As of: February 16, 2024, 7:00 a.m
By: Christina Jachert-Maier
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The Church of St. Anton in Bad Wiessee © THOMAS PLETTENBERG
Plans for a parish hall in Wiessee have failed miserably twice.
The third attempt also offers little hope.
The plan to expand the St. Anton Church to include a hall is not making progress.
The Ordinariate remains silent about the reasons.
But alternatives are already being sought internally.
Bad Wiessee
- “I really wouldn't have imagined it would be that difficult,” sighed church caretaker Herbert Stadler in November 2020. He had just gotten used to the idea that the parish would not get a spacious new parish hall, but would have to be content with a small solution .
It was the Archbishop's Ordinariate's suggestion not to build a new building on the meadow, but rather to expand one of the two local Catholic churches, St. Anton, in order to create a parish hall for 100 visitors with a foyer, storage room and toilet facilities.
In the meantime, Stadler no longer comments on the parish hall planning.
The fact that he, who has been fighting for a parish home for over a decade, has sometimes publicly criticized decision-makers was not well received.
There's rumblings in the parish, Stadler doesn't want to add fuel to the fire.
Pastor Stephan Fischbacher, head of the parish association, also prefers not to comment.
Construction should begin in spring 2023
One thing is obvious: four years after the renovation was announced, St. Anton is as strong as ever.
The Ordinariate most recently announced that construction would begin in spring 2023.
It was said at the time that they were sticking to the spatial program and were close to planning the design.
Church caretaker Herbert Stadler points to a measuring point at the church in January 2022 © THOMAS PLETTENBERG
The Ordinariate is currently remaining extremely tight-lipped about the status of the project.
The question of whether implementation is set or could fail due to costs remains unanswered.
There is also no information about possible changes to plans or the time horizon.
The press office responded to a written questionnaire from our newspaper with an evasive statement.
The Archdiocese of Munich and Freising is fully aware of the need for a new parish home in St. Anton, it says.
“However, we ask for your understanding that we cannot provide any information about the timing or further details before the draft planning has been completed.” Press spokeswoman Franziska Holzfurtner assures that the Ordinariate is in contact with those responsible on site about this matter.
Soil conditions are problematic
What's wrong can be seen from an internal letter that was leaked to our newspaper.
Accordingly, the Ordinariate's construction supervisory board considers it "not sensible and not advisable from a construction perspective to implement the current planning".
One argument is the nature of the soil.
Because St. Anton is 23 centimeters lower in the south than in the north, there is a suspicion that the church is sinking into the boggy ground.
In order to check this, the Ordinariate ordered measurements in August 2021.
They ended after eight months with the conclusion that the building was stable.
The building inspectorate distrusts this statement: “Not only the short duration of the height measurements, but also their quality does not appear to us to be a reliable basis for assessing the settlement behavior.”
Two million euros for 90 square meters: “Not economical”
The second argument is the costs.
They are likely to be over two million euros in the year 2025.
An investment of this amount is not economically justifiable given a planned room size of 90 square meters and foreseeable problems with maintenance, according to the summary of the internal coordination.
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The parish association received a corresponding notification in December 2023. It was accompanied by the announcement that they would talk to the church administration and volunteers as soon as possible about alternatives to the current plan.
It will be the fourth attempt.
The idea of placing a parish hall next to the Church of the Assumption of Mary failed in 2015 due to monument protection.
In 2016, the parish was able to purchase a property on Dr-Scheid-Straße under the stipulation that a parish hall would be built on it.
However, a new building of this size was too expensive for the Ordinariate.
What Plan D could look like is unclear.
No interview date has been scheduled yet.