HIS-Press-Service, 1980 (5. évfolyam, 16-18. szám)
1980-06-01 / 17. szám
HIS Press Service No.17, June 1980 Page 3 placed in one and the same group. The religion teacher must be authorized by the State to give religious instruction. In addition, he cannot be a member of the teaching staff and may not enter the teachers lounge. The religion classes can be controlled by the school principal or, at his direction, by a representative of the teachers union or the chairman of the parents organization. The achievements of the pupils may not be graded, nor may any type of disciplinary action be taken against the pupils. The more recent regulations stemming from Government Decree Nr. 39/1957, which are in force at present, have changed nothing in the above directives. Directly after the issuance of these regulations, 80% of the pupils were still taking part in religious instruction. By 1955, the number participating had sunk to a national average of 40%. In 1960, it was but 25%; and in 1965, 10%. At present, only 6-7% of the pupils - mainly those in the villages - still take part in religious instruction. In Budapest and the larger provincial cities, religious instruction in the schools has been almost completely discontinued. Two years after the nationalization of the confessionally-run schools, Legal Regulation Nr. 34/1950 forbade the activity of all religious orders in Hungary. The members of these orders - a total of approximately 8,000 women and 2,000 priests and brothers - were given three months to vacate their religious houses. An exception to this regulation was made for a certain number of religious men and women involved in the education of the youth; according to an agreement reached between the State and the bishops, these persons were allowed to continue their teaching activities at eight confessionally-run Catholic schools; six high schools for boys, and two for girls. Numerically speaking, this meant that four religious orders, namely the Benedictines, the Franciscans, the Piarists, and the School Sisters of Our Lady were each allowed to retain 60 members of their orders. Approximately 400 priests who had been order members were permitted to enter the service of the dioceses where they performed various pastoral duties. The remaining religious, who were not granted State work permits for the exercise of their religious occupations, tried to build a new existence for themselves either through performing various services for the Church (e.g. as sacristans, cantors, etc.) or by taking up some secular occupation. The aged members of the orders entered retirement homes. The numerous reprisals involved with the religious instruction of their children in the schools finally led to the conclusion that parents could hardly be expected to any longer take upon themselves the problems resulting from such participation. Many parents sought a way out of this situation through having former members of religious orders give their children private religious instructions. This was, of course, forbidden by law, and Hungary's Church politics allowed no room for toler
