Church fires cathedral cantor over two babies Gerd-Peter Münden wants children from surrogate mothers in Colombia
Braunschweig - Riot in the venerable Braunschweig Cathedral (built in 1173). Cantor Gerd-Peter Münden (55) ran the largest Protestant singing school in Germany there and sang with hundreds of children every week.
But now he was fired without notice after 23 years!
Because it degrades women and children to commodities and damages their human dignity. This is what cathedral preacher Cornelia Götz writes in an e-mail to 600 schoolchildren's parents (is available to BILD am SONNTAG). The cantor vehemently disagrees.
What happened? Gerd-Peter Münden has been cathedral cantor since 1999 and married the Colombian Esteban Builes-Münden (33) in 2020. Both want to start a family, have a child carried by two surrogate mothers in the Colombian capital Bogotá and bring them to Germany.
The cantor told his colleagues about this and applied for leave in early 2022 so that he could fly to Colombia. The cathedral preacher then wrote her angry email, arguing that surrogacy makes women “a pure means of their own desire to have children” and exploits their weak position in an emerging country.
The cathedral preacher made the cantor's plan public by e-mail
The cathedral preacher made the cantor's plan public by e-mail
Photo: private
Last Tuesday the cantor was out. State Bishop Christoph Meyns (60) resigned without notice. Reason: “The use of surrogacy, which would not be permitted in Germany in this form under German law, contradicts the ethical principles of the Protestant Church. Especially when it involves monetary payments.”
Münden: “We got in touch with two women, Fernanda (22) and Tatjana (32), through a clinic in Bogotá. They want to carry our children. Both of them don't want any money for it, they live in orderly circumstances. But of course we reimburse them for loss of earnings and medical expenses. We call them every day.”
Is that believable? Why should two women in South America give a couple from Braunschweig two children when they could get tens of thousands of euros for it?
Münden explains: “Fernanda told us about her favorite cousin. He was homosexual, was rejected by his family and died under dubious circumstances. She wants us to live the way her cousin would have wanted.”
And Tatyana? "She loves children, just wants to enable us to start a family."
The cantor criticized: “The Braunschweig state church allowed marriage for everyone in 2021 and now homosexual couples like us should give up their desire to have children? That doesn't go together for me."
Münden and his partner were now in the clinic in Bogotá, had their sperm frozen for artificial insemination. However, they are no longer sure whether they will continue to pursue their desire to have children.
"It's all very close to me," says the fired cantor. "I lost my dream job. My husband and I are just sad."
Forbidden but tolerated
Surrogate mothers give birth to children and then give them to couples who are unable to conceive themselves. It uses artificial insemination.
Surrogacy is banned in Germany but allowed in some other countries, such as Ukraine. There, surrogate mothers usually receive several tens of thousands of euros per child. Germans who use these offers will not be penalized.
The legal situation in Colombia is unclear. The Catholic and Protestant Churches oppose surrogacy, partly because of the risk that surrogate tourism could lead to the exploitation of women in financial distress.