Bishop Bling
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A German bishop further illustrates the insular mentality of the Catholic church hierarchy
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Last week it was reported that Pope Francis suspended a German bishop whose $42 million home renovation stirred outrage in Germany and highlighted the hidden wealth of the country’s Catholic institutions.
The Vatican said the suspension of Limburg Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst would be indefinite, pending an investigation into who bore responsibility for dramatic cost overruns at his official residence.
A $42 million renovation of the personal residence may be justified for Donald Trump who is trying to appease his latest trophy-wife but is not the hand-to-mouth life that Christ preached for his disciples. Perhaps a special collection, bootstrapped to one for costs on priest’s sexual abuse lawsuits, to defray the expenditures?
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Such earned the bishop the nickname “the Bishop of Bling.” And the spotlight on wealth has been especially jarring in the context of the modest style of the new pope. Pope Francis has urged bishops to avoid “the psychology of princes” and prefers being driven in a Ford Focus; the German magazine Stern reported this week that of Germany’s 27 bishops, 15 ride in BMWs, four in Audis, and three in Mercedes.
This misuse of funds continues a long trend of the Catholic church’s misguided focus on money. As covered previously (“The Vatican, Inc.,” July 3, 2013), Cardinal Timothy Dolan, when head of the Milwaukee Archdiocese, advised the Vatican to place some $57 million of church funds in a trust that protected them from being tapped by sex-abuse victims through lawsuits.” At least he was not selling indulgences.
Meanwhile, the church takes a ferocious public position against same-sex relations between consenting adults yet is missing in action when children are abused by its priests as addressing such could threaten its perpetual fundraising campaign.
This mis-prioritization further reinforces the perception and reality that the church has an agenda that is more earthly and materialistic than the values of Christianity it peddles. Until it cleans up its act, it will continue to lose parishioners which will force it to downsize its renovations.
-I.M. Windee
