The reversed mission of foreign priests in The Netherlands.

What is it about?

This article aims is to explore an uneasiness in the relation between foreign priests and Dutch Catholics, and what should and could be done about it. The sources that are used are key informants and policy documents of international religious institutes, analysing them using open and selective coding, and reflecting upon them from the perspectives of the Second Vatican Council notion of mutual missionary assistance of churches and of external and internal outsourcing in international businesses. The author concludes that the reversed mission of foreign missionaries is contested both within and inside religious institutes; that what is seen as added value depends on the perspective that one takes; and that foreign missionaries do not engage in what is usually seen as core business of missionary institutes, the missio ad gentes or primary evangelization.

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Why is it important?

Much attention has ben given to Muslim clerics in The Netherlands. Catholic foreign clerics working in The Netherlands is a neglected field of study.

Perspectives