HIS-Press-Service, 1982 (7. évfolyam, 22-24. szám)
1982-01-01 / 22. szám
HIS Press Service No. 22, January 1982 Page 4 will no longer be feasible in the foreseeable future. After the war, Hungary's Church still had a large number of personnel who were involved in the apostolaié and could be employed in the pastoral service of the country's faithful. The disbandment of the religious orders in 1950, however, forced the country's religious women to cease the activities they had been performing up to that time. On the other hand, in that they now found themselves mingling more with the country's population, they invariably had an evangelical effect upon the faithful. Of the ca. 1500 men who were members of religious orders, the Church was able to employ approximately one-third of them in the normal pastoral care of the faithful. The others could occasionally be turned to for assistance, such as helping out other priests or saying a Mass now and then. In 1950 there was still an average of two religious order priests to assist every five diocesan priests, and 2,000 young men were preparing themselves for the priesthood. The age pattern of the clergy indicated an absolutely normal, healthy dispersion. The situation today is diametrically opposite: There have been no replacements for the members of the former religious orders within the past 30 years. Those who belonged to the religious orders which were dissolved in 1950 are for the most part already in retirement or have passed away. Priestly vocations have sunk to one-seventh of the 1950 level, and the extreme agedness of the priesthood poses a serious problem. Although it would be incorrect to designate Hungary's present Church as a "dying" one, the pastoral approach chosen by its official representatives is doubtful in view of the fact that it is inappropriate to the future situation and thus has no real chance of actually being implemented. It seems that some of the laity and also of the priests or what one might term the Church's "base," recognized earlier than the "negotiating" representatives of the Church - who were concerned with possibilities for creating a "modus vivend - how urgent and unavoidable certain basic changes had become in the life of Hungary's Church. Everywhere in Hungary one discovers involved laity - especially of the younger generation - who, either through the imitation of movements and organizations which existed before the war or through the implementation of new approaches, have taken the initiative in working to provide a secure future for the Church. Base Initiatives as Pioneering Approaches for the Future Directly after the war, and even more so after 1946, when all Catholic associations were forbidden in Hungary and religious movements were no longer able to function within the framework of larger groups and organizations, Church members
