News from the Church Law Society

REVIEW 24 1/2003

News from the Church Law Society

Kurze Nachrichten der Gesellschaft für Kirchenrecht

Le notizie dalla Societa di Diritto Canonico

The 38^th Essen Discussions on the State-Church Relation was held between March 17–18, 2003, with the topic of „Säkularisation und Säkularisierung 1803–2003“. The topic was chosen at the 200^th anniversary of the Imperial Con-gress’s endorsement of the Secularization Act (Reichsdeputationshauptschluß) in Regensburg. The Czech Republic was represented by the chairman of our Society at this conference.

On April 9, 2003, there was a paper by Dr. iur. Wolfgang Wieshaider from the Institute for Law and Religion, College of Law, Vienna University, in the framework of the 40^th Evenings-In-Cycle on the Effect of Law in Church and Society, given on the topic of Protection of Sights’ Legal Regulation in the Austrian Republic.

Brothers of the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance (Trappists) of the Mother of God Monastery in Nový Dvůr, Dobrá Voda 20, 364 61 Teplá u Toužimě, sent us an Easter greeting card. Hereby extracted therefrom: “This year it is the first time we have celebrated the Lord’s Resurrection in our still-in-construction church, here, in Nový Dvůr – the church is also your church. A few friends joined us. The Easter candles hardly resisted the windwaves in the open space of the church. On Easter Saturday we even experienced snow-ing. The work on finishing the church proceed fast. Shall the God wish so, the church is going to be finished around the Christmas to come.”

On May 28, 2003, the General Meeting of the Church Law Society was held at the reading room of the Dominican Monastery of St Egidius in Prague. This GM was read the Annual Report, the State of Accounts Report, and the Accounts Review Report. The ceding Board was granted the absolutorium and a new one was elected altogether with the Chartered Accountant. The Annual Report and the Members List are published on our Internet web pages.

The GM having ended, there was a paper by Prof. JUDr. Valentin Urfus, in the framework of the 41^st Evenings-In-Cycle on the Effect of Law in Church and Society, given on the topic of Emperor Joseph I, the Church and Clergy in Bohemia after the battle of Bílá Hora.

(jrt)

Congratulations

Dr. Jiří Kašný SDB, a member to our Society, lecturing Church Law at the College of Theology, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, was elected the college’s dean.

On March 6, 2003, a member to our Society, Doc. JUDr. Antonín Ignác Hrdina OPraem, lecturing Canon Law at the University of West Bohemia Law School, Plzeň, and at the College of Theology, Charles University, Prague, celebrated his 50^th birthday. He is a judge at the Interdiocesan Court, Prague, is a member to the Editorial Board of Právník magazine, and the Strahov Basilica Rector. His rich publication activity of the recent ten years peaked in his broad work Canon Law, published by Eurolex Bohemia Publishing House in Prague in 2002.

On April 5, 2003, a member to our Society, Ing. arch. Josef Hyzler, the chairman emeritus of the Club for Old Prague, a famous Czech architect and discoverer of many a Church as well as mundane sight object, celebrated his 80^th birthday.

On April 26, 2003, a fan to our Society, Mons. ThLic. Dominik Jaroslav Duka OP, the diocesan bishop to Hradec Králové, and the vice-chair to the Czech Bishops’ Conference, celebrated his 60^th birthday.

Congratulations on Marriage

On March 22, 2003, in the Church of St Jacob the Elder in Petrovice, Prague, Miss Tatiana Kenderová and a member to our Society and the director of the Archdiocesan Catechetic Center of the Archdiocese of Prague, Mr Dan Pikálek, entered into marriage.

On March 26, 2003, in the St Stephan Cathedral in Litoměřice, Miss Marie Kubištová and a judicial expectant, a fixture to the ChLS Board, Mgr. Tomáš Zadražil, entered into marriage.

Deceases

At the end of the last year, in a tragic accident in a street, a coworker of our Society, RNDr. Marie Civínová, CSc., deceased. She worked at the National Catechetic Center of the Czech Bishops’ Conference. In May of 2001 she gave a paper at a ranged discussion at the 33rd Evenings-In-Cycle on the Legal Aspects of the Effect of Church in Education.

On May 2, 2003, a member to our Society, Mr Augustin Navrátil, deceased. He was a track signalman of the Czech Railroads and a private farmer from Lutopecny u Kroměříže. The author of the famous 31-point petition called The Incentives of Catholics to the Solution of Citizens-Believers’ Situation in Cze-choslovakia, which was signed by over 600,000 citizens at the beginning of 1988. Until the last days of his life he always was a strict defender of the principles of friendly destablishment, and a non-conform warrior for the freedom of Church institutions. Recently he attended all the events of the Society on a very regular base, and relentlessly supported its management with his initiative. He was an editor to Obzor magazine.