Magyar Hírek, 1983 (36. évfolyam, 1-26. szám)
1983-12-24 / 25-26. szám
Making sure the laxities in labour discipline, irresponsibility, the looseness or disintegration of family life, the neglect of children will not become general symptoms of life is in the interest of the whole of society. When the Roman Catholic Church educates children and adults to be reliable and sincere, to respect the spiritual and material goods of their fellows and of society as such, to put a brake on rampant selfishness and greed in the spirit of Christian moral laws, it also serves the fundamental interests and welfare of a socialist society.” The Roman Catholic Church in Hungary has restored many churches and monuments in the past ten years, it has built homes for the aged and houses for retreats. Cardinal László Lékai has said that the Church has many plans, which it could realize only over many years. What jobs in hand and plans are you currently concerned with? “My diocese suffered heavily during the Second World War. The people started on the work of reconstruction as soon as this was possible. They worked hard to put in order not only their homes, but also their churches. New churches were also built. The restoration of the outside of the episcopal see, which took several years has been completed, and the renovation of the interior is almost finished. Since its earliest days, the Church has looked on the support of the elderly and the sick as a special duty. The Charities Organization of the Roman Catholic Church now not only cares for elderly and disabled clerics but also help with the care of lay physically or mentally disabled. The John XXIII hospice now accomodates 120 old and disabled people. There is a home for multiply handicapped blind children in Budapest, though it can only care for a few and a Home for Sick Children, which will house a larger number of mentally handicapped children is currently under construction at Ipolytölgyes. A Training Centre for the Caring Services which is expected to open next September, is now being planned. The Church would also like to do its bit by fulfilling its duty in educating and caring for children. In this the Church may be of considerable moral assistance to the state and to society. I believe that founding a religious community of nurses which would provide much needed assistance not only to church institutions, but also to hospitals, precisely by looking on nursing and caring for the aged as its complete and exclusive duty, would not be impossible now. at the present level of dialogue and cooperation between the state and the Church. ’ Given present international tensions when Hungary is making considerable efforts in the interests of peace, what are the means by which the Church is able to support this policy in the service of fundamental human interests? “Allow me to quote from a statement of the Hungarian Episcopate entitled We are defending life, as an answer. We speak to followers of Jesus Christ to the faithful. God entrusted the world He created to us. Human life is His great and holy gift. The destructive weapons of our age no longer threaten only with the horror of a terrible war, but — what is much more serious and qualitatively different — menace the whole humanity, the earth, which the Almighty gave mankind to live on, and which His Son consecrated by becoming a man. We cannot remain unconcerned and idle! We raise our voice in the defence of life, fully conscious of our responsibility, in order to awaken our common sense of responsibility. We work and pray, therefore, that ’God bless the Hungarian’ at home as well as beyond our borders, together with all fellow-men of good intentions. My message to Hungarians from this diocese who live abroad is that they should be loyal citizens of the countries, where they have settled but they should also nurse their mother tongue and their cultural connections' with Hungary, their native land. They should be conscious of the responsibility which devolves from the fact that their children are also of Hungarian origin, and bring them up in this spirit. They should honour the Hungarian name with their work and attitudes, and their valuable humanity! They should help the concord of differing people, and the peace of the Carpathian Basin, the Danube Region, Europe, and the World!” SÁNDOR LINTNER Mihály Babits (1883-1941) He was “only bones, only skin, and suffering ’, tortured as he was by cancer of the larynx, as the poet Miklós Radnóti wrote in deep shock after a visit to his sickbed. Mihály Babits wrote the “Book of Jonah” on the threshold of the war, and his death. The poem, based on the Bible is rich in humorous as well as dramatic motives and just as much a summary of a total world view, of modern European man, as Dante’s Divine Comedy was of that of medieval man. The ideological pillars of this world picture are the Old and the New Testament, its ideals are those of Greek serenity, spiritual and physical freedom, and faith and trust in this life. The huge poem speaks in the language of Gáspár Károli, the first Hungarian translator of the Bible, mixing the profane with the exalted, giving a summary of not only the European, but also of the Hungarian view of the world, of what Hungarian history taught, and allowed one to hope for at the time. In the poem Niniveh does not give a damn for what Jonah says, yet is still forgiven by the Supreme Power. Jonah’s prayer explains