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Posted on 09/09/2007 9:33:35 PM PDT by monomaniac
Swiss Court Says Labor Law Forbids Bishop from Removing Dissident Priest from Parish
Priest repudiated essential Catholic teachings on marriage and homosexuality and criticized Vatican
By Peter J. Smith
ZURICH, September 7, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A Swiss court has ruled that a Catholic bishop has no authority to remove a rebel priest from his parish post under Switzerland's labour laws.
The Basel Country cantonal court decided that Father Franz Sabo will remain at the parish of Röschenz as a parish administrator, despite the countervailing orders from Basel Bishop Kurt Koch.
Fr. Sabo has been supported by the majority of Röschenz parishioners, whom he served as pastor from 1998-2005. Fr. Sabo was removed from his pastorate in 2005 after he publicly reviled Bishop Koch and repudiated essential Catholic teachings on marriage and homosexuality.
When Bishop Koch took steps to extricate Fr. Sabo from Röschenz entirely, the parish took him to court saying they rejected "the dictate of the bishop" and would continue to contract Fr. Sabo as a parish administrator.
The judges ruled in favour of the parish, saying the diocese had authority only to revoke Fr. Sabo's teaching authority or canonical mission. However the matter of Fr. Sabo's complete dismissal was also ruled to violate Swiss labour laws and as such the Catholic Church must permit Fr. Sabo to resume activities as parish administrator at Röschenz .
In August 2003 Fr. Sabo blasted Bishop Koch in the Basler Zeitung newspaper calling the bishop "heartless" and the Church out of touch with the pulse of the times and with his diocese. Fr. Sabo denounced Bishop Koch's directive banning defrocked priests from offering Mass, but also tore into the Vatican's defense of traditional marriage and teachings against homosexuals living together.
After two ensuing discussions, Bishop Koch decided to remove Fr. Sabo's canonical mission in September 2005, and then revoked the rebel priest's licence that October after he refused to leave the parish.
The Swiss court's deliberate intrusion in the Catholic Church's disciplinary matters and self-governance not only renders Bishop Koch powerless to oversee the proper teaching of the Catholic faith within his diocese, but sets a precedent that may carry ramifications for other bishops in Switzerland and Europe dealing with dissident priests and parishes.
He may have to sell the property. I guess they will let him do that. Let the parishioners buy it and set up their own church. They are no longer Catholics,it seems.
PING!
VERY well said. Thank you.
If this man views himself as one, then he is no longer a priest.
End of story.
Same goes for televangelists that make millions $ a year based on what an equivalent CEO of an empire would be worth. They will hear the words "Depart from me, I never knew you"
The Pope should ex-communicate the priest. That should take care of the problem. Let’s see what the Swiss courts would do about that. The Catholic Church better watch out here or it will lose authority over its own church and its priest and administrators. This is just step 1 by the secular courts.
Long term solution: dismissal from the clerical state.
Fr. Sabo, your transfer to China has arrived.
I wonder who owns the property under Swiss law? Under US law, the bishop officially owns all parish property as "corporation sole." But I don't know if that's the case in Switzerland.
I hope this can be appealed to a higher court in Switzerland and overturned. If it stands, it puts the Catholic Church in the same position as in China: an state Church (The Catholic Patriotic Chinese Swiss Association) vs the real, underground Church meeting in barns and open fields.
Wow..what a busy week. The UK, and now Swiss meddling in the affairs of the Church. China here we come.
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