Vicar General Andreas Sturm resigns due to a lack of reforms – SWR Aktuell

In February, Andreas Sturm had SWR interview announced that he wanted to draw personal conclusions should there be no far-reaching reforms within the Catholic Church. He said: “I want to make my contribution – but not at any price. Well, if I have the impression that people are just breaking their teeth, then for me – at least in the position I’m in now – , go no further.”

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Is the Catholic Church facing a radical change? The end of celibacy, women as priests and homosexuality are currently being discussed. That is long overdue, says Andreas Sturm, vicar general in the diocese of Speyer, in an interview.
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Priests without confidence: Andreas Sturm leaves the diocese

Now, three months later, Sturm has left the Diocese of Speyer and is also changing denominations. Sturm writes in a personal statement that he wants to work as a priest in the Old Catholic Church in the future. Justifying his move, he said, “I’ve lost hope and confidence over the years that the Roman Catholic Church can really transform.” Previously, Sturm, who had been Vicar General of Speyer since 2018, had informed Bishop Wiesemann of Speyer that he would be leaving the service of the diocese “for personal reasons”. Wiesemann accepted the resignation “with great regret” and relieved Sturm of all priestly duties.

Sturm wanted to connect the church to the world

The 47-year-old is considered liberal and advocated a further opening of the Catholic Church: he opposed the Vatican in Rome by blessing homosexual couples, and he also advocated an end to celibacy for Catholic priests and the ordination of women priestesses out. Sturm wanted, as the SWR interview makes clear, to change the church, to unreservedly clarify the allegations of abuse and also to integrate homosexuals and queers: “We need to be reconnected to today’s world. We need teaching again that deals with the reality of people’s lives in line,” said Sturm in February. “All the topics – except for homosexuality – have been there before. And nothing happened. And I couldn’t bear that now. I’m not at the point yet to say: I’ll throw in the towel. But this pressure isn’t easy endure.” Storm has now resigned.

SWR church expert: resignation is an “earthquake”

SWR church expert Ulrich Pick assumes that the resignation of the vicar general will cause waves. “It’s an earthquake!” Andreas Sturm was a “spearhead” in the Catholic Church in terms of reform, change and credibility. “A lot of people need someone in the church to lift themselves up from. Someone like Andreas Sturm,” says Pick. “If he leaves now, many who shake and doubt will also leave the Catholic Church.”

The diocese of Speyer already has a successor for Andreas Sturm: Markus Magin (57), the regent of the Episcopal Priestly and Pastoral Seminary St. German in Speyer, will take over the office.

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The previous vicar general in the diocese of Speyer, Andreas Sturm, is giving up. What a tragedy! The Catholic Church urgently needs such priests, says SWR editor Panja Schollbach.
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