Heiner Wilmer

Heiner Wilmer, SCJ (born 9 April 1961, in Schapen) is a German Catholic prelate who has served as the Bishop of Hildesheim since 2018.

In 1991 Wilmer earned a Doctor of Theology in Freiburg, where he dealt with the concept of mysticism in the philosophy of Maurice Blondel.

At the request of Nouwen, Wilmer represented him for four months as a pastor at L'Arche Daybreak in Toronto, a facility for people with disabilities.

Five years later he published a book (“Gott ist nicht nett – God is not kind”) in which he reflected on his faith and his decision to become a priest.

[1] In June 2019 he told the Süddeutsche Zeitung on the issue of celibacy for priests, that he himself is "a willingly passionate celibate religious" but the unmarried state of the clergy could be made to shine even brighter if it were not simply mandatory for all clerics.