Partnership meeting in the Kačaba

On Tuesday, 1^st March, the representatives of the Church district of Bayreuth, of the West-Bohemian presbytery and of the synodal council met in Pilsen for a continuation of the discussions about cross-border cooperation in this region. The meeting took place, with a very pleasant atmosphere, in the Diakonia institution 'Kačaba', a coffee and tearoom which offers an on the job training program for mentally disabled people. The Right Rev. Dorothea Greiner, bishop for the Bayreuth district came, together with other representatives, to Pilsen. Also the new head of the Church's educational retreat center in Bad Alexandersbad, Andreas Beneker, took part in the meeting. The Czech side was represented by Radek Matuška, for the synodal council and representative for the parish in Cheb and the Rev. Petr Chamrád for the presbytery. The latter is, at the same time, also the chaplain to the, mainly German, spa tourists and interpreted the whole day between the two groups readily and reliably. Also moderator Joel Ruml and the head of the department for ecumenical relationships, Gerhard Frey-Reininghaus, supported the meeting with their presence.

Dorothea Greiner spoke about the situation in her Church district, the plans for the Luther Decade in 2017 and invited three of our ministers to the ecumenical ministers fraternal in May of this year in Selbnitz. The moderator informed the German guests about the current situation between Church and state regarding the return and compensation for confiscated property. Other topics included the twinning between the parishes of Cheb and Marktredwitz and a project regarding the use of a building which is currently under construction on the property of the Cheb parish. Also presented to the guest was the 'Diakonia West' project and a possible cooperation with the educational retreat center in Bad Alexandersbad was discussed. The program was rounded off by a visit to the largest Jewish synagogue in the Czech Republic and the Cathedral of St. Bartholomew, in front of which the delegation was greeted by the Roman-Catholic bishop, the Most Rev. Mons. František Radkovský.

Meetings like this, between representatives of the two neighboring ecclesiastical regions, take place every year. Next year's meeting will be in March 2013 in Marktredwitz. We are looking forward to all the new things that will develop until then in the Bavarian-Czech border region.

Daniela Hamrová