HIS-Press-Service, 1980 (5. évfolyam, 16-18. szám)
1980-02-01 / 16. szám
HIS Press Service No.16, February 1980 Page 6 number of civil servants, Church members acting as informers, and collaborators - have for all practical purposes all areas of the Church under control, and make certain - through numerous regulations - that the Church political goals of the State are put into practice. These institutions are: 1. The State Office for Church Affairs - a government agency, and 2. A department of the State police within the Department of the Interior which concerns itself specifically with Church matters. Both institutions are entrusted with "caring for" Hungary's Churches; they are united in a confused conglomeration of cooperation,rivalry, and differing areas of jurisdiction, though both of them have their own information system. Their national offices are divided according to dioceses, and both institutions have central offices in the various administrative bodies (counties and cities with county rights). Both the large number of persons employed by these institutions and also the high rank of these persons give an idea of the extent and authoritativeness of the influence exercised by both institutions on the life of the Church within the framework of their activities. The State Office for Church Affairs is responsible for matters directly affecting the Church, both in material matters and also those involving personnel. To have an official parish seal made or changed, for example, the State Office's approval must first be obtained; the same holds true for printing Church information, devotional pictures, forms, pastoral letters of the bishops, parish bul 1 etins, etc. Things costing more than 20,000 forints, such as repairs on parish buildings or churches, also require approval. Each filling of a pastoral position requires the explicit, or at least implicit, approval of the State Office for Church Affairs, and should a priest who has already been "approved" by this Office also hold religious instruction classes in a school, this again requires a special permission. According to a 1964 edition of the Catholic newspaper "Katolikus Szó" (Catholic Word) which appears twice monthly and is the mouthpiece of the Priests for Freedom Movement, no theology student whom the State Office for Church Affairs refuses a work permit should be ordained, since without such a work permit a priest is not allowed to carry out his priestly functions. The State Office for Church Affairs is also responsible for the salary adjustments, the so-called congrua, of the priests. It is this Office which determines the application of State laws to the Church, and sees that religious freedom is understood and exercised in line with the State's understanding of that concept. It also investigates complaints which arise, approves or forbids trips by priests to other countries, and is in addition responsible for numerous other matters affecting the Church. Unmistakable pressure is exerted upon the Church, for example, to ensure that key diocesan administrative posts such as that of chancery director and general
