Heiner Wilmer

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Heiner Wilmer, 2015

Heiner Wilmer SCJ (born April 9, 1961 in Schapen ) is a German Roman Catholic theologian , former Superior General of the Congregation of the Sacred Heart Priests and since September 1, 2018 Bishop of Hildesheim .

Life

He grew up on a farm in Emsland and attended elementary school in Schapen from 1967 to 1971. From 1971 to 1980 he went to the Leoninum in Handrup , a high school run by the Catholic organization of what would later become a religious order, where he passed his Abitur in 1980. In August of the same year he entered the novitiate of the order in the Sacred Heart Monastery in Freiburg . From 1981 to 1986 he studied theology in Freiburg and Romance studies in Paris . The following year, the Archbishop of Freiburg, he donated Oskar Saier the priesthood .

He then went to Rome to the Pontifical Gregorian University to study French philosophy. 1991 Wilmer was in Freiburg to a doctor of theology doctorate , which he did in his dissertation with the concept of mysticism in philosophy Maurice Blondel dealt. His work was awarded the Bernhard Welte Prize . Then he began studying history to become a teacher in Freiburg . Shortly before his first state examination , Wilmer met the Dutch priest Henri Nouwen . At his request, he represented him for four months as a pastor at L'Arche Daybreak in Toronto , an institution for people with disabilities. After his second state examination, Wilmer worked for two years as a school chaplain and teacher for religion, politics and history at the Liebfrauenschule Vechta . In 1997 he spent a year in the United States to at Fordham Preparatory School, a Jesuit - High School in New York's Bronx to teach German and history. After his return he became headmaster of the order's own grammar school in Handrup.

Since 2007 Wilmer was Provincial of the German Order Province of the Sacred Heart Priests. In 2013, Herder published his book God Is Not Kind , in which he reflected on his faith and his life choice to become a priest. On May 25, 2015, the general chapter of his religious community in Rome elected him in the first ballot as superior general. He replaced the Portuguese José Ornelas Carvalho SCJ, who held this office for twelve years. After Alphons Maria Lellig (1954–1958), Wilmer was the second German to lead the congregation. The superior general is elected for a six-year term.

Wilmer is involved in numerous social projects in the Holy Land . In 2010 he was appointed Knight of the Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem by Cardinal Grand Master John Patrick Foley and invested in the Papal Lay Order on October 10, 2010 in Dresden by Reinhard Cardinal Marx , Grand Prior of the German Lieutenancy . In 2019 he was appointed Grand Officer of the Papal Laity Order. He is a member of the German Association of the Holy Land . On October 12, 2019, he was elected chairman of the German Justitia et Pax Commission.

Pope Francis appointed Heiner Wilmer Bishop of Hildesheim on April 6, 2018. The episcopal ordination by the Archbishop of Hamburg, Stefan Heße , in Hildesheim Cathedral took place on September 1st, 2018. Co- consecrators were Wilmer's predecessor in the episcopate, Bishop Norbert Trelle , and Auxiliary Bishop Johannes Wübbe on behalf of the sick bishop of his home diocese of Osnabrück, Franz-Josef Bode .

In a letter of thanks and farewell to his confreres and the Dehonian family, Heiner Wilmer said goodbye at Pentecost 2018 as Superior General of the Dehonians in Rome.

Coat of arms and motto

Heiner Wilmer's coat of arms

The bishop's coat of arms is divided into two upper yellow and one lower red fields, the colors of the Hildesheim diocese. The heraldic right yellow field shows the founding reliquary of the Diocese of Hildesheim (without the Gothic foot) in the Marian color blue , the heraldic left also in blue the cross of the Dehonians, which Bishop Wilmer also wears as a pectoral cross. In the lower red field you can see three white sheep, which remind of Wilmer's place of origin Schapen ( Low German "sheep"), but also of Jesus' parables of the shepherds. The coat of arms is crowned under the traditional prelate's hat by a yellow, stylized representation of the Romanesque lecture cross from St. Godehard , which in turn is based on the Bernward cross .

