HIS-Press-Service, 1982 (7. évfolyam, 22-24. szám)
1982-01-01 / 22. szám
HIS Press Service No. 22, January 1982 Page 7 political regulations that are constantly being issued. The base groups found it hard to accept a pastoral letter issued by the Bishops Conference on 15 March 1961. In this letter, which the country's Catholics generally disapproved of, the bishops made known their "desire to distance themselves both in their own name as well as in the name of the Catholic clergy who are genuinely serving their fatherland and honestly following its laws" from the members of several Church groups who were facing court trials at the time. The base groups, which even in difficult times and in the face of threatened imprisonment had not concerned themselves with the question of what the country's church politics did and did not recognize as Church activity, but instead simply concernd themselves with living in accordance with their own understanding of the teachings of the Gospel, joined in paying even less attention than before to the desires of the Church and State authorities. They felt encouraged in this approach by the above-mentioned "tolerance decree" that had been proclaimed by the State, as well as by the pastoral letter, "Evangelii Nuntiandi," issued by Pope Paul VI in 1975 in which he described the base groups as "the hope of the Church." It was impossible for the Bishops Conference to directly interfere in the affairs of the base groups since they existed purely on a friendship basis. Efforts were made to put pressure on them through transferring the parish assistants involved in them, but this had little effect since such groups were in existence throughout the country and the transferred assistants simply continued their activity with other groups in different places. The Hungarian Bishops Conference officially dealt with the base groups for the first time in their winter session in 1976. In accordance with the principles of Vatican II, they recognized the activity of these groups as useful and beneficial, but at the same time - almost in the form of a directive - called attention to the guidelines laid down by the Conference. The base groups "should always listen to the guiding words of their legal superiors, the bishops___This is also intended to preserve these small groups from becoming separated from their parishes, the mystical body of Christ, and their union with the (world) Church which encompasses the entire globe. This will also hinder the possible development of religious sects." This discreet statement, which was aimed more at informing the public than influencing the base groups, was followed by a clearer and more definitive exhortation during the Conference's spring session in 1977: "The Conference affirms its most recent statement. Only those groups which recognize, in accordance with the most recent Synod of Bishops in Rome and in cooperation with the hierarchy, the Church's Holy Office and are interested in working within the proven frame
