Quick Facts
Biography
Bernd Wallet was elected Old Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht of the Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands on 15 February 2020. His installation as Archbishop of Utrecht is scheduled for 21 June 2020. He will succeed Joris Vercammen as the seventeenth Old Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht and the 84th successor to St. Willibrord in the See of Utrecht.
Life and career
The son of a Protestant pastor, Wallet converted to Old Catholicism and completed his theological studies at the University of Hull in 2005 and from the Old Catholic Seminary in Amersfoort in 2006. He was ordained a deacon in 2006 by Archbishop John Sentamu of the Anglican Diocese of York. One year later, he was ordained a priest by Archbishop Joris Vercammen at St. Gertrude Cathedral in Utrecht.
From 2007 to 2010, Wallet served as a chaplain in Northallerton, in the Diocese of York. Upon his return to the Netherlands, he served as personal assistant to Archbishop Vercammen, responsible for external relations with other Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht and the Anglican Church.
Wallet served as pastor of St. Gertrude Cathedral in Utrecht from 2015 to 2020. On 15 February 2020, he was elected Archbishop of Utrecht by the Cathedral Chapter of Utrecht. At that time, he shared, "I want to challenge our parishes to be open houses for those in their areas...We must continue to be open to society and testify with joy to the hope that is in us."
His episcopal consecration is scheduled for 21 June 2020.
Wallet is married and has four children.