"Human Rights" Court Forces Church to Hire Adulterer

They are trying, anyway. From Catholic Culture:

"A European court has ruled that a German Catholic diocese cannot terminate the employment of a church musician who left his wife to live with another woman.

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg upheld the complaint of Bernhard Schueth, a music director at a parish in the Essen diocese. The European court ruled that German courts had erred in their findings that the diocese was justified in dismissing Schueth. Diocesan officials pointed to an employment contract under which Schueth, like other parish employees, had made a commitment to uphold the teachings of the Catholic Church."

Catholic Culture links to Ekklesia, which provides more information. The adulterous musician lost his job in 1997, and has been suing the Church for 13 years, each time rebuffed by a German court:

"ENInews reports that the European court ruled on 23 September 2010 in favour of a church musician from the diocese of Essen, in western Germany, who lost his job in 1997 after separating from his wife and forming another relationship.

In the last 13 years, church organist and choirmaster Bernhard Schueth has fought a protracted legal battle in his country. Time and again, Germany's courts have ruled in favour of the parish of Sankt Lambertus because Schueth, like all employees of Catholic Church institutions, had to sign a pledge to uphold the values of the church.

In separating from his wife and in forming a relationship with another woman, German courts ruled that Schueth was in breach of contract with the church even though he is not divorced.

The court found that the German labour courts had "failed to weigh Schueth's rights against those of the church employer in a compatible manner [with the European Convention on Human Rights]."

What with having to pay off the debts of their less thrifty neighbors, I hope the Germans will soon have had enough of the EU. This case reminds me of the 2009 case in Italy, where the EU ordered Italy to remove crucifixes from the classroom, caused the Italians to say "CHI VI CREDETE DI ESSERE!" (I know a more apt phrase in Italian, but Fr. Malloy would excommunicate me.) That case is currently under appeal.

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney