The events of the recent years in the Catholic Church have been more and more worrying. This is especially true in Germany. In the last few years, a few German “bishops” have been inventing new offices in their dioceses, calling them “authorized representatives of the vicar general” or “episcopal authorized representatives”. One bishop is planning to establish an “arbitration council”, to which he subjects himself.
Lay people cannot exercise offices of jurisdiction in the hierarchy Church. Inventing impossible offices is nothing more than an overthrow of the order which Jesus Christ established for His Church when He founded it. He founded the Catholic Church, where the apostles and their successors, the bishops lead the presbyters (priests), who lead the faithful.
I am going to discuss four dioceses in this article: Diocese of Osnabrück, Diocese of Limburg, Diocese of Münster and the Diocese of Mainz. Three of the four “bishops” of the dioceses mentioned have voted with “yes” for heresy at the “Synodal Path”. The fourth bishop, the current “Bishop of Osnabrück”, has been named by Bergoglio in 2024.
Note: A vicar general is a priest who helps the bishop govern the diocese and is mandatory for each diocese in canon law (can. 475.1).
Diocese of Münster
Just in February, the “Bishop of Münster”, Felix Genn, announced that he wants to establish an arbitration council in the diocese of Münster. This is going to be a body with five members, to which priests and others can appeal against decisions made by the bishop.
While the document establishing it doesn’t appear to be available on the diocesan website (yet), its goal is summarized like this:
“to submit all disputes arising in the diocese to arbitration in accordance with the rules and procedures of these Regulations”
The claim that the bishop “voluntarily” submits to this council, is nothing but a red herring. A bishop receives, through his ordination, a threefold authority: to teach, to govern and to sanctify. What exactly he can govern is given to him by the pope. The bishop can’t simply submit his authority to a body.
Cathedral of Münster, taken in 2019 by Alf Igel. On Flickr under the CC-BY-NC 2.0 license, here.
Diocese of Mainz
In the diocese of Mainz, the “bishop” instituted a fictitious office in April 2022. The pastoral assistant Stephanie Rieth became the “authorized representative of the vicar general”. We read on the website of the diocese:
“Since April 15, 2022, there has been a kind of dual leadership in the leadership of the Diocese of Mainz: the vicar general and the vicar general’s authorized representative jointly assume responsibility in the vicar general’s jurisdiction.
Nothing is taken away from the office of the vicar general. He authorizes and can also decide on the scope of the authorization. This is the basis of it canon law. It can therefore be said that the bishop, vicar general and authorized representatives together form the so-called ordinary. This office is firmly anchored as a structural principle in the diocesan architecture.”
So, they claim that this woman is a part of the hierarchical structure of the diocese and she leads the diocese together with the bishop and the vicar general. This is a direct violation of divine law. Again, the claim that the vicar general still has full power in theory and that he chooses to delegate is a red herring.
And further: “The vicar general and his authorized representative have agreed on the primary responsibilities for strategy and management issues in a division of responsibilities. However, responsibility for decisions is shared, closely interlinked and based on the principle of dual control.”
The “bishop” claims that “[i]n our Church, not only bishops and priests should decide” and uses the old, standard Protestant argument of the universal priesthood, while ignoring the fact that Jesus instituted the apostles and their successors to lead the Church.
Diocese of Osnabrück
There, Bruno Krenzel became from February 1st, 2025 the “authorized representative of the vicar general”. On the website of the diocese, they write:
“Together with the bishop and vicar general, he works on the strategic objectives for the pastoral and administrative activities of the vicariate general. His tasks include the moderation and coordination of diocesan projects and the definition of the structural and procedural organization as well as administrative standards of the episcopal vicariate general.”
Diocese of Limburg
Also on February 1st, 2025, Hildegard Wustmans became the first “episcopal authorized representative” in the Diocese of Limburg, again as a “team” with the vicar general.
Here, the diocesan site claims: “The position of the episcopal authorized representative was created through the transformation process [the “Synodal Path”] and is anchored in the diocesan statute. Together with the vicar general, the episcopal authorized representative heads the ordinariate. Both exercise supervision over the divisional and regional heads, represent the diocese externally and are responsible for coordinating the administration. Decisions are made by mutual agreement; in the event of disagreement, the bishop decides.” “The two will share responsibilities in future: While Wustmans will focus on working with the five regions of the diocese, Pax [the vicar general] will provide intensive support for the work of the divisions in the ordinariate.”
Conclusion
These fictional offices have no basis at all in Church law. Lay people can have no office which has jurisdiction in the Catholic Church. Only ordained men can exercise it.
Cathedral of Bamberg taken in 2005 by Billy Wilson. On Flickr under the CC-BY-NC 2.0 license, here.