Ecumenical pilgrims from the Netherlands visit the DPCU

On 26 September, an ecumenical group of pilgrims from the Netherlands, led by Rt Rev Dirk Schoon, Bishop of the Old Catholic Diocese of Haarlem, and Rob Mascini, Roman Catholic deacon in Hoofddorp, visited the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity (DPCU).

Fr Augustinus Sander, OSB, staff member responsible for relations with the Old Catholics of the Union of Utrecht, gave an introduction to the work of the DPCU and the particular challenges of the current Roman Catholic-Old Catholic dialogue, the results of which are available in two reports under the general title "Kirche und Kirchengemeinschaft [Church and Ecclesial Communion]" (2009/2016). 

After a lively discussion, Bishop Schoon presented his publication of the diaries kept by Petrus Codde (1648-1710), Archbishop of Sebaste and Apostolic Vicar of the Catholics in the Dutch Republic, and his companions during their journey to Rome and their stay in the city from 1700 to 1703. During that time, Codde was first suspended and then deposed upon his return to the Netherlands. Protests against these actions led to a division in the Catholic Church in the Republic, resulting in the two still separate Roman Catholic and Old Catholic Churches in the Netherlands.