Free Republic

A senior German priest has announced that he is no longer Catholic, citing his disappointment over a lack of “reforms” in the Church and admitting to having broken his promise of celibacy. “At the same time, I experience how much hope is placed in ongoing processes such as the Synodal Way. But I’m no longer in a position to also proclaim and honestly and sincerely share that hope, because I simply don’t have it anymore.” The former vicar general described the ordination of women to the priesthood, as well as “the abolition of compulsory celibacy, dealing with queer people, co-determination...

The May 2004 issue of the conservative American ecumenical journal Touchstone contains a “Special Report” on the 2003 meeting of the "Old Catholic" bishops at Prague and the expulsion of the US-based Polish National Catholic Church (PNCC) from the Union of Utrecht. Liberal West European prelates expelled the PNCC because the latter refused to accept the ordination of women, the "blessing" of "same-sex partnerships," and sacramental sharing with Protestant eccleisal communities.