Archbishop Hollerich meets AHA

(CS) Archbishop Jean-Claude Hollerich met with representatives of the alliance of humanists, atheists and agnostics (AHA) last week, to discuss the separation of church and state.

The archbishop was accompanied by his theological advisor Capitular Georges Hellinghausen, the secretary of the bishop's council Abbot Tom Kerger, as well as episcopal delegate Marie-Christine Ries.

They met at the diocese with AHA's chairman Laurent Schley, as well as Manuel Huss, Taina Bofferding and Bob Reuter.

Among the topics discussed were the state financing of religious institutions, which AHA wants to see abolished. Still, Schley highlighted that it was not AHA's intention to deprive priests of their salaries. Concrete solutions to the problem could not be found at the meeting.

Nonetheless, Schley was positive about the archbishop's openness to discuss the matters at hand. Hollerich himself commented that he was open for changes in the relationship between the state and religious communities, but also said he could not see “fundamental changes” taking place.

Another hot topic was religious education at Luxembourg's schools. While Hollerich and Schley agreed that catechesis itself, as a mediation of faith, did not belong into the school room, but rather the parish, Hollerich still saw a place for religious education at school.

As 80% of parents enroll their children in religious education at primary school level, and 66% take the classes at secondary school, Hollerich argued that religious education still had a big standing with parents and children.

The AHA chair on the other hand, called for more neutral religion and “worldview” classes.

An issue regretted by both parties was that there is no official data about religious affiliation of Luxembourg's population, which could give useful insights into the representativeness of religious groups in the Grand Duchy, according to Schley.

The successful meeting last week is set to be only one of several. While no schedule has been set, both Hollerich and Schley seemed positive about further dialogue.