HIS-Press-Service, 1977 (2. évfolyam, 5-8. szám)
1977-12-01 / 8. szám
HIS Press Service No.8. December 1977 Page 10 State permission to hold religious instruction in the schools. (Religious instruction in the churches can be given by all priests officially recognized by the State as clergy, though it is often only the assistants who make use of this possibility.) Exact figures on the number of religion teachers licensed by the State are not available even to the bishops since this authorization is sent directly to the individuals involved without any official notification of the bishops. A numerical basis for an estimate of the size of this group, however, is that the teacher's hand book appears in an edition of 2,000 copies. As already mentioned, the editing of the new religion books was undertaken by work groups consisting primarily of young cl ericalreligion teachers. From these groups stemmed the new institutionalized diocesan committees for religious instruction which are mainly concerned with the further education of religion teachers. The committee for the Archdiocese of Eger has proven especially active. This year was the seventh time that it has organized national retreats for religion teachers which include continued education courses. A religious retreat along similar lines was also held this year by the Archdiocese of Esztergom for the religion teachers of the capital. In addition to the Central Theological Academy in Budapest, a so-called consultation office of the diocesan committee for religious instruction has recently been set up. This consultation office, which was originally founded for the religion teachers of the Archdiocese of Esztergom and especially for those of the capital, Budapest,is also open for consultation by the religion teachers of the other dioceses. It should be mentioned that the number of fully trained potential religion teachers in Hungary is as large as that of those already engaged in this activity. Nevertheless, because this number consists of unauthorized priests, previous members of religious orders, and lay catechists, they do not have the government permission necessary for performing such an activity. Another problem which remains unsolved is that of the lay catechists which have been trained recently. Through private courses given by the Theological College in Szeged, about 30 lay persons have received theological training in the past three years. The state agencies, however, continue to refuse these lay catechists permission to give religious instruction. A three-year theological correspondence course has been begun this year at the Theological Academy in Budapest. Its goal is to offer a solid philosophical and theological education to lay men and women active in leading or other positions in Church institutions. The course is also open to all others who are interested. Whether the bishops will later be able to appoint the graduates of this course of studies to give religious instruction is still an undecided matter.
