Peter Hepp

Peter Hepp (born June 30, 1961 in Ehingen (Danube) ) is a deaf-blind German pastor and author . In 2003 he was the first deacon in Germany to be ordained a deacon of the Roman Catholic Church .

Career

Deaf from birth , Hepp learned the spoken language from the age of five (through articulation lessons ) and later, in a boarding school for the deaf in Schwäbisch Gmünd , German sign language .

After finishing school, he completed an apprenticeship as a machine fitter . He became a believer and worked for several years as a carer for the visually impaired in the Franciscan monastery in Heiligenbronn (today: St. Franziskus Heiligenbronn Foundation ). Hepp considered becoming a monk , but abandoned these plans.

When he became increasingly blind over time as a result of Usher syndrome (type I) , he completed an apprenticeship as a basket maker in the monastery . In 1994 he left the monastery and worked temporarily as a basket maker. In the years that followed, Hepp increasingly gave lectures on deafblindness and was involved in various associations for the blind and deaf.

In March 2000 he began a diaconate training, which ended on June 7, 2003 with the deacon ordination . Since September 2000 he has been a pastor for the deaf-blind.

Today, Hepp works as a pastor for people with hearing and visual impairments in the Rottenburg-Stuttgart diocese. He gives sermons and lectures in sign language and communicates in Lormen , hand-touched sign language and Braille ; At times assistants translate into the Lorm alphabet. He also writes articles for specialist journals and holds seminars.

In 2005 his biography was published under the title The World in My Hands. A life without hearing and seeing.

Hepp has been married since 1998 and has two sons.

On April 6, 2016, Hepp was the first deaf-blind person to receive the Federal Cross of Merit in Rottweil .

literature

• Peter Hepp: The world in my hands. A life without hearing and seeing. Ullstein, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-548-36939-6 ( Ullstein 36939).

Web links

• When hearing and seeing pass by . Literature review on the website of Deutschlandradios Kultur