The Solidara association runs a café for homeless people, a counseling center for sex workers and a passerby assistance center. Since 2020, it has been supported by, among others, the Reformed Church Congregation of Zurich with annual base contributions.
The Zurich parish’s commission for social welfare, education and communication (DBK) now wants to put a stop to this. It has asked the church parliament to reject the basic funding of CHF 0.54 million per year for the years 2025 to 2028. This was reported by the sda news agency.
Limit contributions
The commission’s reasoning is that the former Zurich City Mission, which today operates under the name Solidara, has lost its Christian roots. “Solidara has developed from a Christian to a non-denominational organization. Diaconia no longer follows the gospel,” the commission states in its application.
Advertising
It continues: “At around two million francs over four years, the requested base funding is considerable. In times of increasingly scarce resources, we must use our funds specifically for reformed or Christian-diaconal goals.”
The Commission therefore proposes to temporarily limit the basic funding to the years 2025 to 2026. In order to receive further funding, however, Solidara would have to transform itself back into a Christian association.
Parliament decides in October
The Zurich City Mission was founded in 1862 by the then Central Committee of the Evangelical Society. Its aim was to carry out inner mission and cared for the poor, the sick and women in sex work. In 2016, it separated from the Evangelical Society in order to stand on its own two feet as an independent association.
The parliament of the Zurich parish is expected to decide on the matter at its meeting at the end of October. (no)
