Susanne Breit-Keßler

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Susanne Breit-Keßler at the Protestant Church Building Day in Munich 2014.
Susanne Breit-Keßler at the Protestant Church Building Day in Munich 2014.

Susanne Breit-Keßler (born March 11, 1954 in Heidenheim an der Brenz ; name from first marriage Schullerus-Keßler ) has been senior church councilor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria in the parish of Munich and Upper Bavaria since November 2000 . She bore the title of regional bishop and was the first woman to hold an episcopal office in Bavaria. Since December 1, 2003, Breit-Keßler was also the permanent representative of the regional bishop . She retired in 2019.

Life

Susanne Breit-Keßler grew up in Oberaudorf (Upper Bavaria). She first completed a degree in German and Ancient History and then Protestant theology at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. She survived serious cancer in the 1980s. She completed her vicariate in the Munich St. Matthew Church . In 1984 she received her ordination as a clergyman in the Church of the Resurrection in Icking . She then worked from 1984 to 1986 at the grammar school in Tutzing as a religion teacher. She never held a pastor's position.

In the following years she worked as a journalist : She completed her traineeship from 1986 to 1987 at the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) and the Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR). She then worked as a freelancer for the SZ editorial team and as a news correspondent for the BR, and wrote articles for the Deutsche Allgemeine Sonntagsblatt and the Rheinischer Merkur . She wrote several books, was among other things the author and editor of three volumes of the official textbook series of the Bayerischer Schulbuch-Verlag for the ethics teaching of grades 10 to 13 of the Bavarian high schools (partly together with Klaus Tanner , professor for systematic theology and ethics at the University of Heidelberg). At BR she was initially a correspondent and from 1988 author of radio programs for the Geistliche Morgenfeier . From 1995 to 1998 she spoke Das Wort zum Sonntag on ARD and also worked for church broadcasts for Deutsche Welle and Deutschlandradio . To this day she is theological advisor to the editor-in-chief and columnist for Chrismon magazine . She is also a member of the supervisory board of the community organization of Protestant journalism and chair of the board of trustees for the fasting campaign " 7 weeks without ".

From 1994 she was media officer in the regional church office of the ELKB . In 1997 she was put in charge of the news of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria . In addition, she was theological trainer and examiner in the areas of homiletics (doctrine of preaching) and journalism for the second theological exam .

During the autumn meeting of the regional synod at the end of November 2000, Breit-Keßler was appointed senior church councilor and regional bishop for the parish of Munich and Upper Bavaria . On March 15, 2001, she took this office. Since December 1, 2003, Ms. Breit-Keßler has been the permanent representative of the regional bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria . From 2008 to 2019 she was the patron of the Lagois photo competition . On January 7, 2010, she was called to serve as regional bishop for another ten years. On April 4, 2011 she was elected to the office of regional bishop of Evangelical Lutheran. Church in Bavaria set up, but was defeated in five ballots by their competitors.

Breit-Keßler, who does not belong to any political party, was a member of the twelfth Federal Assembly at the suggestion of the SPD , which on May 23, 2004 elected Horst Koehler as the new Federal President . After a divorce, she has been married to the theologian Dieter Breit for the second time since 1998 and lives in Munich.

During a service in Munich's Lukaskirche she was retired from her position on November 17, 2019 by Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm . His successor as regional bishop for the parish of Munich and Upper Bavaria was Pastor Christian Kopp on December 1, 2019 .

She is committed as a textile ambassador for fair clothing: In 2018, Federal Development Minister Gerd Müller (CSU) appointed her "Green Button Ambassador".

Memberships

In earlier years she was a member of the Chamber for Theology of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) , was involved in the Protestantism and Culture working group of the EKD, the ad hoc commission “Marriage and Family” of the EKD and in the advisory board of the EKD communication initiative To build bridges. Today she is Deputy Chairwoman of the Chamber for Public Responsibility of the EKD , Chairwoman of the Pastoral Committee of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany (VELKD) and a member of the Bioethics Commission of the Bavarian State Government and since 2011 a member of the Presidium of the Bavarian Academy for Nature Conservation and Landscape Management. In addition, she is a member of the jury of the German Human Rights Film Prize , chairwoman of the Evangelical Hospice Foundation and a member of the Bavarian People's Foundation and the Bavarian Alliance for Tolerance .

