Franz Sabo

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Franz Sabo (born October 15, 1953 ) is a German Roman Catholic pastor . As pastor of Röschenz ( Switzerland ), after publicly expressed criticism of the church hierarchy, the Missio canonica and shortly thereafter his permission to exercise his priestly authority were withdrawn from him. He was then canonically suspended for about two years .

The conflict with the leadership of the diocese of Basel

Trigger and response

In two newspaper articles in 2003 and February 2005, Franz Sabo accused the Roman Catholic Church of paralysis and a lack of willingness to modernize, whereupon Kurt Koch , then Bishop of Basel , withdrew the Missio canonica from him, forbade him to read mass and also declared that the Bishop of Sabo's home diocese Bamberg will be responsible for him in the future. However, this declared Bishop Koch to continue to be responsible as long as Sabo does not return to Bamberg.

Sabo ignored the ban and read further fairs in Röschenz, with the local parish put behind their 1998 adjusted pastor; around 1200 of the 1700 village residents are Catholic. In April 2005, the majority of the 415 participants at an extraordinary church congregation meeting, but not legally binding, spoke out in favor of continuing to employ Sabo despite the dismissal ordered by the bishop. Since the pastor in Switzerland is employed by the respective parish , from a labor law perspective, a pastor can only be dismissed by the parish council, but not by the diocese. The church's last remedy was the excommunication of Sabo and the parish council.

Allegation of child abuse

In the week of October 24, 2005, events rolled over. The parish council of Röschenz, which defended Sabo, made public that in spring 2002 an unknown informant had denounced the pastor to the diocese for child abuse . Instead of calling in the public prosecutor's office as is customary with an official offense, the diocese carried out an internal investigation in September 2003, which resulted in an expert opinion. The newspaper Blick wrote: "Although this report cannot confirm the allegations of child abuse, it puts Sabo in a bad light and calls for his dismissal."

Franz Sabo had a counter-expertise drawn up at his own expense, which relieved him of all allegations. Sabo and the diocese agreed to conduct an independent investigation by the Bern professor for forensic psychiatry, Anneliese Ermer. With Sabo, this found neither evidence of an offense nor indications of a pedophile tendency.

The informant then reported to the police in October 2004. The public prosecutor's office had the pastor's apartment searched. His computer was confiscated. The following investigation within the framework of criminal proceedings again did not reveal any indications of an offense. Sabo was now officially considered innocent.

suspension

In the week of October 24, 2005 , Bishop Koch suspended Franz Sabo from duty after the parish of Kleinlützel backed Sabo on October 21 with a majority of 63%. The suspension is a step that goes further than the mere withdrawal of the missio canonica. In a service led by a catechist , Sabo declared that he would return to the ministry in a few days without authorization.

Another problem arose in the neighboring community of Kleinlützel , which is looked after part-time by the pastor of Röschenz and brothers of the Mariastein monastery . After the discipline of Sabo, the von Mariastein brothers declared that they would no longer take over their part-time work if Sabo continued to preach. The parish council of Kleinlützel then applied to the parish not to employ Sabo any longer. Sabo himself stated that he would only continue in Kleinlützel if at least 60% voted in favor of his further employment.

At the parish assembly on June 12, 2008 in Kleinlützel, the majority voted against Pastor Sabo. Then five of the six parish councils resigned. With this, the parish stood behind the bishop-loyal sister Maria Romer. Pastor Sabo then announced that he would refrain from reading mass in Kleinlützel in future. Thus the problem in Kleinlützel was solved for the time being.

The role of the regional church of Baselland

In November 2005, the Synod of the Regional Church of Baselland called on both sides to find a solution. At the same synod, a legal opinion was presented which was intended to shed light on the legal problems that exist. In particular, it was about the interaction and mutual respect of canon law on the one hand and Swiss (administrative) law on the other. Both sides received arguments to hold on to their position.

In June 2006 the regional church council of the regional church of Baselland decreed after a detailed study of the legal opinion that Röschenz had to enforce the termination. It is not up to the regional church council to decide whether the withdrawal of the Missio Canonica is lawful under canon law. The parish of Röschenz appealed against this ruling to the administrative court of the canton of Basel-Landschaft . Since the regional church council had made the withdrawal of the Missio Canonica its decision-making object and a negative decision by the cantonal court would have affected the inner-church episcopal competence, the cantonal court asked Bishop Koch to explain his position. This opinion was of a voluntary nature, but if it had been waived it would have been interpreted to the detriment of the bishop. An appeal to the Federal Supreme Court against the decision of the administrative court was possible (last instance).

In a judgment of September 5, 2007, the Basel cantonal court upheld the complaint of the community of Röschenz, because the diocese of Basel and the regional church council did not grant the pastor the right to be heard and did not sufficiently justify the withdrawal of the mission. Franz Sabo was thus allowed to remain pastor of the parish of Röschenz.

Intervention by the Archbishop of Bamberg

In December 2007, the Archbishop of Bamberg, Ludwig Schick , whose diocese Pastor Franz Sabo has belonged since his ordination to this day and who at the time had released Pastor Sabo for service in the Diocese of Basel, intervened in the conflict. In a letter addressed to Sabo, he asked Sabo, referring to his promise of obedience, to resign from his position as pastor of Röschenz. In January 2008, Pastor Franz Sabo had his lawyer answer to the Archbishop of Bamberg that he should not interfere in Sabo's conflict with the Basel Bishop Kurt Koch.

reconciliation

On September 27, 2008, Pastor Sabo and Bishop Koch stated in a joint communiqué that they had resolved the conflict. Bishop Koch reversed the withdrawal of the missio, and Franz Sabo pledged himself to be loyalty to the diocese leadership. The agreement was reached in several face-to-face meetings.

Pastor Sabo and Bishop Koch set another sign of relaxation on May 10, 2009, when they celebrated Confirmation together in Röschenz.

Works

Web links

items

swell

  1. ↑ Why was Bishop Koch silent? , Blick newspaper , October 26, 2005
  2. ↑ http://www.kath.ch/index.php?&na=11,0,0,0,d,98254
  3. ^ Judgment of the Cantonal Court of Basel-Landschaft, September 5, 2007 .
  4. ↑ Röschenz does not have to dismiss Pastor Franz Sabo ( memento of the original from September 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Basler Zeitung , September 6, 2007.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.baz.ch
  5. ↑ http://www.espace.ch/artikel_470883.html
  6. ↑ "Joint declaration on the Röschenz case" ( Memento of the original from September 20, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF file; 233 kB)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bistum-basel.ch
  7. ^ Bishop Koch and Pastor Sabo come to an agreement. In: nzz.ch. September 29, 2008, accessed October 14, 2018 .
  8. ↑ The "little miracle" of Röschenz
personal data
SURNAME Sabo, Franz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Catholic pastor
DATE OF BIRTH October 15, 1953