Kirill Seeks Changing Church Status in Ireland; Wants Russian Church Registered as a Church

The Interfax-Religion website reports today (September 10, 2010) that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia at a meeting in Moscow with President of Ireland Mary McAlleese discussed the question of changing the status of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ireland and registering it as a Church -- as is the case with the Catholic Church -- and not as a charitable organization.

Fr. Georgy Zavershinsky, head of the Synodal Department for External Church Relations, explained that parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church in several Western European countries are registered as charitable communities along with other religious or sectarian communities.

The President of Ireland offered to conduct bilateral consultations for discussing this topic at the level of ministries, or if needed, prime ministers.

The Russian Orthodox Church currently has five parishes and about 1500 parishioners in Ireland.