Magyar Hírek, 1987 (40. évfolyam, 1-23. szám)
1987-05-03 / 9. szám
A NEW ORDER OF NUNS IN HUNGARY The Chairman of the State Office for Church Affairs licenced the operation of a new order of nuns to be called the Society of Our Lady of Hungarians from the 1st of December 1986. He and a representative of the Hungarian Catholic Bench of Bishops signed minutes concerning the regulation of various matters related to the operation of the order. * The Acts of the Apostels record that the first Christians elected seven deacons and charged them with service to the community. While Christ was on the Earth he taught and heal d people, and he left these duties to His disciples. This is why the Church has always regarded and still regards the continuation of the apostolic work as its duty: to preach the Gospel and to care for the sick. In the opinion of the Church Word and Deed cannot be separated. Deacons served in the early Church, and later various religious orders were formed to meet the needs of the age. The religious orders that came into being in the 4th and 5th centuries added a fourth to the three fundamental virtues (poverty, chastity, obedience), which could be teaching, healing etc. The first monastery in Hungary was erected by Saint Stephen for members of the Benedictine Order. Until the end of the 1940s several dozen religious orders functioned in Hungary for both men and women. Since 1950 only four teaching orders, the Benedictines, the Piarists, the Franciscans and the Hungarian equivalent of Notre Dame. The absence of nuns with caring for the sick as their vocation has posed an increasing problem in the Hungarian hospitals as the years passed, particularly in homes for handicapped hospices for the old. The same applied also to the charitable institutions of the Hungarian Roman Catholic Church where some eight hundred nursing sisters and other lay employees are at work. Their numbers keep on falling. Having been aware of the national problems of the health services the late Cardinal Lékai, Archbishop of Esztergom pleaded with the government of the State of Hungary and with the Congregation of Religious Orders in Rome that they should authorise the establishment of a religious community of women under the control of the episcopate. The first issue of the 1987 episcopal encyclicals by Dr János Fábián, the administrator of the archdiocese, told of the establishment of the Society of Our Lady of Hungarians. “The course that led to this joyful and hopeful achievement began years ago. The religious orders have always started with a double objective. They wanted to ensure the chance to their members to live their faith through the triple counsel of the Gospel and at the same time they also aimed for a more devoted service of the Church. This dual objective was also the intention of the founding Cardinal Archbishop. He was confident that numerous people wanted to live a religious life in a community, following its rules. But he was also aware of the urgent need that the Church and its institutions Nuns with invalids had to rely more and more on help and helping hands. This was why he began negotiations about the establishment of a religious order which met the demands and requirements of our age.” temporary vows after the second year, and permanent vows later. Professional training will come after the two years of novitiate. The Church provides the accommodation, clothing and everything else. On ceremonial occasions, or when we visit museums or go to the theatre together we will wear a grey uniform. A simple jacket, coat, skirt of ordinary length. Nobody will be allowed to go home on visits during the first years of their novitiate. Perhaps parents could visit their daughters. One condition of the training is continuity. It is the vocation of the nuns to place the community before the self.” “I should like to ask you to say something about yourself.” “After completing a commercia secondary school I obtained diplomas in social policy and administration as well as becoming a qualified accountant. I have twenty eight years of experience in the health service. I spent 13 of these years in a home for children convalescing after infantile paralysis, and the rest in charge of a home for the handicapped. 1 think this was the basis of the confidence of the Cardinal placed in me when he appointed me Mother Superior.” * 1 met the first Mother Superior of Our Lady of Hungarians, Eva Kontra, at the temporary centre of the institution. “The idea of a hospice came from the Daughters of the Heart of Jesus in Canada. Why did they choose Hungary?” I asked. “First I should like to make it clear that the intention to build was really conceived in the Canadian community, but the idea of the new religious order was that of the Hungarian Church. The convent of the community will be housed in a wing of the hospice to be built in Budapest. The Canadian Daughters of the Heart of Jesus were formed in Hungary in the early twenties. Besides caring for the sick, their work was manifold: they ran an agricultural school, a printing office, taught religion to women, indeed, they also engaged in trade. Their permission to operate was withdrawn in 1950. By then some of them had reached Canada. There they established two homes for the handicapped, the third was recently completed. They are acknowledged as a non-profit charity, which spends its income on charitable purposes. Since most members of the Society are Hungarians, they have for a long time, wanted to establish a hospice in Hungary as well. They visited the Cardinal and offered their financial help in that.” “I believe they have already transferred the funds to buy the land.” “Yes, they have. We bought a block of land at Tahi, where we intend to build the novitiate, which we hope will be ready for occupation in a year. We should like to do a little farming to ensure our livelihood. Training is both religious and practical, for both of these aspects are necessary. The first year will beone of spiritual training, a time to acquire religious knowledge. Later lay teachers will also take part in the work. They will take their first The Society of Our Lady of the Hungarians was founded within the Esztergom diocese which means that it will be under the supreme authority of the Archbishop of Esztergom. It is self-governing, but naturally this does not mean that they could not work in the territory of other dioceses provided they are invited to do so and women are available. Pious women between 18 and 40 years of age, with the minimum educational standard of eight classes of the general school may join the Society, but the age requirement may be eased in exceptional cases. Every applicant is interviewed by an admission committee. Applications are judged on the recommendation of the committee, the parish recommendation, and the baptismal and confirmation certificates produced. The Society is limited to 400 members. Recruiting members for the Society began on the 1st of January 1987. St. Elisabeth in a hospital I hoped to talk to some of the applicants, hear something about their lives and discover the reasons which prompted their decision. Eva Kontra, however, refused my request. “You must understand that we are not working in a show-window” she said. “When we will have trained the fii'st group of novices you can write about them. We must give them the opportunity to change their mind and protect them from publicity should they do so. They do not know fully what they are undertaking, for there is nothing except a teaching order in Hungary for religious women, and that is entirely different. We hope that by the time our novitiate will be constructed our stable membership will take shape too. We must screen them to ensure that they live up to the realities of life in the Society.” “And until then?” “We should like to use this period to enrol applicants and establish connections with them, preparing the training course.” “Who are your helpers ?” “The four founding members of the Society are a kindergarten teacher, a factory worker, and a cantor, and I am a retired public health worker. Naturally, the priests and bishops of our Church also help us.” “Although a few years must pass before the members of the Society will start work, I should still like to ask you to say something about their future activities.” “They will be led by compassion for suffering people and a willingness to help people in need, particularly those who are least likely to receive loving care (old people, people with locomot ion disorders, retarded children), and work in every field, where there is need for the spiritual and material deeds of charity. We will work within the existing and future institutions of the Roman Catholic Church. There is already a home for disabled children at Ipoly t ölgyes, and we already nurse blind and multiplehandicapped children in Budapest . Our help is expected in both these homes. In addition there is plenty of work to do in the retreat houses and the parishes, caring for the aged, and doing odd jobs to help the parishes, doing their office work for instance. The state takes note of the time members spend working in the Society, in other words the nuns will be eligible for a pension. When they pass their novitiate the new nuns will be sent to work wherever the Mother Superior wishes them to serve. Naturally, all our activities must spring from our profoundly religious, praying lives. Just as Saint Margaret offered her life in atonement for her country, the members of this Society also sacrifice their lives in the service of the Church for our fellow human beings in reparation. Once you comprehend Christian charity you know it. is better to give than to receive, and you find happiness in that mode of life. The essence of Christian humanism is that compassion and the willingness to help spring not only from human sympathy but, also from love of God. YVhat we undertake is the practical realization of a love for God.” KLÁRA ZIKA 31
