Jesuit priest appointed project ambassador

He is a Jesuit, teacher, author and now also a project ambassador for the House of One: Father Klaus Mertes. After ten years as a principal at the Jesuit school Canisius-Kolleg in Berlin he has been directing the catholic school St. Blasien in southern Germany since 2011. Imam Osman Örs and Member of the Board of Trustees Süleyman Bag met with him in Berlin and presented him the certficate on behalf of the Foundation House of One.

The crucial aspect for his decision to actively become involved in the project was that religions can meet each other in respect and appreciation of their differences. An aspect that, according to him, already became visible in the design of the building. Mertes says that with the finished House of One the key requirement would be met for interreligious encounters, which constituted a central element of the church's self-conception since the Second Vatican Council.

Mertes: "In the public perception today, especially in the secular public, religion is suspected of ideology, because it is being misused to legitimate violence and to cement cultural identities. Therefore it is crucial to make the core of religions visible, which is a universal claim that has to do with reconciliation and peace rather than violence."