A farewell to our friend Freddy!

On 23 March, the Chaplain-President was delighted to represent the Central Committee at the event in La Chaufferie in Etterbeek to celebrate the six-year presidency of Prof Freddy Mortier of De Mens Nu, the Dutch-speaking representative body of Recognised Secularism. Freddy is a bioethicist of international renown, whose contributions to meetings of the Dialoograad, FIDIF and VILD (the formal interconvictional dialogues at federal and regional level) have always been useful and well-informed, even when the Central Committee has not followed Freddy's position (as in the cases of human euthanasia and Jewish and Muslim ritual animal slaughter). The celebration included a heart-warming speech by Freddy, some sublime Beethoven and an excellent lunch. Jack was able to present initial Anglican greetings to Freddy's successor at the helm of De Mens Nu, the former senior civil servant Raymonda Verdyck. We look forward to working with her.