In 1987 he earned a doctorate in medicine from the University of Leiden,[3] with a dissertation about euthanasia.[4] In 1990 he completed a PhD in philosophy at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum)[3] with a dissertation entitled The ethical problems of genetic engineering of human beings.[citation needed] Eijk also earned a master's degree and doctorate in theology at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome.[3] At the same time he taught moral theology at the seminary of Rolduc. From 1996, Eijk was professor of moral theology in pontifical Faculty of Theology in Lugano, Switzerland. From 1997 to 1999 he was a member of the International Theological Commission.[3]
Eijk was appointed Bishop of Groningen-Leeuwarden on 17 July 1999 and consecrated a bishop on 6 November.[1] He chose the motto Noli recusare laborem ("Do not reject the work"), taken from the last words of Martin of Tours.[2] As bishop he restricted the role of the laity in church services in comparison with past practice.[4]
Pope John Paul II named him a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life on 4 August 2004[1] and a member of its governing council on 23 March 2005.[5]
In 2001 Wim Eijk suffered from a subdural hematoma from which he fully recovered.[2]
In late 2013 Pope Francis agreed to a one-day visit to Amsterdam, a city omitted from Pope John Paul's visit to the Netherlands in 1985. Earlier plans were reportedly blocked by Eijk because he anticipated a lack of public enthusiasm.[14]
As Archbishop of Utrecht, he has recommended a restructuring of the diocese's 326 parishes into 48 territories, following a pattern throughout Europe in the face of shrinking church attendance. He has insisted of that plan despite some popular resistance. He said: "When I spoke to the pope, I warned that old church structures wouldn't exist by the time I retired – and that by 2025 two-thirds of our churches would have been withdrawn from divine worship.[15]
Positions
In June 2015 Eijk ordered the removal of Rhianna Gralike, the transgender treasurer of the Norbertus Parish for eastern Flevoland and Northern Veluwe, over the objections of the parish board.[16][17]
In 2015 Eijk was elected to represent the Episcopal Conference of the Netherlands at the Synod Bishops on the Family in October.[18] In advance of the Synod he published an essay stating that couples entering into a civil remarriage without having received annulments of earlier marriages represent "a form of structured and institutionalized adultery."[19] Following the synod, he became a critic of Pope Francis' Amoris laetitia. In 2018, he said the document had "caused doubt to be sown" and said Francis should state more clearly that marriage is "one and unbreakable" and that a Catholic who remarries after divorce must be denied Communion.[20]
In May 2018, after Pope Francis failed to reject a draft proposal on the part of the German Bishops' Conference to allow Protestants to receive the Eucharist in Catholic churches in certain cases, Eijk wrote that Francis was failing to defend "the clear doctrine and practice of the Church" and that this represented "a drift towards apostasy from the Truth".[21]
^Manual of Catholic Medical Ethics: Responsible Healthcare from a Catholic Perspective, ed. W.J. Eijk, L.M. Hendriks, J.A. Raymakers, and John I. Fleming (English Edition). Translated by Sr. M. Regina van den Berg, J. A. Raymakers (Ballarat: Connor
Court Publishing, 2014), 629 pp. + Appendixes.