Met on 16 and 17 December 2014, in working session at the Patriarchal Residence, under the chairmanship of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel, the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church took notice with great worry of the discriminatory and humiliating decision concerning the Religion class of the Constitutional Court of Romania of 12 November 2014. In this context, the Holy Synod decided:
- that the Eparchial Centres should inform the religion teachers and the parents that till the Romanian Parliament adopts a new form of the National Education Bill (no 1/2011), the statutes established for the Religion class remains unchanged. The religion teachers and parents must publicize the cases of schools which try to discourage the participation of the pupils in the Religion class.
- that partnerships should be concluded between parishes and schools for developing cooperation in order to help the pupils from poor families or risking to abandon school and to support and improve the teaching of the Religion class.
- that the parents’ initiative to set up the Parents’ Association for supporting the Religion class should be approved, with branches at local levels.
- that the Romanian Patriarchate should convene an extraordinary meeting of the Consultative Council of the religious cults of Romania in order to establish common measures and actions in order to support the present statutes of the Religion class in the state education.
The Holy Synod decided to cooperate with the Ministry for Good Health in order to prevent the diseases and help the sick, as well as to sustain the interventions of the Physicians’ College of Romania to the competent authorities designed to identify an alternative method as a response to the applications of the patients who refuse the National Health Card for reasons of conscience or religion.
Press Office of the Romanian Patriarchate
