Bishop Ronald Philippe Bär died in Teteringen on Saturday at the age of 96. The diocese of Rotterdam, where he was Emeritus Bishop, announced. Bär was also emeritus bishop of the Dutch military ordinariat.
Bär has been living in the Park Zuiderhout care home since 2020, on the grounds of the Sint-Franciscus Xaverius mission house in Teteringen, a church village in the municipality of Breda.
Bär was dedicated to Bishop on March 20, 1982. On November 22 of that year, he was appointed bishop of the military ordinariat, a diocese that is not connected to an area but to the army.
When Simonis was appointed Archbishop of Utrecht, Bär succeeded him on October 19, 1983 as bishop of Rotterdam. Bär was the third bishop of the diocese of Rotterdam.
On March 13, 1993 he retired, a pension for a professor or spiritual. After his retirement, Bär lived in the monastery of the Benedictines in Chevetogne, Belgium.
First auxiliary bishop
Bär was born in Manado, on Celebes, present-day Sulawesi, in the then Dutch East Indies. In 1954 he entered the Benedictine Klooster van Chevetogne and received the monastery name Philippe. He did his profession on December 29, 1955. Then he was appointed auxiliary bishop of Bishop Simonis in the diocese of Rotterdam.
The funeral will take place on Monday, March 17 at 10.30 am in the HH. Laurentius and Elisabeth Cathedral in Rotterdam.