Auxiliary Bishop of Roermond
Early life and education Everard de Jong was born on July 4, 1958, in Eindhoven, the eldest of six children. From 1970 to 1973, he attended the LTS (lower technical school, specializing in metalworking), followed by the MTS (intermediate technical school, specializing in electronics) from 1973 to 1976. Although he initially aspired to become an engineer, he came to feel a calling to the priesthood. In 1976, he entered the Rolduc Major Seminary, the training institution for priests in the Diocese of Roermond. Following his ordination as a priest in 1983, he spent a pastoral year serving as a curate at the St. Gertrude parish in Maasbracht. In 1984, Bishop Gijsen sent him to Rome to study philosophy at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, where he obtained a licentiate degree in 1986. Subsequently, he went to the Catholic University in Washington, D.C., where he earned his doctorate in philosophy in 1989 with a dissertation titled *Galileo Galilei's Logical Treatises and Giacomo Zabarella's Opera Logica: A Comparison*. Ordinations Diaconal ordination: September 18, 1982, by the then-Bishop of Roermond, Msgr. J. Gijsen, in the Rolduc Abbey Church in Kerkrade. Priestly ordination: May 28, 1983, by the then-Bishop of Roermond, Msgr. J. Gijsen, in St. Christopher's Cathedral in Roermond. Episcopal ordination: February 6, 1999, by Bishop F. Wiertz of Roermond, former auxiliary bishop F. Castermans, and Adrianus Cardinal Simonis (Archbishop of Utrecht), in St. Christopher's Cathedral in Roermond. Ecclesiastical career After returning to the Netherlands, Dr. De Jong became a philosophy lecturer at the Rolduc Major Seminary. In 1994, Bishop Wiertz appointed him as a curate at the Basilica of Saint Servatius in Maastricht. In 1995, he was appointed as a student chaplain in Maastricht. In addition, he was appointed as the diocesan official responsible for youth and vocation ministry and for evangelization. On December 11, 1998, De Jong became Vicar General of the Diocese of Roermond. A day later, Pope John Paul II appointed him Auxiliary Bishop of Roermond and Titular Bishop of Cariana. On April 4, 1999, Msgr. Wiertz installed him as a canon of the Roermond Cathedral Chapter. On June 1, 2020, Pope Francis appointed him Military Bishop and Administrator of the Military Ordinariate.