HIS-Press-Service, 1978 (3. évfolyam, 9-12. szám)
1978-03-01 / 11. szám
HIS Press Service No.II. March 1978 Page 5 helping Hungary's Church. The extent to which the changes will improve the actual effectiveness of the Bishops Conference, however, remains to be seen. When László Lékai was designated Archbishop of Esztergom in 1976 and thus, after an interim period of a quarter of a century, took over the leadership of the Hungarian Church and the Bishops Conference, the formidable task facing him proved to be overshadowed by a great difficulty brought about by the past: The bishops, who had functioned more or less isolatedly and independently from one another until then, had to be united into an up-to-date College of Bishops and their cooperation won for the good of the whole of Hungary's Church. The experience gathered within the past two years has shown that the achievement of these aims is extremely difficult, if not simply impossible, under the present circumstances. This realization could not help but have a crippling effect upon Archbishop Lekai's activity. It not only reduced the chances, but also the willingness, of the Cardinal Primate to involve his College of Bishops both informatively and on the decision-making level in the national leadership of Hungary's Catholic Church. Instead, it became more and more his wish thät as many persons as possible with whom he could work well together should become members of the Bishops Conference. According to wellinformed circles, the Holy See took this wish of Cardinal Lêkai into account in the new appointments. In connection with the new appointments, wishes among the groups of younger priests were also made known: The younger generation of priests was interested in seeing the appointment of some younger bishops too, bishops who could champion the recent changes in the Church. At the same time, there is justified reason for supposing that the majority of the present bishops oppose the inclusion of such "progressive" bishops because, they fear, such efforts for reform could increase the already great number of problems present. The greatest personnel problem at present in the Bishops Conference is the still unresolved position of the Auxiliary Bishops. Seven of Hungary's eleven dioceses have auxiliary bishops, but their activity is only secondarilyconcernedwith the governing of the dioceses. In most cases, they are used to represent the diocesan bishop in pastoral activities, such as Confirmations, Ordinations, etc. None of the Hungari auxiliary bishops are Vicar Generals or Diocesan Chancellors who stand in second and third place in the governing of the dioceses and have a fixed and constant area of activity. The fact that at least 80% of the present Vicar Generals and Diocesan Chancellors of Hungary's dioceses are leading members of the Priests of Peace Movement reminds one of the situation existing before the normalization of relations between Church and State. At that time these positions were held by persons who were trusted fol 1 owers of the State and had been appointed under State pressure Rome does not have the jurisdiction to fill these offices , In every individual case
