New Catholic association founded in Offenbach aims to represent Rome-loyal, value-conservative believers who feel excluded from Germany’s church debate.
Newsroom (16/07/2026 Gaudium Press ) A new Catholic association committed to loyalty to Rome and traditional Church teaching was officially founded on Sunday in Offenbach am Main, marking a significant development in the ongoing debate over the direction of church policy in Germany.
The organization was established by Catholics who describe themselves as value-conservative believers and who say they no longer feel represented by the current structures and public discourse of the Catholic Church in Germany. According to its founders, the movement seeks to provide a clear and reliable voice for Catholics whose concerns are not reflected by either the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) or the German Bishops’ Conference (DBK).
The newly formed association brings together a diverse international membership. Its founding members include Germans living both within Germany and abroad, Catholics of foreign origin residing in Germany, and believers around the world who maintain close ties to the country. Despite what organizers describe as a growing sense of marginalization, they insist that Catholics holding traditional views remain a substantial presence within German parishes.
According to the founders, the challenge is not one of numbers but visibility. They argue that value-conservative Catholics have become largely absent from media coverage and official church discourse, creating a gap in representation that the new movement intends to address.
The association is open to both laypeople and clergy. However, it explicitly defines itself under canon law as a lay movement, drawing inspiration from Apostolicam Actuositatem, the Second Vatican Council’s decree on the apostolate of the laity issued on November 18, 1965. Strengthening the Catholic faith and maintaining unwavering loyalty to the Roman Magisterium are identified as the movement’s central objectives. Organizers also emphasize the importance of building close ties with like-minded Catholics and existing Catholic organizations.
The initiative has already attracted support from prominent figures within the episcopate. Among the founding members is Bishop Marian Eleganti, who delivered a strong message at the movement’s launch.
“We want to defend the faith against heretical interpretations and distortions,” Eleganti said.
The association’s newly elected chairman, attorney Thommy Schott, who also played a leading role in establishing the movement, used the launch event to voice concerns about recent developments within Germany’s Catholic landscape.
Referring to the recent Catholic Congress in Würzburg, Schott argued that many believers have come to associate Roman Catholicism with reforms inspired by LGBTQ+ activism.
“The reforms from the LGBTQ+ world are what Roman Catholicism is now,” he said many attendees appear to believe.
Schott attributed this perception to both church language and media coverage. He contended that terminology employed by reform-minded clergy, combined with what he described as a failure of the press to provide objective information, had contributed to confusion among the faithful.
“The wording used by the reform-minded clergy has contributed to these errors, as has the press, which is increasingly neglecting its duty to inform and instead conveying a particular attitude,” Schott said.
He also drew clear doctrinal boundaries regarding several reform proposals that have been debated within parts of the German Church.
“We believe that the abolition of celibacy, the ordination of women, and a sexual morality contrary to Holy Scripture are not ‘differently Catholic,’ but not Catholic at all,” he stated.
The creation of the movement reflects what its leaders describe as a deep sense of alienation among many Catholics regarding the current trajectory of the Church in Germany. At the same time, organizers framed their initiative as part of a broader effort to preserve unity within the global Catholic Church.
Schott warned against the potential consequences of a separate path for the German Church, emphasizing that developments within Germany could have implications beyond national borders.
“A schism in the Church in Germany is a schism in the universal Church, for we are one,” he said.
Positioning itself as a counterweight to prevailing reform movements, the new association says it intends to promote what its members regard as authentic Catholic teaching and tradition. In his closing remarks, Schott invited Catholics who share those concerns to become involved through participation, support, or membership.
“We will show that the faith of our fathers is the true faith,” he declared.
As debates over doctrine, church governance, and reform continue within German Catholicism, the emergence of this Rome-loyal movement highlights the persistence of deep divisions and competing visions for the future of the Church in Germany.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Kath.net
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