Jesuit Community
In 1921 St. Michael's Church was again entrusted to the Jesuits for pastoral care. Regular confession opportunities and great liturgies with splendid music and sermons have been hallmarks of our church from the very beginning. Today, pastoral care at St. Michael's is carried by a team of Jesuits, full-time staff and volunteers.
Our concern as Jesuits is "helping the souls", as St. Ignatius von Loyola (1491-1556), the founder of the Jesuit order, phrased it. Ignatian spirituality embraces the world and focuses on Christ. It serves the church and takes every single human being and their abilities seriously. To convery faith in freedom, to reorganize the world in justice - these are the great aims of the Jesuit order to which even the community of St. Michael's is committed.
Eight Jesuits currently live directly “behind” the church choir; five additional Jesuits live and work outside the Jesuit community. The superior and head of the community is Fr. Bertram Dickerhof SJ. As minister and bursar, Fr. Franz Schall SJ., is responsible for the practical affairs of the community. Fr. Martin Stark SJ, is the church rector and director of the St. Michael Center. Fr. Bernhard Heindl SJ, strengthens St. Michael’s offerings as a pastor and preacher and assists with faith formation. Fr. Matthias Huber SJ, and Fr. Ludger Joos SJ, support the pastoral team at St. Michael. The St. Michael community also includes Br. Karl Heinz Lang SJ, and Fr. Gunnar Bauer SJ, the ecclesiastical assistant to the Community of Christian Life (GCL).
Five confreres live outside the community: Fr Johannes Gesthuisen SJ, who is part of the pastoral team at St Michael's, lives in the Motherhouse of the Sisters of Mercy; Fr Bernd Franke SJ lives in Waldram and works as a pastoral worker in the Wolfratshausen parish association; Fr Matthias Huber SJ is a pastoral worker with the Sisters of the Congregatio Jesu in Nymphenburg; and Fr Georg Kappeler SJ is a pastoral worker in the Utting-Schondorf parish community. Fr Bernhard Dietrich SJ lives in the forest sanatorium in Krailling.
