Native name Frans Name Frans Wiertz Appointed July 10, 1993 Coat of arms Consecration September 25, 1993 | Denomination Roman Catholic Ordination March 30, 1968 Nationality Dutch Predecessor Joannes Gijsen | |
Birth name Franciscus Jozef Maria Wiertz Born December 2, 1942 (age 81)
Kerkrade, Netherlands ( 1942-12-02 ) Motto Geef, Heer, liefde en geloof aan uw Kerk English: Give, Lord, love and faith to your Church Province Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Utrecht | ||
Interview Bisschop Wiertz • Deel 1 | Bijzondere Ontmoetingen
Franciscus Jozef Maria (Frans) Wiertz (December 2, 1942) is a prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He is bishop of Roermond since 1993.
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Life
Born in Kerkrade as the oldest in a family of nine, Wiertz studied at the Minor seminary Rolduc, from where he graduated in 1961, having passed his state examinations. He studied history for a year at the Radboud University Nijmegen, before starting his studies to become a priest in 1962 in Kerkrade and Heerlen. He studied at the seminary in Roermond starting in 1964. He was ordained deacon on September 23, 1967, and ordained to the priesthood on March 30, 1968, by Petrus Moors, bishop of Roermond. He worked as a chaplain at the saints Peter and Paul parish in Schaesberg, before being asked to build a church and to start a new parish for the new neighbourhood De Heeg in Maastricht in 1977; the saints Monulph and Gondulph parish. In 1981 he was installed there as priest, which he would remain until 1985, when he became dean of the deanery of Hoensbroek and priest of the saint John the Evangelist parish in Hoensbroek. In 1991 he became dean of the deanery of Heerlen, succeeding Jos Punt, the later bishop of Haarlem-Amsterdam, and also became priest of the saint Pancras parish in Heerlen. In that same year he was also named a canon of the Roermond chapter, of which he became chairman in 1992. In 1993 bishop Joannes Gijsen of Roermond stepped down due to declining health.
On July 10, 1993, Wiertz was appointed bishop of Roermond. He received his episcopal consecration on September 25 of that year, from Adrianus Johannes Cardinal Simonis, archbishop of Utrecht, with the bishop of 's-Hertogenbosch, Joannes Gerardus ter Schure, and the auxiliary bishop of Roermond, Alphonsus Maria Henricus Antonius Castermans, serving as co-consecrators. He chose the motto Geef, Heer, liefde en geloof aan uw Kerk (English: Give, Lord, love and faith to your Church).
As a bishop he was principal consecrator of bishop Everardus Johannes de Jong, and principal co-consecrator of bishops Jozef Marianus Punt, Antonius Lambertus Maria Hurkmans, Willem Jacobus Cardinal Eijk, Johannes Wilhelmus Maria Liesen and Robertus Gerardus Leonia Maria Mutsaerts.
Wiertz is vice-chairman of the Bishops' Conference of the Netherlands, in charge of communications and media.