Old Catholic Church of Austria
The Old Catholic Church of Austria is the Austrian member church of the Union of Utrecht of the Old Catholic Churches. It was nationally recognized in 1877, despite objections of the imperial dynasty and the Roman Catholic hierarchy in the formally pro-Vatican I state of Austria-Hungary.
In 1997, the church began ordaining women. In 2007, the church elected Bishop John Okoro, a Nigeria former Roman Catholic priest, who became a member of the Old Catholic Church of Austria in 1999. Prior to his election he had been the parish priest in Vorarlberg. He retired in 2015, and new Bishop Heinz Lederleitner was elected at the Synod meeting in Klagenfurt on 24 October 2015, and consecrated in Vienna on 13 February 2016.
Within the Union of Utrecht, the Old Catholic Church of Austria also has delegated jurisdiction over the Old Catholic Church of Croatia, and other regions of former Yugoslavia.The following bishops have governed the Old Catholic Church in Austria.
