Church violated rights of adulterous organist by firing him, court finds

HUMAN RIGHTS judges have ruled that a Catholic parish in Germany violated the rights of a church organist when it dismissed him for adultery and bigamy.

The organist later found part-time work in a Protestant church.

In a judgment handed down yesterday, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg upheld the complaint that the man’s right to respect for private and family life was breached when he was sacked by the parish of St Lambert in Essen.

Bernhard Schüth (53) was the organist and choirmaster in the parish from the mid-1980s. He separated from his wife in 1994 and lived with his new partner from 1995. 

After his children spoke in kindergarten about him becoming a father again, the dean of the parish held a meeting with him.

A few days later he was informed of his dismissal, to take effect nine months later, for breaching basic regulations on employment. By engaging in an extra-marital relationship with a woman expecting a child by him, he had not only committed adultery but also bigamy.

The Essen labour court declared his dismissal void. 

But a federal court later quashed its judgment, saying an appeal court should have heard the dean of the parish to establish whether he had tried to induce Mr Schüth to end his extra-marital relationship.

An appeal court overturned the first ruling, saying the parish could not continue employing him without losing all credibility, as his activity was closely connected to the church’s mission.

Further appeals by Mr Schüth were to no avail, and a constitutional complaint was dismissed. Key to the constitutional ruling was a precedent holding that the labour courts in such cases were bound by principles of church religious and moral precepts that were in keeping with state law.

The Strasbourg court’s ruling is that he received inadequate treatment from the German courts. 

“The interests of the church employer had thus not been balanced against Mr Schüth’s right to respect for his private and family life, but only against his interest in keeping his post,” the court said.

The court accepted that in signing the employment contract, Mr Schüth had entered into a duty of loyalty towards the Catholic Church, which limited his right to respect for his private life to a certain degree. 

However, his signature on the contract could not be interpreted as an undertaking to live a life of abstinence in the event of separation or divorce.

“The German labour courts had given only marginal consideration to the fact that Mr Schüth’s case had not received media coverage and that, after 14 years of service for the parish, he did not appear to have challenged the position of the Catholic Church.”

The Strasbourg court found in a related ruling the rights of a Mormon public relations director, Michael Obst, were not violated when he was dismissed after confessing to adultery. 

The conclusion that he had not been subject to unacceptable obligations was reasonable, as he should have been aware when signing the employment contract of the importance of marital fidelity for his employer.

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