Gerhard Ulrich

Gerhard Ulrich (2009)

Gerhard Ulrich (born March 9, 1951 in Hamburg ) is a German Protestant - Lutheran theologian , was regional bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern Germany (Northern Church) from 2013 to the end of March 2019 and was the leading bishop of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church from 2011 to 2018 Germany (VELKD).

Life and work, honors

Ulrich grew up as the son of a police officer in Hamburg-Rahlstedt . After graduating from high school in Rahlstedt, he did military service from 1971 to 1972 and initially studied German, drama and acting. In 1974 he switched to studying Protestant theology, which he completed at the University of Hamburg .

From 1979 to 1981 he was vicar in Preetz in Holstein. In 1981 he was in the cathedral to Lübeck by Bishop Ulrich Wilckens ordained. Ulrich was initially the parish administrator in Barsbüttel in the Stormarn church district. From 1983 to 1986 he moved to a pastor's office in Hamburg-Wellingsbüttel and between 1987 and 1990 took on the task of a full-time mentor for the training of vicars in the Schleswig region. In 1991 he became director of the preachers and study seminar of the North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church in Preetz.

From 1996 Ulrich was provost of the fishing parish based in Kappeln and from 2003 he was also a member of the church leadership of the North Elbian Church.

On July 12, 2008, the regional synod of the North Elbian Church elected him for an initial ten years as bishop of the newly circumscribed Schleswig and Holstein district, succeeding Hans Christian Knuth , who retired for reasons of age. Ulrich took office on October 1, the official inauguration in Schleswig Cathedral took place on November 8, 2008.

In 2009, Bishop Ulrich was elected chairman of the church leadership of the North Elbian Church and chairman of the joint church leadership of the three Protestant regional churches of North Elbia, Mecklenburg and Pomerania and, through his diplomatic skills, contributed significantly to the fact that these three churches at Pentecost 2012 became a common Evangelical -Lutherian Church in Northern Germany (Nordkirche) merged. For this reason, until the election of a joint regional bishop, he relocated his work to the North Elbian Church Office in Kiel. The North Elbian Synod appointed a bishop's proxy for the Schleswig and Holstein district to perform its tasks in the Schleswig and Holstein district. Gothart Magaard has been performing this task since October 1, 2009 , who officially succeeded him as Bishop in the district on May 1, 2014.

In November 2009 Ulrich was elected deputy chairman of the Bishops' Conference of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany (VELKD). On November 4, 2011, he was elected as the successor of Johannes Friedrich as leading bishop of the VELKD and also took his place on the board of trustees of the International Martin Luther Foundation .

Since February 2010 he has appeared with a short proclamation in the series “So Seen” on Sat.1 .

On April 1, 2012, two years after the Ahrensburg cases of abuse became known, Ulrich came to the parish of Ahrensburg for the first time to preach with Bishop Kirsten Fehrs at Palmarum in the castle church. "In the past, the speed and manner in which the church leadership dealt with cases of abuse had repeatedly caused criticism."

Gerhard Ulrich was elected as the only candidate on February 21, 2013 in Lübeck as the first regional bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in northern Germany. He was released from the office of Sprengelbishop for the district of Schleswig and Holstein on May 28, 2013 by the Magdeburg state bishop Ilse Junkermann . On August 25, 2013, she solemnly introduced him to his new office as regional bishop in Schwerin Cathedral . His term of office ended at the end of March 2019 when he turned 68.

In February 2019, the Theological Faculty of the University of Kiel honored Ulrich's work with the award of an honorary doctorate .

Ulrich has been married to Cornelia, b. Bobert, and father of four sons.

Other functions and offices

Ulrich belonged during his professional life a. a. the following bodies:

Member of the North Elbe-Mecklenburg-Pomerania Cooperation Committee (since 1998)
Member of the "steering group" for the merger negotiations for the formation of the Northern Church (since 2007)
Member of the board of the financial advisory board of the church districts of the NEK
Member of the advanced training committee of the church leadership (until 2004)
Member of the working group "KiTa 2010"
Chairman of the "Young Talent Working Group"
Chairman of the “Personnel Development Working Group” in the convent of the provosts
Member of the General Assembly of the North Elbe Mission Center
Member of the supervisory board of the Diakonisches Werk Schleswig-Holstein
Member of the supervisory board of the Diakonissenanstalt Flensburg
Member of the EKD church conference

criticism

In an Easter article for the printed edition of the Evangelische Zeitung on March 27, 2016, Ulrich wrote that after the crucifixion and the first shock, the disciples of Jesus understood that Jesus is dead. “His body will perish like any human body.” Ulrich's utterances met with fierce criticism from theologically conservative Christians. On the grounds that Ulrich had broken his promise of ordination and was "in contradiction to the gospel and the doctrinal confessions of our church", Jochen Teuffel granted him, who as the leading bishop of the VELKD according to its constitution has the right to sit on all pulpits of the United Church preach, an explicit pulpit ban for the Martin Luther Church in Vöhringen (Iller) . Ulrich, for his part, made it clear in a sermon that he by no means denied the physical resurrection, but that the allegations were torn from the context of a Good Friday and Easter contemplation.