Parteneriate pentru misiunea socială

The relationship between the State and the Church should be considered both in historical terms and in terms of the conditions in the complex and dynamic actual circumstances of our epoch. The Orthodox Church has never been a rival or a competitor to the State, but a space where the material world meets a high spirituality. The State can not replace the Church, just like the Church’s mission is not to replace or substitute the State. The State’s support for the Church means the State’s constant acknowledgement of the role the Church had and has with the life of the Romanian people, with the promotion of the national language and culture, with the spiritual life and social stability. Such acknowledgement is, as a matter of fact, expressed both in the Constitution and the Act on the religious freedom and the general regime of the denominations. Based on the fact that the State supports the activity of the denominations, in their capacity as providers of social services, the Act on the denominations consecrates the possibility for social partnerships of mutual interest concluded between the State and the Church or the denominations. As comes out from the cooperation protocols concluded so far in the field of social inclusion and that related to “health care and spiritual assistance”, the Church’s major contribution should be precisely the emphasis on the connection between the spiritual life and the social activity.