Dutch Bishop Johannes Hendriks said that young Catholics are going back to the roots of the faith, including more traditional liturgies.

In an interview with the German newspaper Die Tagespost, the bishop of Haarlem-Amsterdam described the dynamic of Catholics in the Netherlands. While many of the older generation are still demanding heterodox “reforms” along the lines of the German “Synodal Way,” young Catholics are returning to tradition.

“The younger ones are going in the opposite direction again: to the roots of our faith,” he said. “It is the older ones who are coming up with the themes of the Pastoral Council of that time.”

Hendriks referred to the so-called Dutch “Pastoral Council” that took place from 1966 to 1970 and is comparable to the heretical Synodal Way in Germany. The heterodox project is considered to have been a driving factor in the country’s de-Christianization.

When asked about what young Catholics who wish to return to the roots of the faith are interested in, the bishop replied, “The charisms, vocations, and interests among young people are as diverse as in the Church as a whole: there are young people who are committed to bringing other young people together and sharing their faith and friendship with them, and there are those who are committed to helping the poor, for example, with Sant’Egidio.”

“There are those who are interested in the liturgy, often in a classical form, or who are particularly interested in deepening and forming their faith,” he stated.

“I recently had a conversation with a grandmother from our parish who said that she didn’t really like it if Holy Mass was sometimes celebrated in a more traditional way during the week, but her grandson thought it was wonderful!” the bishop recalled.

“So on the one hand, she grumbled a bit about it,” he continued. “On the other hand, I felt that the grandmother actually liked the fact that the Mass was so important for her grandson. The Holy Spirit is at work.”

While a whole generation grew up without proper knowledge of the faith as a consequence of the Dutch “Pastoral Council,” Hendriks also pointed to signs of hope.

He said that “more and more young people are appearing out of nowhere.”

“They often do not come from Catholic families but want to be accepted into the Catholic Church because they have been touched. This year, we have 250 young people who have come to the Catholic faith, including Muslims. And the trend is rising.”

“We see – and we must never forget this – that it is not our Church, but it is the Holy Spirit who leads the Church. It is God’s Church.”

The prelate warned bishops in Germany not to continue on the Synodal Way lest the country lose its faith completely.

“I also speak from experience in the Netherlands,” Hendriks noted. “I witnessed the Pastoral Council in the 1960s myself. The faithful there had the same ideas that are now coming forward on the Synodal Path in Germany.”

“I can only point out the consequences that these ideas had in our country: they caused a great deal of division and discord – among the faithful, with Rome and the universal Church – and led to a strong secularization. People have turned their backs on the faith.”

“I hope that [the German bishops] learn from the experience in the Netherlands,” he said. “Instead of watering down the faith, it would be important to be honest and say when you can no longer fully believe what the Church teaches.”

“Lumen Gentium teaches us that we must always walk in unity with the centuries-old Church Tradition. We cannot invent a new faith.”

“What the Church has taught and believed, for example, that marriage is the appropriate framework for sexuality, it cannot simply change,” Bishop Hendriks concluded.