Return of Church property protects religious freedom

19 July 2013

Peter Katsambanis, Member for North Metropolitan Region in the WA Parliament, has called on the Republic of Mozambique to respect freedom of religious observance and immediately return all property belonging to the Greek Orthodox Church in that nation.

Mr Katsambanis, who was recently elected to the Board of the World Hellenic Interparliamentary Association, said that while the implementation of democracy in Mozambique during the 1990s saw previously confiscated church property returned to its rightful owners, some property belonging to the Greek Orthodox Church remains in State hands.

“It has come to my attention that in the case of the Greek Orthodox Church, not all confiscated property has been returned more than 20 years after the collapse of the communist regime in that country.

“Although the church buildings have been returned, some important cultural buildings and meeting halls remain in the possession of the State.

“Without the use of these buildings, the local church and its parishioners are not able to properly observe their religious practices. They are unable to conduct social gatherings after church services are concluded and they cannot properly celebrate or commemorate special feast days within the church calendar.

“It doesn’t matter if such injustice is occurring in Australia, or in some other country. We all have a duty to speak up when religious freedom is threatened,” Mr Katsambanis said.

Mr Katsambanis said he had written to all relevant government representatives from both Australia and Mozambique, including a letter to Mozambique’s President seeking his personal intervention to fix this matter.

“This prejudicial situation must be rectified immediately, with all church property returned to its rightful owners.”