RK St. Martinus Church

The parish of Doornenburg is probably of very old date.
Doornenburg the village on the two rivers. The village takes its name from the castle tower the Doronburc, which is already mentioned in the 9th century. As far as Doornenburg is concerned, it also had possibilities for Catholic praxis as the nearby Hulhuizen in its own kerspel area (parish), namely on the castle. As in so many places, the nobility has been one of the causes of the preservation of the Catholic faith.

The parish church will soon be built. The parish was founded for surrounding residents and dependents. The Catholics built a church with a spire turret here at the time. This church must have been one of the oldest in this region.

The chapel is open daily from 9.00 - 18.00h.

As a result of the Reformation, the church was owned by the Protestants for about two centuries. At that time the Catholics went to the church in Hulhuizen. Here, the practice of the Catholic faith was not prohibited. Hulhuizen belonged to the Duchy of Cleves. In 1797 a curious event occurred. The Catholics were in the process of getting the church back. However, this did not work. Eventually, the Catholics re-appropriated the church. The doors were opened, after the inventory of the Protestants had been removed from the church, and was again set up for their own fellow believers. In November the church was consecrated again and on November 8 the first Holy Mass was celebrated. At that time there was no pastor, but the services were provided from Hulhuizen. When the new church in Gendt was completed in 1843, the church of Doornenburg became a side church of Gendt.

Soon came the desire to have his own pastor. In December, Pastor Johannes Westerman was installed. In 1873 the medieval church was demolished and the construction of a new church started. In June 1874, the Archbishop consecrated the church.
During the war, the tower and the church were heavily damaged (27 September 1944). The archer's tent was set up as a church. After the war, the patronage building was restored as an emergency church. In August 1951 the construction of a new church was started in which the first Mass was celebrated by Dean Dr. W. Mulder on October 16, 1952. In 1961 a tower attached to the church was built.

When Pastor W. van Essen left on June 28, 1998, we were back to square one. History has repeated itself and 150 years later we have reached the point where in 1848 a church building and rectory was started, but there was no pastor yet. Since then, Doornenburg has formed a partnership with the parish of St. Martin in Gendt. Until the parish of Doornenburg was merged in 2007 into parish De Levensbron, which is now merged into Parish Mary Magdalene

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