Former German diocesan leader forsakes Catholicism
May 17, 2022
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CWN Editor's Note: The former vicar general of the Speyer diocese in Germany has announced that he is leaving the Catholic Church, joining a schismatic group, and publishing a book about his experience.
Father Andreas Sturm said that he is joining the Old Catholics, a group that broke with Rome after Vatican I, because he “lost hope and confidence over the years that the Roman Catholic Church can truly transform itself.” He explained that he wished for changes in Church teaching on homosexuality, celibacy, divorce, and marriage—and was no longer confident that the German bishops’ Synodal Path will produce dramatic change on those questions.
The Old Catholics, numbering about 15,000 in Germany, allow for divorce and remarriage, the ordination of women, and same-sex unions.
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