HIS-Press-Service, 1977 (2. évfolyam, 5-8. szám)
1977-12-01 / 8. szám
HIS Press Service No.8. December 1977 Page 7 wording of the text be restrictively interpreted. On the pretext of controlling the number of participants in the instructions, for example, an attempt was made to require the religion teachers to submit a list of names of the pupils attending. In an attempt to scare the children away, the school principal personally came to the church at the time of instruction. Finally, the methods of intimidation and chicanery which had been tried and proven successful in discouraging religious instruction in the schools were used against the religion teachers and the parents. Certain of these measures were eased somewhat after the visit of the Party Chairman János Kádár with the Holy Father. It is no longer demanded that the pupils be divided into 2 younger and 2 older groups. If an appropriate request is filed by the catechist,the 4 groups can also be formed along differently determined age guidelines. Even the formation of a fifth group is possible. For a good reason,the bishop can permit the transfer of the Sunday religion hour to a weekday. The State retains for itself, however, the right to examine whether religious instruction actually takes place within the sphere of church religious instruction. The exercise of this control function, however, has at present been placed in the hands of the bishops. In a recent interview for the Vatican Radio , Hungary's Cardinal Primate, László Lékai, stated that in most parishes the number of children taking part in church religious instruction did not even reach the allowed number of 160. Statistical estimates suggest that this is definitely the case for 45% of the parishes, i.e., for parishes which have less than 1,500 parishioners and thus hardly more than 160 children of school age who could take part in church religious instruction. For 55% of the parishes, however, the number allowed is too low. Most Hungarian parishes have more than 1,500 members. Some of the large and extra-large parishes have a membership which goes well beyond 3,000. The limitation of 160 on the number of pupils allowed to participate in religious instruction in each parish has led to the situation where, of the approximately 735,000 Catholic school-age children in the country, no more than a total of 300,000 even have a chance to take part in church religious instruction. To compensate for the deficiency in religious instruction, the clergy has increasingly undertaken an intensive preparation of adults for the reception of the sacraments. The aim of this preparation is a deepening of their faith and an expansion of their religious knowledge. At Baptisms and Confirmations, the parents and sponsors are reached; at marriages, the bridal pair; at the anointing of the sick, which is beginning to take place more and more as a group function in the church, the older people. Some of the Hungarian priests have complained that the amount of time spent in the catechetical instruction of the children is not at all in proportion to the amount of success hoped for - a view sharply opposed by Cardinal Lêkai - and that the
