Würzburg. The Bishop of Hildesheim has been elected chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference, the assembly of all diocesan and auxiliary bishops in Germany. Bishop Heiner Wilmer SCJ belongs to the Priests of the Sacred Heart and previously served as Superior General. The institute is also known as the Dehonians or as the Community of the Priests of the Sacred Heart, a Catholic religious congregation. The French priest Léon Gustave Dehon (1843–1925) founded the order in 1878.
As a religious active at an international level, Father Heiner Wilmer is familiar with the situation of the Church in Germany as well as that of the universal Church. He comes from the Emsland region in northern Germany, north-west of the city of Osnabrück and bordering the Netherlands, and maintains a strong international network. The new chairman is also well acquainted with the Vatican, as the generalate of his order – where he lived for several years – is located in Rome. With today’s election, he succeeds Bishop Georg Bätzing and will represent the German Bishops’ Conference externally for the next six years.
From Emsland to the Bronx
Wilmer was born on 9 April 1961 in Schapen in Emsland. In August 1980, he entered the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart and took his perpetual vows in 1985. He was ordained to the priesthood in Freiburg on 31 May 1987. From 1987 to 1993, he pursued further studies in Rome and Freiburg. After serving as a trainee teacher and later as a teacher in Meppen, Vechta and the Bronx in New York, he became headmaster of the Leoninum grammar school in Handrup in Emsland.
From 2007 to 2015, he served as Provincial of the German Province of the Priests of the Sacred Heart in Bonn and subsequently, until 2018, as Superior General of the order in Rome. On 6 April 2018, Heiner Wilmer was appointed the 71st Bishop of Hildesheim by Pope Francis. On 1 September 2018, he was consecrated bishop and installed in office.
