consecration nationality article_title coat_of_arms birth_date church title image_size term_start image name caption consecrated_by predecessor birth_place motto type ordained_by appointed ordination
17 september 2000 german gebhard fürst
 coat of arms of gebhard fürst.svg 02 december 1948 roman catholic bishop of rottenburg-stuttgart 250px 17 september 2000 bischof fuerst 2008.jpg gebhard fürst bishop fürst in 2008 oskar saier walter kasper bietigheim-bissingen germany propter nostram salutem bishop georg moser 7 july 2000 27 march 1977
gebhard fürst

gebhard fürst -lrb- born december 2 , 1948 in bietigheim , baden-württemberg -rrb- is the bishop of rottenburg-stuttgart .
fürst began his career attending the collegium ambrosianum in stuttgart , where he studied greek and hebrew , in 1969 .
he then studied theology at the faculty of catholic theology at the university of tübingen -lrb- 1970 -rrb- and at the university of vienna -lrb- 1971 to 1973 -rrb- .
in 1975 , he passed the necessary theological exams .
he then entered the seminary of rottenburg-stuttgart in rottenburg am neckar .
he was ordained as a deacon in nürtingen in 1976 and , a year later , he was ordained as a priest by bishop georg moser in the basilica of st. vitus in ellwangen an der jagst .
that same year , he became the vicar at st. joseph 's church in stuttgart .
in 1986 , fürst became the director of the academy of the diocese of rottenburg-stuttgart and a member of the caucus of bishop ordinaries .
the next year , he received his doctorate in fundamental theology for his work `` sprache als metaphorischer prozess .
johann gottfried herders hermeneutische theorie der sprache '' -lrb- `` speech as a metaphorical process .
johann gottfried herder 's hermeneutic theory of language '' -rrb- .
in 1993 , he was chairman of the leadership circle of the catholic academy of germany .
fürst was made an honorary chaplain to the pope -lrb- `` monsignor '' -rrb- in 1999 and , a year later , the eleventh bishop of rottenburg-stuttgart .
today , fürst is the chairman of the prize committee of the `` aleksandr men prize for cultural ecumenism '' .
he is also a member of the culture board of the state capital of stuttgart , a leading member in the board of trustees of the academy of the diocese of rottenburg-stuttgart , and a member of the board of directors of the society of friends and patrons of the academy .
fürst has further memberships in the history club of the diocese of rottenburg-stuttgart , in the diocesan institute , in the theological commission of the consortium of the christian church in baden-württemberg -lrb- ack -rrb- , and in the women 's commission of the diocese of rottenburg-stuttgart -lrb- since 1999 -rrb- .
bishop fürst belonged to the national ethics council as the representative of the catholic church from 2001 to may 2004 .
the council was established by a 2001 decision of the german cabinet .
fürst is a member of a.v. alania stuttgart chapter of the cartellverband der katholischen deutschen studentenverbindungen .
in 2009 , fürst criticized the lifting of the excommunication of bishop richard williamson and said that it had led to `` external and internal alienation from the church on the part of many believers , to a betrayal of trust especially among jewish sisters and brothers in their relationship to the church , and to a considerable disturbance in the christian-jewish dialogue . ''
