The Most Reverend Stephan Burger | |
---|---|
Archbishop of Freiburg Metropolitan of the Upper Rhine Province | |
Church | Roman Catholic Church |
Province | Province of Freiburg |
Diocese | Archdiocese of Freiburg |
Predecessor | Robert Zollitsch |
Orders | |
Consecration | 29 June 2014 by Karl Lehmann and Gebhard Fürst |
Personal details | |
Born | Stephan Burger 29 April 1962 Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany |
Nationality | German |
Denomination | Roman Catholic Church |
Coat of arms |
Stephan Burger (born 29 April 1962 in Freiburg im Breisgau) is a German Roman Catholic clergyman. Since 2014 he has been Archbishop of Freiburg and Metropolitan Bishop of the Ecclesiastical Province of Freiburg.
Stephan Burger grew up in Löffingen, Germany [1] with two brothers and a sister. [2] His brother Tutilo Burger has been archabbot of the benedictines of Beuron Archabbey since 2011. [2]
After going to primary school and middle school (Realschule), he went to boarding school at Immenstaad am Bodensee. He then entered the Collegium Borromaeum at Freiburg, which was then a hall of residence for those students of theology who intended to become priests, and studied philosophy and theology at the University of Freiburg and the University of Munich. On 20 May 1990 he was ordained a priest at Freiburg Minster and celebrated his first mass at St Michael's church in Löffingen. [3] Burger spent his first years as a priest at Tauberbischofsheim and Pforzheim. In 1995, he was first parish administrator and later parish priest of St Mauritius in Sankt Leon-Rot. Between 2004 and 2006, while continuing to work as a parish priest, he studied for a licentiate of Canon Law at the University of Münster.
Starting 2002, Burger worked as defender of the bond (defensor vinculi) at the officialate (diocesan tribunal) of the Archdiocese of Freiburg. In 2006, he became promotor iustitiae and in 2007, was appointed judicial vicar and leader of the diocesan court. In this function he supervised the process of beatification for Max Josef Metzger. He was a canon of the Archdiocese of Freiburg between 2013 and 2014. [4]
On 30 May 2014, Pope Francis appointed Burger to succeed Robert Zollitsch as Archbishop of Freiburg. [5] He received his episcopal consecration from his predecessor Robert Zollitsch in Freiburg Minster on 29 June 2014. The co-consecrators were Cardinal Karl Lehmann, Bishop of Mainz, and Gebhard Fürst, Bishop of Rottenburg-Stuttgart. Burger chose Christus in cordibus ("Christ in the hearts") from the Letter of St Paul to the Ephesians (Eph 3:17) as his episcopal motto. [6]
His predecessor Robert Zollitsch called Burger "conservative in a good sense" during his introduction. [7]
During the autumn 2014 assembly of the German Bishops' Conference, he was made a member of the committee Weltkirche (Universal Church), president of the sub-committee for questions of development and the German episcopal charity Misereor, and member of the episcopal working committee for employment law. Since 2016, Burger is also president of the committee for Caritas, the German Catholic Relief Services. [8] [9]
Burger said in an April 2019 interview that abolishing the mandatory celibacy requirement for Catholic priests is possible under church law. The pope, as the Roman Catholic Church's supreme legislator, could change that, he said. However, he himself supports the celibacy of priests. [10] [11]
In a discussion evening with young Catholics in July 2021, which was broadcast publicly as a video, Burger took a negative position against the ordination of women to the priesthood. He said, he personally has a hard time with that idea. [12] [13]
In 2018, Burger had rejected the ecclesiastical blessing of same-sex couples for the Archdiocese of Freiburg. [14] In his view, refusing the sacrament of marriage or ecclesiastical blessings in such cases does not constitute discrimination against same-sex couples. [15]
Stephan Burger is an honorary member of the Catholic student's association K.D.St.V. Wildenstein at Freiburg. [16]
In 2016, he has been appointed Knight Commander with Star of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre by Cardinal Edwin Frederick O'Brien, Grand Master of the Order, and was invested in Münster Cathedral on 21 May 2016 by Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Grand Prior of the German Lieutenancy of the Order. Burger is member of the Delegation Albertus Magnus Freiburg. [17]
On 18 June 2016, Burger was appointed Conventual Chaplain ad honorem of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta during the general assembly of the German national association. [18] [19]
Freiburg im Breisgau, usually called simply Freiburg, is an independent city in the state of Baden-Württemberg in south-western Germany. With a population of about 231,848, it is the fourth-largest city in that state after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of about 355,000 (2021) while the greater Freiburg metropolitan area ("Einzugsgebiet") has about 660,000 (2018).
The Diocese of Mainz, historically known in English as Mentz as well as by its French name Mayence, is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Germany. It was founded in 304, promoted in 780 to Metropolitan Archbishopric of Mainz and demoted back in 1802 to bishopric. The diocese is suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Freiburg. Its district is located in the states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse. The seat of the diocese is in Mainz at the Cathedral dedicated to Saints Martin and Stephen.
Dieter Salomon is a German politician of Alliance '90/The Greens who served as mayor of Freiburg im Breisgau for two terms from 2002 until 2018.
