Zlin, South Moravia, April 10 (CTK) – Pavel Benedikt Stransky, a priest from Zlin, was elected new head of the Old Catholic Church in the Czech Republic by the Church synod on Friday and he will take up the post as from July, he told CTK yesterday.
The Old Catholic Church has only one bishop, its head, in the Czech Republic.
Stransky will replace Dusan Hejbal, who was elected bishop in 1991.
Until recently, Stransky worked with the police. He joined them in 1999. Last year, he became the spokesman for the Zlin regional police.
Simultaneously, he has worked as an Old Catholic priest since 2003.
Stransky, the bishop-elect, will take up the episcopal post on July 17, according to information on the Church’s website.
The Old Catholic Church follows up the faith and life of the first Christians. It does not seek anything beyond what it needs to secure its basic needs. It does not set celibate as a condition for priests and it has its priests elected by its communities of believers.
In the latest census in 2011, a total of 1,700 Czech inhabitants claimed their adherence to the Old Catholic Church.
