Thorsten Kapperer brings together the church and sport

What do graduates of Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg go on to do? To give students an insight into a range of career paths, Michaela Thiel and her team from the central alumni network ‘University of Würzburg Community’ regularly interview selected alumni.

Today we’re featuring Dr Thorsten Kapperer. He studied Catholic Theology at JMU and completed his PhD here. He now works as coordinator for the Gemünden pastoral district and as the Church and Sport Officer for the Diocese of Würzburg.

Thorsten, please describe your areas of responsibility!

There are 43 pastoral areas in the Diocese of Würzburg. They were established to bring together the approximately 600 parishes and parish communities more effectively in the face of dwindling resources. Together with many voluntary and full-time colleagues, I am responsible for 27 parishes in and around Gemünden. My duties include coordination, planning and pastoral care – such as celebrating services of the Word, providing emergency pastoral care, preparing children for their First Communion and conducting funerals.

I am the representative for Church and Sport for the entire Diocese of Würzburg. In this role, I try to bring these two areas together in a fruitful way, for example through a fathers-and-children’s football weekend or Christmas carol singing at the Würzburger Kickers’ stadium. On a voluntary basis, I serve as a spiritual adviser in this area for the Catholic Sports Association DJK (Würzburg Diocesan Association). The DJK Sports Association is built on the three pillars of sport, community and faith, and, together with others, I am responsible for the pillar of faith.

Church and sport – why is this connection important?

The Catholic Church established at the Second Vatican Council that people’s ‘joy and hope, sorrow and fear’ must directly concern us as a Church. This means that whatever moves people must also move the Church. Now, sport is undoubtedly one of the things that moves people and even inspires them. That is why it is essential for the Church to have a presence in sport. The Church must engage with the issues that concern athletes. And it must present the Good News credibly within the sporting world too – not in an intrusive way, but with conviction.

How did you come to do this job?

I grew up in a religious family. I also experienced and helped shape a vibrant youth programme in my home parish of Lohr-Sendelbach: altar servers, youth services, a youth band and so on. Through this, I came into very close contact with the message of Jesus. Over time, this message fascinated me so much (and still does today) that, whilst in the twelfth year of secondary school, I decided to study Catholic Theology with the aim of working as a pastoral assistant for the Church. Whilst at university, I completed my training as a pastoral assistant with the Diocese of Würzburg, where I have been serving since September 2007.

Furthermore, I have been an enthusiastic footballer and football fan since childhood, and so the connection between the Church and sport has naturally formed part of my life story. That is why I later went on to write my PhD thesis on the topic ‘Passion and Football: a field of study in pastoral theology’ at the Chair of Pastoral Theology at JMU under Professor Erich Garhammer. Over time, I was appointed to the role of Church and Sport Officer in the Diocese of Würzburg and took on a voluntary role with the DJK, so today I am very grateful to still be able to be deeply involved in this field.

What advice would you give to students who wish to follow a similar path?

First of all, I found studying theology at the University of Würzburg to be very exciting in itself. The good mix of church history topics, languages such as Greek or Hebrew, the study of the Bible and its background, as well as current theological issues: the course is very varied. Nevertheless, it certainly makes sense to consider, either beforehand or during the first few semesters, which direction you’d like to take afterwards: do you want to go into pastoral work in a local parish? Do you want to pursue theological research at a university? Or follow a career as a religious education teacher? Because, in my opinion, what makes studying theology unique is that you don’t have as many career options as you do with other degree programmes.

What is your favourite memory from your time as a student?

I can’t really single out one particular memory or a single event. There were so many lovely moments. I’m simply still very grateful that I was able to spend five years of my life engaging intensively with theological questions, reading a great deal, learning so much new information and having lots of discussions. It was a wonderful time that I wouldn’t have wanted to miss for the world!

Thank you very much for talking to us!

Are you not yet a member of the ‘University of Würzburg Community’ alumni network or Alumni & Friends e.V.? If not, you’re warmly invited to register! You can do so on the Community’s website. There you’ll also find the interviews with JMU alumni published so far.