Publications

Susanne Breit-Keßler is a member of the supervisory board of the community organization of Protestant journalism and chairwoman of the board of trustees for the fasting campaign " 7 weeks without ". Own publications:

  • Live with pleasure. A book of faith for the ups and downs of everyday life , Munich 2004.
  • As with neighbors who like each other. This is how ecumenism lives , Munich 2010.
  • Texts for the soul. Eternity is in my heart , Frankfurt am Main 2010.
  • Life sentences. The inspiration of the Ten Commandments , Freiburg im Breisgau 2012.
  • The great daughters of God. Strong women of the Bible , Leipzig 2018.

In 2007 she worked together with Archabbot Jeremias Schröder as the protagonist on the CD spurensuche [man] , on which eleven songs by well-known German-speaking performers (Laith Al-Deen, Xavier Naidoo, Nena, Pur etc.) and eleven short sermons in spoken form were appropriate the songs have been united.

Awards

In 1989 she received the Wilhelm Sebastian Schmerl Prize for her services to Protestant journalism . In June 2005 she was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany with the Order of Merit . In 2007, the Bavarian Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber awarded her the Bavarian Order of Merit . In 2009 she received the Bavarian Constitutional Medal in Silver, in 2014 the Medal Munich Glows in Gold and in 2017 the Bavarian European Medal . As the initiator and patron of the Evangelical Hospice Foundation, she received the Bavarian State Medal for Social Services in 2015. In 2019 she received the Bavarian Constitutional Medal in gold.

criticism

On the part of atheistic , non-denominational , freethinking or humanistic organizations, her earlier double function as a church person and at the same time reporter on church issues in the SZ, which she allegedly did not reveal to the SZ, was criticized as not neutral. It was also criticized (in the direction of the Bavarian Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs ) that the only approved textbook series for non-denominational ethics classes in high schools in Bavaria was written and published by a church representative.

In 2013 the evangelicals accused her of having pathologized the critics of the paper from church, media and the public as co-author of the controversial EKD orientation aid on the subject of the family in the following discussion, by trying to interpret their motivation "as fear of loss". Her designation by critics as "mourners lamenting the loss of the Holy Family" has been criticized as cynical in evangelical media.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Author page Susanne Breit-Keßler at chrismon , the Evangelical monthly magazine
  2. ↑ http://www.juedische-allgemeine.de/article/view/id/18678
  3. ^ Church district Munich and Upper Bavaria: Regional Bishop Kopp. In: Church district Munich and Upper Bavaria. Regional Church, accessed on August 17, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Susanne Schröder: Textile Ambassador Susanne Breit-Keßler. In: Sunday paper. Sunday paper, October 9, 2018, accessed on August 17, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Committees | Church district of Munich and Upper Bavaria. Retrieved May 22, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Munich regional bishop honored ( memento of the original from June 29, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on ekd.de, June 3, 2005 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ekd.de
  7. ↑ CV | Church district of Munich and Upper Bavaria. Retrieved May 22, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Susanne Breit-Keßler receives Bavarian European Medal | Church district of Munich and Upper Bavaria. Retrieved May 22, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Appointment: Bavarian State Parliament honors 43 personalities with the Constitutional Medal 2019 | Bavarian State Parliament. Retrieved February 7, 2020 .
  10. ↑ http://www.bfg-bayern.de/fgr/fgr_4_2005.htm#Website ( Memento from February 25, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  11. ↑ http://www.denkladen.de/shop_content.php/coID/23/
  12. ↑ Between autonomy and dependency. Strengthening the family as a reliable community. An orientation aid from the EKD Council, Gütersloh 2013
  13. ↑ S. Breit-Keßler: Justice in marriage, partnership and family, in: epd Documentation 30, July 23, 2013 pp. 31–34, here p. 31
  14. ↑ http://charismatismus.wordpress.com/tag/susanne-breit-kesler/

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Breit-Kessler, Susanne
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schullerus-Keßler, Susanne (name from first marriage); Keßler, Susanne (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German clergy, senior church councilor in the Munich church district, regional bishop
DATE OF BIRTH March 11, 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH Heidenheim an der Brenz