Weltbild case questions the Church

“The Catholic Church has failed her efforts to save the Weltbild publishing group. This is evident”: this statement by the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Munich-Freising, Monsignor Peter Beer, released January 14, summarizes the situation developed around the crisis of the publishing and distribution house Weltbild, which is also the second largest German chain of bookstores. The ownership, which has filed for bankruptcy, is divided among twelve German dioceses, the Catholic Pastoral military and the Association of German dioceses. Thousands of workers. The publishing group, in deep waters for some time already, has a staff of approximately 6,800 employees, 2,300 of whom work in its headquarters in Augsburg, Bavaria. The declaration of insolvency relates only to the Bavarian offices and not to branch offices and subsidiaries in Austria, Switzerland nor to the Internet portal buecher.de. Appeals have been made to the availability of the German Church to assume responsibility for the situation of the Weltbild workers, but while it is true that the members are determined to do everything they can for the employees, it also true that the budget has been filed at the Court of Augsburg owing to the increasing financial difficulties caused by the competition of digital communication, which considerably decreased turnover. The German Church, without the prospect of a credible rescue plan, was no longer prepared to intervene with the necessary funding amounting to at least 135 million Euros, as it could not make use of the sums allocated by the government through the so-called Church tax. Indeed, the Church has had to face other problems caused by unsound economic management, such as 31 million spending for improvements to the bishopric of Limburg. Saving the employees. Erwin Helmer, deacon in the Diocese of Augsburg, has experienced the vicissitudes of the Weltbild group in his capacities as responsible for the pastoral care of Catholic employees. “There is a promise to meet” commitments to save employees “with the funds already provided for” (65 million euro that the bishops had earmarked for Weltbild’s bailout during the last autumn plenary), Helmer said. “I believe that public opinion’s evaluation of the Church will be based on this fact”. In 2011, the Weltbild Group was at the center of a scandal because through its own sales network it distributed also erotic and even overtly anti-Church literature. Several times Catholic associations have denounced the discrepancy between the purely entrepreneurial activities of Weltbild and its original Christian inspiration. Marie-Luise Dött, president of the Federation of Catholic Entrepreneurs (BKU), believes that the dioceses have the duty to help the workers: “I imagine that there is a plan for support to the employees”, she told the German weekly “Die Zeit”. “All the owners have this responsibility. But the Church must be judged on the basis of the content of her social doctrine. It should be an example”, he said. Perspectives and commitments. Bankruptcy trustee Arndt Geiwitz commented with cautious optimism the possibility of ensuring continuity through credit action, which could rescue the business for the benefit of its workers. During a meeting of employees held January 15 approximately 1,500 Weltbild employees signed a letter of protest addressed to thirteen bishops: the owners are said to have jeopardized the living conditions of the employees, it says, with “no business opportunity”. According to employees, owing to “utterly contradictory” decisions taken in recent years, the owners “are to be held responsible for the current economic situation”. A word that confirms the firm intention of the German bishops not to back down came by Cardinal Reinhard Marx, archbishop of Munich-Freising, who said in an interview with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” that “the Church will not abandon employees who are concerned about loosing their jobs. We are not a company that ruthlessly gets rid of its employees”. Cardinal Marx proposed for the employees of the group a series of grants by the diocese: “A commitment vould amount to the sums envisaged in the reorganization plan. But first, the receivers have to get an idea and make known the exact amounts needed”.