It reads like a cheap financial novel. Catholic church bishop in Germany wants modernization effort on his cathedral. He draws in various local contractor crews and settles on one price estimate. Weeks, months, and years pass. He doesn't really track the cost, or the changes to the project (many), and one day.....the simple renovation project is nearly done.....at twenty-six times of the original estimate. The bathtub in his own residence was special, and was nearly $25k by itself.
The locals have gone on the offensive and can't believe the amount of waste in the project. The German newspapers have done some investigative journalism this time....and this story will rank as one of the top ten stories of the year for Germany.
The Pope? Well....this past week....he called the Bishop down to Rome and had a chat. It's unusual for a Pope to fire a Bishop, and in this case.....it's hard to say what words were spoken. Fixing this is almost impossible. The Bishop could suddenly retire, but the Church still stands as a monument to massive waste. You can't even throw out the $25k bathtub.
My suggestion? Rent out the residence to VIPs and folks getting married, bring in some really cheap Bishop who drinks only tap water and eats baloney sandwiches, and finally....charge folks who want to tour the "castle" (note, it's just not a church anymore, if you ask me).
The comical side of this? It ought to be only Catholics who complain about this episode.....because they generally are the ones who funded the mess. Strangely enough.....a bunch of non-Catholics are in the stand-and-complain column.
So when you hear about the Limburg controversy.....it's the church that went beyond imagination on renovation. If they'd had just one guy overseeing the project, refusing to make change upon change, and buying cheap bathtubs.....things would be acceptable.
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