Freiburg Minster is the cathedral of Freiburg im Breisgau, southwest Germany. The last duke of Zähringen had started the building around 1200 in romanesque style. The construction continued in 1230 in Gothic style. The minster was partly built on the foundations of an original church that had been there from the beginning of Freiburg, in 1120.
The Archdiocese of Freiburg im Breisgau is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in Baden-Württemberg comprising the former states of Baden and Hohenzollern. The Archdiocese of Freiburg is led by an archbishop, who also serves as the metropolitan bishop of the Upper-Rhine ecclesiastical province for the suffragan dioceses of Mainz and Rottenburg-Stuttgart. Its seat is Freiburg Minster in Freiburg im Breisgau.
Dreisamstadion is a football stadium in Freiburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was formerly the home of Bundesliga team SC Freiburg between 1954 and 2021, until a new stadium — the Europa-Park Stadion — was built in October 2021. The stadium holds 24,000 spectators and was built in 1953. It is situated near the Dreisam river, for which it is named.
The German Bishops' Conference is the episcopal conference of the bishops of the Roman Catholic dioceses in Germany. Members include diocesan bishops, coadjutors, auxiliary bishops, and diocesan administrators.
Robert Zollitsch is a German prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was Archbishop of Freiburg im Breisgau from 2003 to 2013 and was Chairman of the German Episcopal Conference from 2008 to 2014.
The Carl-Schurz-Haus, a German-American Institute, was founded in 1952 as Amerika-Haus in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. It has operated since the 1960s as a binational cultural center. It annually offers about 250 events on transatlantic topics, at which those interested in societal exchange can engage in conversations with German and American experts and artists. In addition to offering concerts and English film series, the institute houses an American library with more than 20,000 titles as well as a student advisory service for German pupils interested in extended stays in the U.S. Carl-Schurz-Haus also organizes a diverse range of English courses, taught by native English speakers, for children, teenagers, and adults. Several organizations utilize Carl-Schurz-Haus as a meeting place, including the Freiburg-Madison-Gesellschaft, an association that supports relationships with Freiburg's sister city Madison in the U.S.; the German American Business Community in Baden; a quilting club; the writing workshop Freiburg Writers’ Group; and a square dancing club called Dreisam Swingers. At the end of 2016, members of the institute totaled about 1,660 people. Friederike Schulte has been the director of Carl-Schurz-Haus since 2010, while the chairman of the board is currently attorney-at-law Gerhard Manz.
Rainer Maria Woelki is a German Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He has been Archbishop of Cologne since his installation on 20 September 2014 following his election by the Cathedral Chapter to succeed Joachim Meisner in that position. He previously served as Archbishop of Berlin.
Werner Thissen is a German prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Hamburg from 2002 until 2014 when he resigned and became Archbishop Emeritus of Hamburg.
The Freiburg Declaration is a June 2012 letter signed by rebel priests from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Freiburg calling for change to Catholic law forbidding communion to remarried divorcees. The archbishop for Freiburg, Robert Zollitsch, expressed disapproval of practices contrary to church law and requested that priests refrain from signing the declaration, and to retract any signatures already made.
The Freiburg im Breisgau tramway network is a network of tramways that forms part of the public transport system in Freiburg im Breisgau, a city in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Established in 1901, the network has been operated since its foundation by the company now known as Freiburger Verkehrs, and powered by electricity. The tramway network currently has five lines. The expansion of the tram network since 1980 has served as an example of the "renaissance of the trams" in Germany. As of 2023, 73 trams were available for regular use: 2 of these were high-floored, 36 partial and 35 low-floored. Almost the entirety of the network is located within Freiburg's urban area; only a few metres of the balloon loop at Gundelfinger Straße are located outside the boundary of Gundelfingen to the north of Freiburg. In total, the trams serve 20 out of the 28 districts in Freiburg.
Franz Lackner is an Austrian prelate who has been Archbishop of Salzburg since 2013. In June 2020 he was elected the president of the Austrian Bishops' Conference.
The Zelt-Musik-Festival (ZMF) has taken place every June and July since 1983 in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. It lasts three weeks and counts up to 120,000 visitors each year. The program is very broad. There is music, art, theater, cabaret and sport in different tents and on open-air stages. According to the organizer it is the biggest and oldest music festival in Baden-Württemberg. Over the years, more than 600 regional and international artists offered a diverse program consisting of classic, jazz, rock, pop and world music, cabaret and children's program. Also, many newcomers have been promoted.
Georg Bätzing is a German Catholic theologian who has been Bishop of Limburg since 2016 and chairman of the German Bishops' Conference since March 2020.
The Stadtgarten of Freiburg is a 2.6 ha park within the Neuburg district. It has an old tree grove and a large rose garden, and lies between the Leopoldring, Jackob Burckhardt, Ludwig and Mozart streets near Freiburg's city centre. It is connected to Karlsplatz via the Karlssteg footbridge, which is made from pre-stressed concrete. Since 2008 the Schlossberg Tram, an inclined elevator, leads up to Schlossberg. It replaced the Schlossberg Cable Car built in 1968.
Martin Werner Walter Horn is a German politician. In 2018 he became mayor of Freiburg im Breisgau.
Bernhard Casper was a German philosopher.
Eisvögel USC Freiburg is a German women's professional basketball team based in Freiburg im Breisgau.