On December 3, 2021, the treasurer of Klosterneuburg Monastery, Walter Simek, died at the age of 87. Under his economic leadership Klosterneuburg Monastery became one of the wealthiest Abbeys in Europe. Using this example, I would like to show how the Roman Catholic Church works behind the scenes:
Walter Simek was my secret stepfather. He represented everything that also defines the Roman Catholic Church: pomp, arrogance, conceit, self-righteousness, cowardice, intrigue, hypocrisy, manipulation, abuse and lies. Jesus himself warned us about people like him:
“Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the temples and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.” (Luke 20:46f)
Walter was the pastor my parents had sought out in dire need to get consolation and advice from him. He recommended that they break up. As a result, my father left the family, my mother, my brother and me. What happened after that, I described in my story “Sinnlos” as follows:
I was surprised when we spent a short vacation in Rome together with Columban in 1991 and my mother – unlike ever before – shared the room with him. I was stunned when I found his letters to my mother in our living room cupboard. I was indignant when he said to me on a following phone call that he would “not only go to the theatre and the opera, but also to bed” with my mother. And I broke up with him when he told me, after I had welcomed my father back at my home: “The best for everyone involved, especially for himself would be if your father dies soon.”
Today Columban plays the grandfather of my two children, who goes on skiing holidays in the Alps and on summer vacations to the Italian Adriatic with them, who presents antique furniture to my mother and who, at the urgent request of my mother, baptized my children shortly before they started school. On the other hand, my children saw my father only twice in their lives, very briefly, and never spoke to him once.
Meanwhile Mummy’s Columban frankly told me years ago that “sexually there isn’t as much going on as it used to be” and, as treasurer of one of the biggest landowners in Austria, makes decisions that leave the astonished public wondering how this can be “Christian”. Poverty, chastity, obedience – as a religious you cannot break more vows.
(Peter Wurm: “Sinnlos“, Edition Sonnberg, Vienna 2016)
There is still a lot to be said about this, but it is not intended for the public. I can therefore only write about my own experiences here, and even this only to a limited extent.
Since my childhood, Walter did not appear as a priest in our family circle, but as a private person. As a rule, after the mass on Saturday evening we waited in the car on Stiftsplatz until Walter, now in civilian clothes, got in with us and took a seat in the passenger seat. So we spent the evenings, often during the week, always in groups of four. Walter was also always there at lunch on Sundays, as well as on our vacations.
As kids we never knew how to deal with this. Who was allowed to know about this relationship and who was not? When in doubt, we were encouraged to hide, hypocrite and lie, even to our father. Some of my mother’s friends knew, others weren’t allowed to know. For me as a child it was hell. I had been on vacation with him twice, without my family.
In 2011 I finally turned to Walter’s only superior, the abbot of the monastery, Provost Bernhard Backovsky. He refused to listen to me. Then I told my story to the Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn. He let me know that the bishop was not responsible and referred me to the religious congregation in Rome “for really serious circumstances”. A year later, Joseph Ratzinger resigned as Pope Benedict. His successor Jorge-Mario Bergoglio waited seven more years until Provost Bernhard Backovsky had to resign “for health reasons” in spring 2020.
After a papal investigation in the summer, Pope Benedict’s former secretary, Curia Bishop Josef Clemens, was appointed papal delegate for Klosterneuburg Monastery. This order was published on the day of Saint Leopold, the founder of Klosterneuburg Monastery. The Curia Bishop should be provided with an administrator on site. As a result, the Monastery has not been allowed to make independent decisions since last year. This approach was unprecedented; it was the first time in the history of the Church.
Initially, the former abbot of the Heiligenkreuz Abbey, Gregor Henckel-Donnersmarck, was appointed administrator for the Klosterneuburg Monastery. After his order was published on April 22, 2021, I forwarded him my information about Walter Simek the next day in Heiligenkreuz. In a subsequent phone call, he explained to me that he was not up to this case. On May 3, 2021 it was published that Gregor Henckel-Donnersmarck would not take up his post “for health reasons”.
After a feverish search, another former abbot was found who agreed to take over the office of administrator. It was the former provost of the Herzogenburg Monastery, Prelate Maximilian Fürnsinn, who took office on July 1, 2021. In consultation with Rome, the Walter Simek case was immediately outsourced to the Office for Abuse and Violence Prevention and the Ombudsman for Victims of Violence and Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church of the Archdiocese of Vienna. On November 12, 2021, I then asked the staff unit to speak to Walter in front of witnesses. At the end of November, Klosterneuburg Monastery was asked for a statement. On December 6th the answer came that Walter Simek had died three days ago.
Klosterneuburg Monastery bids farewell with the following words:
“In Walter the Klosterneuburg Monastery loses a ‘capable and faithful servant of his master’ (cf. Mt 25:21), a reliable and at the same time sober and enthusiastic pastor, scientist and economist; the confreres will have to miss an exemplary role model in terms of monastic discipline and brotherly love, all employees thank a great sponsor of their work.”
What should you think of it when you know the background? A week after Walter’s death, I was standing in front of his body. As he lay before me, so pale embalmed in the dark cloister of Klosterneuburg Monastery, I thought of Jesus preaching in the temple:
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” (Matthew 23:23ff)
And as I went out, Jesus came back to my mind:
“Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. ‘Do you see all these things?’ he asked. ‘Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.’” (Matthew 24:1f)
“You cannot serve both God and money.”
Farewell, Walter! Rest in peace wherever you are now.
—
Vienna Calling 