A joyful day in Fulda yesterday, as Michael Gerber was installed in a 2-hour ceremony as the new bishop of that diocese. The former auxiliary bishop of Freiburg im Breisgau succeeded Bishop Heinz Josef Algermissen, who retired in June of last year after having reached the age of 75
Until the official appointment bull was read out, thus signifying the exact moment that Bishop Gerber became the ordinary of Fulda, the proceedings were lead by Archbishop Hans-Josef Becker, the archbishop of Paderborn and the metropolitan of the Church province to which Fulda belongs. Archbishop Becker handed the 12th-century bishop’s staff of Fulda to Bishop Gerber and then led him to the cathedra. His taking possession of the bishop’s seat was met with a lengthy applause, indicative of the joy with which Bishop Gerber has been received in his new diocese.
Virtually every media source has noted that 49-year-old Bishop Gerber is Germany’s youngest ordinary, but that was put in perspective by Cardinal Reinhard Marx. Once the youngest ordinary himself, the cardinal noted, “It will pass.” Cardinal Marx was one of several speakers at the end of the installation Mass. Among the bishops present was a selection of German prelates, as well as bishops from Cameroon, Burundi, Romania and the Netherlands: due to the close ties between Fulda and Groningen-Leeuwarden in the person of Saint Boniface, the latter diocese’s Bishop Ron van den Hout was present with his vicar general and the parish priest of Dokkum, the place where, the story has it, St. Boniface was martyred. Fulda is where his remains are buried.
Similar to when he was appointed as auxiliary bishop of Freiburg im Breisgau in 2013, Bishop Gerber undertook a two-day pilgrimage to his new diocese, arriving the day before his installation. He was accompanied by 1,000 faithful, among them a group of youth carrying the World Youth Day cross. Bishop Gerber and his predecessor Bishop Algermissen also took part in carrying the cross.
Bishop Gerber gave the homily himself, speaking about the story of the prodigal son, the Gospel reading of yesterday. In it, he said that today’s challenges are not unlike those in the time of St. Boniface: “What matters is that through this encounter with Christ, people can face the challenges of their lives, that they won’t let them bring them down, but that they can be cause for growth”.
Photo credit: [1,2,3, 5] Bistum Fulda – Ralph Leupolt, Dr. Arnulf Müller, [4] B. Vogt