Battle intensifies in Archdiocese of Cologne

 Church staff appalled - Cardinal had used up trust

Cologne's Cardinal Woelki is attacked in an open letter: For the first time, 21 employees of the Diocese speak out and accuse their boss of having lost their last trust.

Cardinal Woelki was a protege of the late Cardinal Meissner (centre)

"We, the undersigned, are shocked and appalled.  We are outraged by the recent revelations about the communication strategy of the Cardinal and his management staff," write the priests, pastoral assistants and other employees in the diocese, supplementing their criticism with many individual statements.  The crisis has now reached an unimaginable low point.  Even a statement by Woelki's deputy, Vicar General Guido Assmann, was "in no way able to deal with it".

Not worthy of a cardinal

The commissioning of a communications agency alone is not reprehensible.  But the strategy proposed by the agency was unacceptable.  "To implement it one-to-one is not worthy of a Catholic Christian and even less of a cardinal," explains Ingrid Kloß, deputy diocesan chairperson of the Catholic Women's Association.

At the heart of the crisis of confidence is the dispute over an Expert Report on Sexual Abuse in the Archdiocese of Cologne.  It was practically finished when the Cardinal and his advisors decided against publishing it.  Woelki justified this with deficiencies both in content and in legal expression, which the experts rejected.

Questionable PR strategy

An investigation by the Kölner Stadtanzeiger has now shown that the external PR strategists planned a kind of influencing of the Victims Advisory Board in order to get their consent to the non-publication.  In the end, the victims agreed.  They also agreed to a joint press release with the Diocese, with which the Cardinal and his staff could underpin their about-turn.

Victims' perspective missing

The employees now write in their letter: "We agree with the statements of the victims: The Victims' Advisory Council has been instrumentalised in the dispute over the expert reports.  It was and is not recognisable that the perspective of the victims was and is the guiding principle."

The statement that the perspective of the victims should be the guiding principle was emphasised by Vicar General Assmann in his letter to the staff on Thursday.  The archdiocese has not yet responded to a recent request for a statement.

No longer a prerequisite for dialogue

While many staff members have been willing to accept the Cardinal's offers of dialogue, this could now change: "For me, the prerequisite for a dialogue with the leadership around Archbishop Woelki is no longer given," explains Regina Oediger-Spinrath, spokesperson for the professional association of pastoral assistants.

Parish priests also express criticism

Some parish priests have also signed the letter.  They are in a particular conflict, which Klaus Thranberend describes as follows: "I'm reaching my limit as far as my vow of obedience to the Bishop is concerned and I am asking myself what I pledged allegiance to." Peter Otten, a pastoral worker, adds: "The Diocesan leadership is primarily concerned with maintaining its own power.  This action is cynical and traumatises victims time and time again."

The signatories demand that power in the diocese be shared and better controlled in future.  This is a demand that many church lay people are also making.  So far, however, it is the case that in the end the Bishop alone can decide in every Diocese.  Only individual bishops indicate that they could imagine serious changes.

The letter ends with a call to "stand up and take a stand for all victims and for a church that takes care of people and stands up against abuse of power."

Initial reactions to the letter had already come from Karl Haucke, one of the victims, who at the time also spoke of the Cardinal abusing him and others for his own purposes.  Haucke told WDR that this letter was very important for him: "Until now it was a few resistant lay people who rebelled." Now, for the first time, priests and pastoral workers were also saying they felt used.  Haucke's hope: "Maybe this will lead to open rebellion in the next step."

The Woelki critic and spokesperson for the reform initiative, Maria 2.0, Maria Mesrian, spoke of a "strong sign".  She told WDR: "If the main officials distance themselves from Cardinal Woelki, then the shepherd is without a flock."  How he would then still carry out his official duties was inconceivable to her.  No matter what the Pope decides about him.

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