“We also feel comfortable without a robe,” say Katja Deffner and Katharina Will in unison. They are the new pastors of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Unterhaching and will be ordained there next Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. by Regional Bishop Christian Kopp and Dean Mathis Steinbauer, i.e. introduced to their offices by the church. The 51-year-old Deffner has been the new parish director since Wednesday last week, Katharina Will, 33, holds the newly created position as coordinator of youth work in the Hachinger Tal with Unter- and Oberhaching and Taufkirchen. For Unterhaching’s Protestants, this ends a vacancy that has lasted since September.
Although everything is still new and both pastors are in the last phase of their training, Deffner and Will already feel very comfortable in Unterhaching: “I have the feeling that the people here want to support us,” says Deffner in a warm voice. The mother of two adult sons comes from the Nördlinger Ries and worked as a religion teacher. “But I wanted to do something new after the family phase,” she says.
The parish administration is a challenge, but does not cause her fear. She has some life experience and wants to address people in the church holistically. They wanted that, as well as silence or meditation, for which she, as a trained yoga teacher, has a toolbox. In their own words, it is important for both pastors to include the strengths of the parishioners in the parish work.
“We are open to what the community wants from us,” Will adds during the conversation in the rectory. She already knew when she was being confirmed that she wanted to be a pastor: “Even though I was so young, I was respected and fully involved by the older people. The congregation is a place where you are seen and valued,” she says and wants to do the same communicate to local youth. In youth work, it is important to network more regionally in order to achieve more together.
There is already a joint confirmation group for Unterhaching and Taufkirchen. The way she, also a mother of two, talks about her doctorate is enthralling. It is about foundations in the 15th and 16th centuries, a time when citizens became more self-confident and showed more appreciation for one another. “That’s extremely important, especially today,” emphasizes Will and adds: “We want to meet people as people, not from above like we used to.” Therefore also without a robe.