Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and all Greece will visit Minister of Education and Religious Affairs Niki Kerameus on Friday, August 23.
This ceremonial visit will take place at 12:00 p.m. in response to the minister’s visit to the Archdiocese last month.
During their last meeting, both the minister and the Archbishop referred to the need for cooperation and safeguarding of the existing rights of the clergy.
Niki Kerameus had expressed her delight at the meeting and stressed that “today is the real start of our cooperation. There is goodwill on the part of the State to build a new fruitful and constructive cooperation placed on an honest footing.”
He added that “the government’s intention is the resumption of dialogue aimed at discussing all issues between the State and the Church, always respecting the distinct roles.”
The Archbishop said that the dialogue committee had been successful in the past in dealing with various issues and “we have to activate it again and upgrade it, if necessary, because the committee is ahead of many things that are often simple.”
Niki Kerameus replied that the relationship would be face-to-face without any anything acting as an intermediate. She also pointed out that “the government’s aim is to safeguard the existing wage, insurance and pension rights of the clerics.”