The motto is Adiutores gaudii vestri - "helpers for your joy" ( 2 Cor 1.24  EU ).

Positions

In an interview with the Kölner Stadtanzeiger on December 14, 2018, Heiner Wilmer said that the abuse of power is "in the DNA of the church". This requires a radical rethink. There is not only the individual as a sinner, but also “structures of evil” in the church as a community; In order to curb the evil in the church, there must be a separation of powers in the church. He criticized the self-importance and claims of the bishops. Wilmer explicitly referred to the theologian Eugen Drewermann, who was reprimanded by the church, and his works Structures of Evil and Clerics. Psychogram of an ideal as well as the Jesuit Klaus Mertes , who wrongly received a lot of beatings for making the abuse scandal public.

In June 2019 he told the Süddeutsche Zeitung on the subject of the celibacy of priests that he himself was "a passionate celibate religious man". But celibacy can be made to shine even more if it is not simply mandatory for all clerics.

Fonts

  • Mysticism between doing and thinking. A new approach to Maurice Blondel's philosophy. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1992, ISBN 3-451-22864-5 , [translation into French]
  • Whoever wants to live has to leave. Learn spiritually from Brazil. Don Bosco, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-7698-1807-9 , [translation into Spanish]
  • Johannes Duns Scotus "Tractatus de primo principio". Philosophical considerations. Wilmer, Bonn 2013, ISBN 978-3-00-040881-6 .
  • God is not nice. A priest in search of meaning. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 2013, ISBN 978-3-451-32581-6 , [translation into Czech]
  • Hunger for freedom. Moses - desert lessons to break out. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 2018, ISBN 978-3-451-37945-1 .

Web links

Commons : Heiner Wilmer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Person links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Father Dr. Heiner Wilmer SCJ new bishop in Hildesheim. oessh.net, April 6, 2018, accessed September 10, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Claudia Zeisel: Bishop Wilmer: We stand by the poor and the outcast. Catholic.de, October 12, 2019, accessed October 13, 2019 .
  3. ^ Nomina del Vescovo di Hildesheim (Germania). In: Daily Bulletin. Holy See Press Office , April 6, 2018, accessed April 6, 2018 (Italian).
  4. ^ Appointment for the episcopal ordination of Father Dr. Wilmer SCJ has been confirmed. Diocese of Hildesheim, May 19, 2018, accessed on August 29, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Bode cancels participation in Heiner Wilmer's episcopal ordination. Catholic.de, August 29, 2018, accessed October 13, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Thank you and farewell letter. Diocese of Hildesheim, April 16, 2018, accessed on August 29, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Illustration of the Godehard Cross
  8. ↑ Coat of arms of Bishop Dr. Heiner Wilmer. Diocese of Hildesheim, accessed on October 24, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Questions about episcopal ordination and inauguration. (No longer available online.) In: Bistum Hildesheim. Archived from the original on September 11, 2018 ; accessed on September 11, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Curbing Evil in the Church . In: Kölner Stadtanzeiger . December 14, 2018, p. 7 ( bistum-hildesheim.de [PDF; accessed on December 21, 2018]). Hildesheimer Bishop calls Drewermann a "prophet" - Wilmer: Abuse of power is in the DNA of the church . Catholic.de, December 14, 2018, accessed December 21, 2014 .
  11. ^ Bishop Wilmer on the crisis of confidence in the church. domradio.de, June 12, 2019, accessed on June 12, 2019 .
predecessor Office successor
José Ornelas Carvalho Superior General of the Sacred Heart Priests
2015–2018 		Carlos Enrique Caamaño Martín
Norbert Trelle Bishop of Hildesheim
since 2018 		-
personal data
SURNAME Wilmer, Heiner
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wilmer, Heiner Theodor (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German religious and superior general of the Sacred Heart Priests (Dehonians)
DATE OF BIRTH April 9, 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH Schapen