Welcome

The Department of Old Catholic Studies offers a theological education which combines the diversity of an inter-denominational and interreligious course of studies with a focus on ecumenism and the history and theology of Old Catholicism.

The Old Catholic Church emerged in 1873 out of a broad opposition movement against the papal dogmas of the First Vatican Council (1870). This protest was carried by reform-oriented Catholics who wanted to meet the demands of their time in the spirit of the old undivided Church, with ecumenical openness and with an explicit commitment to the freedom of consciousness and to human rights. The Department of Old Catholic Studies intends to continue this tradition and to render it productive for the new challenges we are facing in our time.

We cooperate with the Evangelical-Theological and the Philosophical Faculty at Bonn University and with the other Old Catholic university institutes in Bern, Prague, Utrecht, and Warsaw. We are also working with Anglican, Islamic, Jewish, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox teachers and researchers. Moreover, the Department of Old Catholic Studies participates in academic exchanges with Anglican research and educational institutes in the US and UK.

Our staff: 

Ulrike Dietzler-Bröhl (Secretary) E-Mail
Dr. des. Theresa Hüther (Research Fellow) E-Mail
Prof. Dr. Andreas Krebs (Director) E-Mail
Ruth Nientiedt (Research Fellow)  E-Mail

Prof. Dr. Günter Eßer (Emeritus) E-Mail
Prof. Dr. Christian Oeyen (Emeritus) E-Mail

Our address:

Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
Alt-Katholisches Seminar
Adenauerallee 33
D – 53 113 Bonn, Germany
Phone: +49 (0) 2 28 – 73 73 30
E-Mail