The Austrian Catholic Women’s Federation (kfbö), the country’s largest women’s organization with around 170,000 members, called on September 15 for the statutes of the Austrian Bishops’ Conference to no longer require that the secretary general be a priest. «It is time for the Bishops’ Conference to open its own statutes so that this important position can also be held by laypeople, both women and men,» declared its president, Angelika Ritter-Grepl.
The request comes after it became known that Fr. Peter Schipka, secretary general since 2011, will leave the post in November, two years before his last six-year term expires, to devote himself to university teaching. Schipka explained his decision to the Kathpress agency as follows: «I have always enjoyed this position very much. But I have come to understand that it is not good, either for the position or for me, for both to be intertwined for such a long period.»
«Synodality must also be reflected in structures and positions»
Canon law does not require the secretary general of a bishops’ conference to be a priest: each conference drafts its own statutes, which only need the approval of the Holy See. However, the current Austrian statutes do expressly require it: «It is not necessary that he be a bishop, but he must be a priest.» There are already precedents of lay secretaries general: theologian Beate Gilles has held the position in Germany since 2021, and laypeople also serve in Belgium, Scotland, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. In addition, two religious sisters have served as secretaries general in the Nordic and South African conferences.
The kfbö frames its request as a demand for synodal consistency: «Synodality that is only practiced in dialogue tables but never reaches structures or positions remains incomplete. If the Bishops’ Conference wants to credibly follow the synodal path, the question of who should lead its general secretariat must be at the top of the agenda,» the organization stated in its communiqué. It also announced that it will bring the matter to the plenary assembly in November in Salzburg, where Schipka’s successor will be decided: «We will invite those responsible to dialogue on opening the position in a way that is in keeping with the times.»
A demand with its own history
The request does not appear in isolation. The kfbö has for years been calling, in its own words, for «women’s access to all services and positions in the Catholic Church,» a formula that the organization itself has explicitly linked to the priesthood and female diaconate in previous statements and public events.
To date, the Austrian Bishops’ Conference has not publicly responded to the kfbö’s request. Schipka will still participate in the November plenary in Salzburg, where his succession will also be discussed.