HIS-Press-Service, 1982 (7. évfolyam, 22-24. szám)
1982-01-01 / 22. szám
HIS Press Service No.22, January 1982 Page 8 work of the parishes and diocesan pastoral activity are capable of carrying on fruitful activity." In 1978, the Bishops Conference sent a letter to "the priests involved in pastoral work with the aim of promoting a contemporary intensification of pastoral activity." Without mentioning them by name, this pastoral letter mentions the things with which the Church takes issue within the life of the base groups and quotes portions of a pamphlet stemming from such a group: "It is not too long ago that a pamphlet concerned with discovering effective methods and approaches in the area of pastoral activity attracted a fair amount of attention among the clergy. The bishop is mentioned only once as chief pastor in this pamphlet: 'If an effort is made to implement something through an episcopal directive, it is a lost cause. One cannot make the mistake of letting things be "taken care of from above."' The clergy too is accepted only as a kind of 'cover' to enable those who are searching for new ways to carry on their work in peace even beyond the boundaries of the parish and, still further, of the dioceses. The writer of the pamphlet considers it unimportant that activity be carried on with the knowledge and approval of the bishop; instead, he acts against the bishop's desires and without informing him of what is being done. This is neither the tone nor the spirit of the Council. What it proclaims is the separation from the communion of the bishops." Fr. Bulányi, who is the original author of the above-mentioned pamphlet whfch was written in 1973, refused to stand by the excerpted statements which had been quoted in this form since "his study was falsely interpreted, falsely quoted, and an even falser conclusion was reached on the basis of the falsely stated premises." The misrepresentation and false interpretation stem above all, according to the author, from the fact that the study was not examined in the form in which he had written it, but rather on the basis of an excerpted text which was compiled at the request of Cardinal Lékai, and which reduced the original text by one-third and quoted sentences out of context. The study, "Pastoral Marketing," which was said to have been improperly and falsely quoted in the pastoral letter of the bishops, has been the subject of various Church statements in which it is mentioned. The complete text exists in the meantime only in the form of a handwritten copy. Since, however, this study offers a true picture of the ideas of these base groups regarding effective pastoral activity, we would like to offer some quotations from it concerning topics which evoked the greatest amount of criticism from the bishops.
