Germany: diocese of Munich and Freising, young lay woman Johanna Gressung appointed head of the youth pastoral service

Johanna Gressung is the first lay director of the youth pastoral service of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising. The Archbishop, card. Reinhard Marx, officially announced it after he conferred the appointment on thirty-year-old Gressung last Wednesday. The pastoral role has always been reserved for priests, but, in the policy that aims to extend diocesan roles to lay people too, this position too was opened in the Archdiocese to members of other professional groups. Gressung, who will officially take office on June 1st, will replace father Richard Greul, who had been director of the youth pastoral service for ten years. At the same time, Gressung will be appointed head of the Youth Support Office of the Archbishopric and the Department of Children and Youth Pastoral Care in the Archdiocesan Ordinariate in Munich. Gressung has set out a goal: “We, as youth associations and as a youth support office, open spaces for young people to find themselves and their calling, spaces of faith, spaces in which children’s and young people’s concerns find their space”.
Gressung comes from Rhineland–Palatinate. She studied in the Diocese of Trier, and there she completed her training as a pastoral director. Since 2021, she has been full-time president of the Catholic Youth Community (KjG) in Bavaria. In March, she was appointed spiritual director of the Federation of German Catholic Youth (Bdkj) in Munich and Freising. Card. Marx stated: “We are witnessing a great transformation in the Church and in society, but there is no transformation without the will to leave something behind, without transforming and donating oneself”.
Redazione