Georg Sterzinsky
Georg Maximilian Cardinal Sterzinsky ( born February 9, 1936 in Warlack, Circle Healing Mountain, East Prussia, today Worławki, powiat Olsztyński, † June 30, 2011 in Berlin) was Archbishop of Berlin.
Life
Georg Maximilian Sterzinsky came from the Warmia in Prussia. He grew up in a large family. His mother died when he was eleven years old. After the Second World War, the family was expelled from East Prussia in 1946. She came to Thuringia in the later GDR.
After 1954 began the study of Catholic theology, he was ordained deacon on 15 November 1959 and on 29 June 1960 in Erfurt as a priest, he was then to 1962 chaplain to St. Elizabeth in Eisenach, 1962-1964 Prefect and assistant at Regional seminary Erfurt, 1964-1966 Vicar of the Parish Church of St. Mary in the Holy City, from 1966 to 1981 pastor of St. John the Baptist (Jena). In 1981 he was appointed by Joachim Wanke Vicar General in Bishop's Office Erfurt- Meiningen. Pope John Paul II awarded him on 8 March 1982 the title of Honorary Prelate of His Holiness.
1989 elected him the Berlin cathedral chapter to the bishop of Berlin; the papal appointment was made on June 24, 1989 The Episcopal ordination gave him Joachim Wanke on 9 September 1989.; Co-consecrators were John Kapp and Wolfgang Weider. His motto was Deus semper maior ("God is always greater ").
On June 28, 1991, Pope John Paul II was a cardinal priest with the titular church of San Giuseppe all'Aurelio to the College of Cardinals. With the elevation of the bishopric to an archbishopric in Berlin on 27 June 1994 Sterzinsky first archbishop of Berlin and Metropolitan of the Ecclesiastical Province of Berlin was. At the conclave in 2005 Cardinal Sterzinsky participated as a Cardinal elector.
On 24 February 2011, Pope Benedict XVI. be reaching the 75th birthday pre- attached for reasons of age resignation to. The official duties in the Archdiocese of Berlin took Auxiliary Bishop Matthias Heinrich as diocesan administrator. On July 2 of that year appointed Benedict XVI. Cologne Bishop Rainer Maria Woelki successor Sterzinskys.
Georg Cardinal Sterzinsky died after a serious illness in the early hours of the 30th June 2011 in Berlin. Following the Requiem Mass at St. Hedwig's Cathedral, he was buried on 9 July 2011 in the lower church of the cathedral.
Also on the monumental St. Hedwig's Cemetery in the Konrad- Wolf -Straße in the district of Lichtenberg district Berlin -Alt- Hohenschonhausen, its is thought. On a simply decorated with the inscription epitaph The eternal light them light. The deceased Brandenburgern immediately adjacent to the cemetery chapel all deceased members of the Cathedral Parish of St. Hedwig are noted, including Georg Cardinal Sterzinsky.
Work
Shortly after taking office in 1989 Sterzinsky had the task of joining the Diocese of Berlin ( since June 27, 1994 as an archdiocese ), in addition to Berlin covers parts of Brandenburg and Mecklenburg- Vorpommern due to reunification. In the restructuring of the surface second-largest diocese in Germany he had to deal with in addition to the inclusion massive financial problems.
Cardinal Sterzinsky contribution focused on the migration and asylum policy and established in the German Bishops' Conference, the Sub-Commission for Women in Church and society.
Memberships
Roman Curia
- Congregation for Catholic Education (1991-2011)
- Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People (1995-2011)
- Pontifical Council for Dialogue with Non-Believers (1991-1994)
German Bishops' Conference
- Commission for Marriage and Family (Chairman ) ( 1991-2011 )
- Migration Commission ( Vice-Chairman ) ( 1996-2011 )
- Pastoral Commission ( Vice Chairman) Under Commission on Women in Church and Society ( Chairman) ( 1999-2011 )
Honors
- 2000: Great Cross of Merit with Star and Sash of the Federal Republic of Germany of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany