HIS-Press-Service, 1981 (6. évfolyam, 19-21. szám)
1981-07-01 / 20. szám
HIS Press Service No. 20, July 1981 4 in Jászberény. This home provided quarters primarily for members of the country's smaller religious orders. At present, this home houses religious women from 24 different orders. In 1951, a side wing of the episcopal residence in Vac was remodeled to provide a retirement home with quarters for 100 persons. This home presently houses 85 aged religious women. A retirement home for an additional 52 religious women was set up in the episcopal summer residence in Hejce. The country's last retirement home for religious women was opened in 1959. This home, the second retirement home of the district council of Buda, was set up in the former summer Residence of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Divine Savior in Piliscsaba, and provides quarters-for 25 religious women. All of the above-mentioned homes are maintained by the State, which also appoints their administrative personnel. Each home also has a Church-appointed religious superior who is responsible for the home's religious activities, and aids the State administrator in caring for the residents' mental well-being and providing them with cultural, intellectual, and occupational activities, etc. In addition to the State-supported homes mentioned above, there are also those maintained solely by the Church. In 1953 a retirement home for religious women which contains facilities for 45 persons was set up on the ground floor of the episcopal residence in Pécs. In March 1954 the Social Services Program took over the episcopal summer residence in Hosszuhetény-PLispökszentlászló and remodeled it to create a retirement home for 35 religious women. 50 retired religious also live in the Migazzi Home in Verőcemaros, which was the former summer residence of the bishops of Vác. In addition to aged religious who lack retirement care, there is also a growing need for places in retirement homes for aged diocesan priests. Most services in this area are provided by the national retirement home for diocesan priests which was opened in 1953 in the former religious house of the Jesuits in Hódmezővásárhely This home, which was intended to house 14 persons, soon proved too small (Within a period of 8 months, 32 persons requested admission). As a result, in 1954 the home was transferred to the former diocesan seminary in Székesfehérvár. These new quarters provided centrally-heated, one-bed rooms for 55 persons. (Other retirement homes offer at best two-bed rooms; in fact, in most cases, the rooms have between 6 and 8 beds each. In two instances, large halls in an episcopal residence were transformed into "living halls" which housed an even greater number of persons who occupied cubicles separated by curtains.) The priest retirement home in Székes fehérvár has its own sick bay and nursing personnel. The several thousand volume library which belonged to the seminary is also available to the home's residents.
