Career
Oosterhuis was a Jesuit and is a Roman Catholic priest.
In 1954, inspired by Che Guevara who said that churches have the potential to transform the social structure of society, Oosterhuis combined his priesthood with political activism.
In 1965, Oosterhuis became one of the major supporters of ecumenism after the modernist interpretation Second Vatican Council. He started out to rewrite the liturgy and make it acceptable to all. Some of his changes were considered controversial within the Roman Catholic Church especially writing the prayer for agnostics: "Heer, als U bestaat, kom dan onder ons" ("Lord, if You exist, come amongst us").
His political views, the conflicts regarding the liturgy and his dismissal of celibacy led to Oosterhuis being expelled from the Jesuit order in 1969. He still however remained working as a priest, running his church in Amsterdam out of the responsibility of a bishop, at the time for about forty years. He is still focussed on writing liturgy, poetry and essays.
Back in the sixties and seventies his liturgical texts were put to music by his fellow former Jesuit Bernard Huijbers (1922–2000). The co-operation between Oosterhuis and Huijbers ended. The last engaged himself more and more in a 'spirituality-without-God' or '-Thou', whereas the former kept to his biblical prayers, hymns, psalms. After they both split up and Huijbers moved to the South of France Oosterhuis' main composers were two of Huijbers' pupils, Antoine Oomen (1945) and Tom Löwentha] (1954).
Oosterhuis founded the discussion center "De Rode Hoed" ("The Red Hat") in Amsterdam in 1989. The building was a former Remonstrant shelter church, hidden because Remonstrantism was outlawed in the 17th century. The building was more or less deserted at the time. Oosterhuis wanted to use it for his student organization (1990) and create a discussion center. Its nice interior made it also very suitable for TV-shows. After a short period Oosterhuis was replaced by a managing-director for a more commercial exploitation of this prominent building in Amsterdam's Canal zone - the main hall is still being reserved for the Sunday Liturgy of Oosterhuis and his church.
Read more about this topic: Huub Oosterhuis
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