the apparent lack of logic. There Babits discards the fancy dress of Jonah, and speaks in his own voice, giving meaning to the duties of the clerisy: “that I should speak out bravely, as loudly as my poor larynx allows, and should not tire till evening ...” Pity — “Should I not pity Niniveh, which it took centuries to build?” — a sense of duty, human and literary heroism are welded together in this wonderful work. It is an expression of the hope that humanity will once come to its senses, will no longer threaten itself, and its creation, the City with sin, fear, filth, and then the heart of the Lord v/ill also be filled with mercy. This is why the poet must speak out. This is what he must serve, understanding, sober reason, consideration, peace. CSABA SÍK Mihály babits Jonah s Prayer To me already words are faithless things or I’ve become a flooding creek which brings its shoreless aimlessness, wavering, vain, bearing old idle words, so many, torn and carried onward in the same way as a rambling flood bears hedgerows, signposts, dykes. O how I wish my Master had supplied my creek's flow with a bed, so it could glide with safety to the sea, and that my poems could all be tipped with His prefashioned rhymes, and, as it’s on my shelf and clear to see, His Holy Bible were my prosody, so that I could, like Jonah, indolent and skulking servant, on my dark descent into the fish, into the living, deaf darkness of flushing pain find for myself, over not just three days but three whole months, three years or centuries before a mouth of a yet blinder and eternal whale swallows me so I vanish for good and all, find the old voice, my words correct in lines of battle order, speak His bravest tones as prompted, and as well as my sick throat allows, and never tiring till the night, or as long as heaven and Nineveh comply to let me go on speaking, not to die. Translated by Alan Dixon The Story of the Chain Bridge Someone is wailing for the Vienna express in Budapest, on the arrivals platform of the Eastern Station. He paces up and down with a bunch of flowers. The strange thing is, that he walks on four legs, and holds the flowers in his mouth, he is a Hungarian puli, and those he is expecting are dogs and cats. This is the beginning of one of Kati Rékai’s children’s books which could be described as “nice, entertaining, lively, colourful’’, but the quality of it, which is far more important is that children’s books of Kati Rékai serve the cause of peace in an interesting and lively manner. Kati Rékai who lives in Toronto, presents folk customs with understanding and foreign scenes with love. To understand, to make friends, to live together in peace — this is the message of her books. Could anyone give better, more useful advice in this world so pregnant with tensions and fears? K. r “... they had already reached the Danube River. Lurkó asked the driver to stop, and turned to his friends: “This huge square is called Roosevelt Square. I don’t have to explain to you what an exceptional man Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the late President of the United States, was. Without his wisdom and help, World War II would have lasted much longer. To our right is the Academy of Sciences founded in 1832 by Count István Széchenyi. He brought to his beautiful building scientists from all over the world to exchange ideas for the betterment of the world and its people. István Széchenyi was determined to make Budapest the most beautiful capital of Europe and he travelled a great deal to gather ideas On how to achieve this. One year he travelled to London, to find out how the bridges on the Thames were built. He thought that if a permanent bridge would be built across the Danube, the cities of Buda and Pest would grow together and become an important city in Europe. While in London, he started to negotiate with an excellent engineer, William Tierney Clark. After many years of discussion, plans and campaigns to raise money, the Chain Bridge (Lánchíd) was built. Another Scotsman, Adam Clark, supervised its construction. Then tragedy struck. According to a story, when everything was ready for the opening of the bridge, a shoemaker’s apprentice told him: ’Look at those lions who guard the bridge.’ ’Why, why?’ Adam Clark asked nervously, fearing that something had gone wrong. ’Because they do not have tongues’. Clark, who had thought that his bridge was perfect became so disturbed at this that he jumped into the Danube and drowned.” Cica became very upset at this, she put her two paws in front of her eyes so as not to look at the bridge any more. Lurkó smiled and continued: “Don’t cry Cica, this is only a story. Adam Clark married a Hungarian girl, settled down in Budapest and lived to supervise many more constructions. It is true that the lions have no tongues, but they faithfully guarded the bridge for a century. Naturally they could not prevent its destruction during the second World War, in 1945 when not only this bridge, but all the other bridges which cross the Danube were destroyed in a few seconds. What is remarkable is that, after a few years, all the bridges were rebuilt and now they are even more beautiful than ever before”, Lurkó concluded, then asked the driver to continue across the Bridge. KATI RÉKAI From: The Adventures of Mickey, Taggy, Puppo and Cica and how they discover Budapest. (Canadian Stage and Arts Publications Limited Toronto, Ontario, Canada) 61
