The 17th Annual Conference on Church and State at the
Law School of Masaryk University in Brno
Each
year since 1995 at the beginning of September the Law School in Brno has hosted
a full-day scientific conference entitled “Church and State”; it is attended by
experts from throughout the Czech Republic and surrounding countries who focus
on legal matters of churches and their status in the state. The Church Law
Review reported on the 16th conference, which took place on 7
September 2010, in its issue 47–3/10, at pp. 264 – 267.
The
17th conference took place at the Law School of Masaryk University in Brno on 6
September 2011. Its theme this year was Legal
Aspects of Church Financing.
As it
is each year, the conference was organized by the Department of Constitutional
Law and Political Science of the Law School of Masaryk University in
cooperation with the Church Law Society. There were eight presenters from the
Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria, and 45 attendees.
In
addition to being attended by representatives of law schools, theological
schools, philosophical schools and other university schools, and the
Constitutional Court and the Supreme Administrative
Court, the conference was also attended by a number of legal
practitioners, for example the ambassador of the Czech Republic to the Holy
See, representatives of the Catholic Prague Archdiocese, the Brno and Hradec
Králové Dioceses, the Prague Diocese of the Czechoslovak Hussite Church, and
the leadership of the Silesian Evangelical Church AC.
The
conference was opened by JUDr.
Kateřina Šimáčková, Ph.D., a justice of the Supreme Administrative Court in
Brno, the head professor of the fields of church law that are taught at the Law
School of Masaryk University, and the chairperson of the Brno chapter of the
Church Law Society. In her opening statements she welcomed the participants on
behalf of Professor JUDr. Jan Filip, CSc., the head of the Department of
Constitutional Law and Political Science. The conference was chaired by JUDr. Pavel Molek, Ph.D., from the Department of Constitutional Law and
Political Science.
Professor JUDr. Jiří Rajmund
Tretera of the Law School of Charles University in Prague opened the first
panel with his presentation on forms of church financing and on the rules that
govern the part of financing of churches and religious societies that emanates
from their own resources, or so-called self-financing. He focused particularly
on the experience accumulated and the rules governing in reformation churches.
Mgr. Petr Jäger from the Department of
Constitutional Law and Political Science of the Law School of Masaryk
University in Brno, an assistant to a Constitutional Court justice, discussed
Economic Autonomy of Churches. Assistant Professor Dr.iur.
Wolfgang Wieshaider of the Law School of Vienna University (Austria) presented
in Czech about Church Financing – Legitimate Goals and Avoiding Discrimination.
The morning panel closed with a presentation by JCDr. PaedDr. Jozef Marčin,
Ph.D., of the Metropolitan Church Court in Košice (Slovakia), who talked about
Legal Aspects of Church Financing – Assessment of Current Developments and
Considerations de lege ferenda.
The afternoon panel was opened by Mgr. Štěpán Štastník,
an assistant to a Constitutional Court justice and an attorney with the
Diocesan Church Court in Brno; he presented on the Canon Law Possibilities and
Practice of Financing of the Catholic Church. JUDr. Jakub Kříž, of CEVRO
Institute Prague, discussed Legitimate Expectations of Churches – Their Object
and Impact. JUDr. Ing. Marie Kolářová, Th.D., the Chancellor of the Prague
Archdiocese, talked about The Economic Council of the Catholic Church – Its
Role and Responsibility. JUDr. Vojtech Vladár, Ph.D., of the Department of
Roman and Church Law of the Law School of Trnava University in Trnava
(Slovakia), contributed a legal-historical presentation on The Fiscal Politics
of the Avignon Popes.
A discussion followed each panel and continued
throughout the breaks. At 4 pm JUDr. Kateřina Šimáčková, Ph.D., thanked all
conference participants and closed the successful 17th conference.
Záboj
Horák