Annual Working Session of the Church National Assembly of the Romanian Orthodox Church

15/2/2012

The Press Office of the Romanian Patriarchate informs us:

On 15 February 2012, the annual working session of the Church National Assembly took place in the Patriarch Teoctist rotunda of the Patriarchate Palace, under the chairmanship of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel.

During the working session the General annual report of the Church National Council on the activity of the Romanian Orthodox Church in 2011 was examined and approved with focus on the pastoral-liturgical, cultural-missionary and social-philanthropic fields, monastic life, theological education and teaching religion in public schools, editorial-philanthropic activity and mass-media, church cultural patrimony, constructions of new places of worship, care for the Romanian communities abroad, inter-church and inter-religious relations etc.

Also appreciated was the rich activity the Romanian Orthodox Church unfolded in 2011, emphasising the canonisations of new Romanian saints(Saint Pious Irodion from Lainici, Saints Hierarchs Andrei Saguna andSimion Stefan, Metropolitans of Transylvania), as well as themanifestations organised at the Romanian Patriarchate on the occasion of the celebration of Saint Pious Dimitrios the New, Protector of the Patriarchal Cathedral and of Bucharest, when the Way of the Saints pilgrimage was organised and the church-chapel of the Cathedral for the Nation’s Salvation was consecrated in the presence of the Holy Head of Saint Andrew the Apostle the first called, Protector of Romania, brought for the first time to Bucharest. Also emphasised was the intensification of the educational catechetical activity with the children and young people through the two programmes of the Romanian Patriarchate “Christ shared to the children” and “Choose the school!”

The participants also pointed out the social-philanthropic activity of the Romanian Patriarchate unfolded through 706 institutions and social services, among which: 171 social canteens and bakeries, 58 institutions providing medical services and pharmacies, 80 daily centres for children, 11 educational centres, 46 daily centres for aged people and 22 services for looking-after aged people, 40 community centres, 35 family type centres, 39 social kindergartens, afterschool and special schools, 22 protected dwelling places, 130 centres of information, counselling and resources, 6 educational institutions for adults, 33 emergency centres (for homeless persons, for victims of the domestic violence and of the trafficking in persons), 13 camps.

At present 767 social projects and programmes are implemented in the eparchies of the Romanian Patriarchate, out of which: 22 with external financing, 24 with public financing, 561 with their own funds and 160 with joint financing.

895.350 social services were provided to 211.495 unique beneficiarieswithin the social projects and programmes, as follows:

– 166.397 social services for 105.717 children in the social centres of the Church and State, especially for poor families with no possibilities of maintenance or with parents gone to work abroad;

– 40.987 social services to 19.143 disabled persons (deficiencies of speaking, sight and hearing, drug addicts or other types of dependencies, persons affected by HIV/AIDS);

– 640.694 social services for 74.752 aged persons in centres of church social protection, social transit and night shelters, lonely old people, stationary people, abandoned by their families with bad state of health;

– 47.272 of social services for 11.883 victims of the trafficking in persons, unemployed, victims of the domestic violence, released prisoners, victims of the natural scourges.

54.000.000 lei were spent for supporting the social-philanthropic activity and the victims of natural scourges at the level of the Romanian Patriarchate.

The members of the Church National Assembly appreciated the special efforts of the Romanian Patriarchate to continue the construction of the Cathedral for the Nation’s Salvation. In this context, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel thanked the hierarchs, clergy and faithful for the financial help granted within the framework of the national fund-raising for building the new Patriarchal Cathedral that has been organised in all the churches and monasteries of the Romanian Patriarchate since the summer of 2011.

The Patriarch of Romania underlined the fact that the Romanian Orthodox Church must intensify her pastoral social work and stimulate new ways of promoting human solidarity and responsible cooperation in order to resolve the social problems the majority of the Romanians are faced with and overcome the economical and spiritual crisis.

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