of 1961 he was pastor and dean in Haarlem and on April 12, 1962 canon of the cathedral chapter of Haarlem.

After the sudden death of the Bishop of Haarlem Joannes van Dodewaard on March 9, 1966, Pope Paul VI appointed. on August 18, 1966 Theodorus Zwartkruis as his successor. Zwartkruis received the episcopal ordination on October 15, 1966 by Bernard Jan Cardinal Alfrink ; Co-consecrators were Martien Antoon Jansen , Bishop of Rotterdam , and the Archbishop of Glasgow , James Donald Scanlan .

His tenure as bishop was marked by the implementation of the documents of the Second Vatican Council , but also overshadowed by conflicts with the Amsterdam student ecclesia and the critical base community IJmond in Beverwijk , when married priests like Huub Oosterhuis celebrated the Eucharist there . But he did not exclude these communities and believers, but instead created the term “outside the responsibility of the bishop”. He always maintained human ties to priests and religious who had left the Church.

Surprisingly for many people, including Zwartkruis himself, Pope John Paul II appointed two auxiliary bishops for the Diocese of Haarlem on October 12, 1983, namely Hendrik Joseph Alois Bomers and Joseph Frans Lescrauwaet . In his last letter, dated the day of his death, October 21, 1983, he expressed surprise and concern at this appointment. Indeed, the Dutch public reacted with emotion to this appointment and the death of the Bishop of Haarlem shortly thereafter.

Publications

• A book of English and American literature. (Together with L. Grooten and JG Riewald), 1953
• Kerk, wij seeds. 1974

Web links

• MG Spiertz: Zwartkruis, Theodorus Henricus Johannes (1909-1983). In: Biographical Woordenboek van Nederland. November 12, 2013, accessed November 25, 2014 (Dutch). 
• Entry on Theodorus Henricus Johannes Zwartkruis on catholic-hierarchy.org ; Retrieved November 25, 2014.

predecessor	Office	successor
Joannes Antonius Eduardus van Dodewaard	Bishop of Haarlem 1966–1983	Henricus Josephus Aloysius Bomers