The renovation of the Catholic parish center in Gmund would have been necessary for a long time.
But the church administration and the archdiocese have been struggling to find the right path for years.
Gmund
- Georg von Preysing (67), former mayor of Gmund and church caretaker in his home parish St. Agidius, sums up the topic as follows: "It is very complex." As complex as church matters can be and as recent examples, clearly show the farce around the unsuccessful renovation of the little church of St. Quirin.
The Catholic parish hall, which forms almost a separate district with the town hall, the Catholic and Protestant church and the primary school, was built in the late 1960s.
Not only the parish hall, but also parish offices, two apartments for the pastor or his representative and the community library are located in the building complex.
The invitation to tender had long been planned - but the church withdrew the decision
In 2010, Preysing recalls, a renovation was discussed for the first time, four years later the church administration submitted an application to the ordinariate to be allowed to launch a tender, which was also approved in 2015.
“But the building rules changed in the ordinariate,” reports Preysing.
With the result that the decision for the Gmund project was revised.
New rules, new application: a project manager from the professorial office took the subject in hand.
A feasibility study was carried out to find out whether renovation or demolition with a new building is the better solution.
"Again, a lot of money was probably spent on it, but it turned out that renovation is preferable," reports Preysing.
Renovation measures have been reduced to a minimum
After an on-site meeting in April 2019, including with the diocesan master builder Hannes-Martin Römisch, who also has St. Quirin under his wing, the need for renovation was confirmed, but the necessary construction work was reduced to a minimum.
It was said that the parish could renovate the apartments on its own, the rest would be taken over by the diocese.
“We thought that after this date and also because of the desolate condition of the parish hall, we could start the urgently needed renovation as soon as possible, but that was not the case,” says Preysing.
"It was argued that there were other important measures with higher priority."
The heating system fails regularly, staff has to freeze
Gmund objected, "the letter", says Preysing, "has not yet been answered." Because the heating system regularly fails and the staff can only sit in the parish office in woolen coats and blankets, the parish made an offer for the renewal the old gas heating, it even had to be revised by order from "above".
The parish was still a long way from reaching its destination.
“A new person in charge in the ordinariate took over the case and requested the installation of a regenerative pellet heating system.
“That we would also have to renovate the windows for this, because otherwise the heat would be blown out again right away, is seen differently in the professorial office,” says Preysing.
Quite perplexed and exhausted from years of back and forth, the church council is now struggling to find a solution that is sensible and structurally possible quickly.
That would be the uncomplicated renewal of the gas heating for around 40,000 euros - regardless of the responsibility for creation.
Ordinariate: There are even more urgent projects
When asked, Hendrik Steffens from the press office of the professorial office confirmed that, following a feasibility study, the need for energy-efficient renovation was initially confirmed in June 2020.
"Due to the lower priority compared to other, even more urgent projects, the confirmation had to be withdrawn," explains Steffens.
Read here: Old Rectory: Offer for a million dollar donation fizzled out
The spokesman formulates the hiccups about the right solution as follows: “The local church administration is currently examining the execution and financing of individual measures, for example to optimize the energetic values of the parish hall.” A complex issue, as Preysing aptly put it.
And an enormous test of patience.
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