Thim's Rise in Hamburg's Diocesan Hierarchy Has Astonished Erfurt Seminarians

Edit: Despite his controversial views on sexuality, his own strange past, Leftist associations and all that, this man is on the fast track to be the next Bishop of Hamburg.  He will certainly be among the three to be chosen by the Pope to replace the vacant seat abandoned by

(Hamburg) "This will secretly please our Hamburg diocesan administrator."  This refers to the possible first step towards a paradigm shift in the assessment of homosexual relations in the Catholic Church by Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck. For the  bishop of Essen went on a week night meeting in Mülheim / Ruhr here -at least at first glance- for the welfare of children who are exposed allegedly to discrimination  in same-sex partnerships.

In a public discussion, Ansgar Thim would  not have ventured quite so far. Which is why he was too cautious, says and outside the diocesan apparatus. After all, he has not yet reached the top, although Thim under Archbishop Emeritus, Dr. Werner Thissen, has already forged a remarkable career. After ten years as a pastor  Thissen  appointed him personnel officer of the Archdiocese of Hamburg in 2008. In 2009 Thim was appointed to the cathedral chapter. And in 2013 he "inherited"  the office of Vicar General from predecessor Franz-Josef Spiza.

If the current diocesan administrator is to really  arrive at the top of the diocese in just a few years to that  half  step below the episcopal rank, this is an important decision in spite of the election after the mode of the Prussian Concordat in Rome, which  decides in advance on the list of three.   Thim's rise in the Hamburg diocese hierarchy has been followed with amazement at least by former seminarians of the Erfurt seminary. Not only that their former seminary speaker was positioned "theologically to the extreme Left", Thim and former seminary classmate and current Dean and Pastor, Bernd K.,   were a "kind of monogamous couple" in the Erfurt Institute.

Fierce resistance still exists to this  in Church circles.  But the consequences that follow are no longer so dire that you would have a dramatic career slump result automatically. Unless one comes across as  too rough and noticeable in relevant forums of the global network. This is exactly what had once been confidently done by a Lübeck priest who in addition to his parochial duties  was employed as a chaplain at the at the University of Lübeck. Certainly it was  purely coincidental that this appointment came under the aegis of the personnel officer, Thim. But one thing is also probably correct: The former scandal would have been avoided smoothly, if only they had looked out and kept their place. 

Old friendships do not rust. "Pastoral spaces are a window to the future of our communities" - was the subject of a presentation to which  Thim had recently been invited to give in the Berlin-Weissensee parish of Bernd K.. The particularly illuminating insights he was able to contribute in the establishment of pastoral spaces from the view of Hamburg, revealed themselves, at least not from the content of his speech. When it comes to pastoral areas, it comes to drawing boards and plan sketches, where the current lack of pastoral wealth in the new structures will  be highly praised. Nothing is automatically better because it is different. In reality, the pastoral space is represented as old wine in new bottles.

In other words, the still young history has in its staffing up to this point and a lot else has not been too kind to the refounded Archdiocese of Hamburg. At the Hamburg fish market, one would say this: The fish always begins to stink at the head.

Ansgar Theißen
Trans: Tanced vekron99@hotmail.com
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