New parish administrator Gerhard Spöckl: A strong bishop for Würzburg!

New parish administrator Gerhard Spöckl: A strong bishop for Würzburg!

On June 22, 2025, the appointment of Dean Gerhard Spöckl as parish administrator for the parish communities “Birth of Mary and Sankt Norbert - Höchberg” and “Heiligkreuz, Sankt Elisabeth and Sankt Burkard” was officially announced. This decision is made by Bishop Dr. Franz Jung, and the appointment takes effect on November 30, 2025. The office will be in Würzburg-Heiligkreuz, where Spöckl will assume responsibility for pastoral care in these two important parishes. Particularly noteworthy: Gerhard Spöckl, who comes from Kürnach in the Würzburg district, brings extensive experience from various church positions.

Gerhard Spöckl, 59 years old, passed his Abitur at the evening high school in Viersen/Westphalia in 1988 and then studied theology in Würzburg and Fribourg (Switzerland). On February 11, 1995 he was ordained by Bishop Dr. Paul-Werner Scheele ordained a priest in St. Kilian's Cathedral in Würzburg. His church career is both long and varied, starting as a chaplain in Aschaffenburg-Obernau and further stations in Frammersbach and Hammelburg.

Professional positions and commitment

Over the course of his career, Spöckl was, among other things, pastor in Mömbris and Niedersteinbach from 1999 and headed the parish community “Mittlerer Kahlgrund, Mömbris” from 2004. He was also deputy dean and took on responsibility as parish administrator in several communities, specifically in Geiselbach, Krombach and Oberwestern from 2013 to 2015.

From 2015, Dean Spöckl worked in the parish community “Sankt Hedwig im Kitzinger Land” and took on a variety of tasks in ecumenism and interreligious dialogue. He has been dean of the Kitzingen deanery since 2020 and has acted as team pastor and moderator for the Kitzingen pastoral area since 2021, a structure that was first brought into being on November 21, 2021.

The parish communities

The parish communities for which Spöckl will be responsible belong to the Würzburg-South-West pastoral area, which he moderates together with the parish communities of Kitzingen, Marktbreit and Dettelbach. This structure promotes cooperation and enables intensive pastoral care in the region. The “Maria im Sand – Dettelbach” communities and their branches also belong to this network, which annually records around 80 pilgrimages with around 8,000 participants to Our Lady of Sorrows of Dettelbach. Here the important role of the parish community becomes clear not only in pastoral care, but also in promoting community and faith connection.

In contrast, there are the successes of the Protestant Church in Germany, which, with almost 24 million members in around 16,000 congregations, makes up a significant part of the country's religious landscape. These affirm the valuable service of both Protestant and Catholic communities dedicated to charity and support.

With his appointment, Gerhard Spöckl has the opportunity to bring a breath of fresh air into the pastoral care of the parish communities and is ready to tackle the challenges of the next few years with a good hand. The communities can look forward to active, warm and committed pastoral care that combines tradition and modernity.