Parents in Vorarlberg are upset. The end-of-school service will not take place in a Catholic church, but in a mosque.
“This is going too far in a Christian-social state”.
A mother turned to unzensuriert.at and wrote:
Imagine that my 15-year-old son attends the polytechnic school in Bludenz. In the last week of school there is a graduation service, which is perfectly fine, but the service or whatever takes place in the local mosque. I have nothing against international understanding, but in my opinion this goes too far in a Christian-social state.
Director confirms mosque fair
The educational institution in question is the polytechnic school in Unterfeldstraße in Bludenz. The headmistress of the school confirmed the mother’s statement and gave the following explanation: According to the headmistress, there had been a mass celebration in a Catholic church at the beginning of the school – with an imam (prayer leader in Islam, editor’s note) as a guest. This imam then invited the Catholic priest to a return visit to the only mosque in Bludenz – which is how this final service came about. The response was positive.
Imam as prayer leader for Catholic pupils
Not with all parents, apparently, who do not want to understand why their children with a Catholic confession of faith should pray in a mosque, even if the imam will conduct the mass service together with a Catholic priest. According to the headmistress, this will take place on Thursday, July 6.
The headmistress did not want to reveal how high the proportion of Islamic youths is in her school. Statistics Austria published data in 2021 according to which 12.2 per cent of the population in Vorarlberg belong to Islam, 68.3 per cent to Christianity.