Onheilig moeten: drie studies over aspecten van het katholicisme [Bespreking van: G. Ackermans, M. Monteiro (2007) Mannen Gods: clericale identiteit in verandering; A. van den Oord (2007) Voor het oog van het kerkvolk: Tilburgs volksklasse tussen klerikale normering en geleefde praktijk, 1927-1939; M. Derks (2007) Heilig moeten: radicaal-katholiek en retro-modern in de jaren twintig en dertig]

In this contribution, three recent studies about Dutch Catholicism in the first half of the twentieth century are reviewed. The success of the ‘verzuiling’ [pillarization] of the Catholic population was striking: the cohesion of the Catholic pillar was great, compared with the other pillars; in the Netherlands, the Catholic pillarization was also greater than in other countries. This success can be explained to a large extent by the intensive use of sacralism. The literature under review makes that perfectly clear, although it does have a strong tendency to blur this image by giving too much attention to so-called ‘other Catholics’ who managed to extricate themselves one way or another from the clergy’s authority.