Joris Vercammen


Joris August Odilius Ludovicus Vercammen served as the Old Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht of the Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands from 1 July 2000 to 11 January 2020.

Life and career

Vercammen was born in Lier, Belgium, in 1952. In 1979, he was ordained a priest for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Antwerp. In 1988, he left the Roman Catholic Church and joined the Old Catholic Diocese of Utrecht.
Vercammen was serving as director of the Old Catholic seminary when clergy and laity of the archdiocese elected him as the 83rd Archbishop of Utrecht. He was consecrated on 1 July 2000 at St. Martin's Cathedral, Utrecht, once the see of Willibrord and his successors, but in the hands of the Dutch Reformed Church since 1580.
In 2006, the ninth Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Porto Alegre made Vercammen a member of its central committee.
On 19 September 2019, Vercammen announced that he would resign as Archbishop of Utrecht effective 11 January 2020.
Vercammen is married and has three children.