HIS-Press-Service, 1982 (7. évfolyam, 22-24. szám)

1982-06-01 / 24. szám

could be in the school only during the actual hours of religious instruction, nor was he permitted to have contact with the pupils at other times. He was not allowed to grade pupils' achievements, nor encourage them to attend religious instruction .

In accordance with par. 3, point 24 of Government Decree Nr. 21/1957 school religious instruction is permitted only in the normal primary and unspecialized secondary schools. No religious instruction may be held in the technical schools. The same legal regulation, which contained a change in the implementary guideline issued in 1950, somewhat relaxed the stipulations set down at that time. It was now possible to hold the two hours of religious instruction also .before the beginning of the regular school day. If too few rooms were available in the school itself, the religion classes could also be held by the religion teacher outside of the school in church buildings.

The participation of ever smaller numbers of pupils in school religious instruction due to accompanying impediments and reprisals led to religious instruction in the churches. In addition to first communion and confirmation instructions, the priests began to offer hours of religious instruction which became increasingly popular. As soon as the State became convinced that this development was becoming too successful, it too was soon placed within the framework of legal regulations. In the latter part of 1974 an agreement was reached between the Hungarian Bishops Conference and the State on the number, time, and place of church religion hours, as well as the largest number of pupils in such classes. School authorities were also granted certain supervisory powers over church religious instruction.

General Statistics: In the 1979/80 school year 770,000 Catholic pupils had the legal right to attend school religious instruction. The ca. 170,000 Catholic pupils in technical schools were legally excluded from such instructions. Taking into consideration the 40,000 Catholic university and college students who were also in need of evangelization, there was a total of ca. 1 million young Catholics who should have taken part in the religious instruction and evangelization programs carried on by the Catholic Church. (These figures were reached on the basis of the statistical yearbook from 1979, and the fact that 61.3% of Hungary's population is Roman Catholic.). According to the estimates of the clergy, however, no more than an average of 2-3% of the pupils legally allowed to do so actually take part in school religious instruction. An approximately equal number take part in church religious instruction, which is equivalent to that offered in the schools. 70-80% of the pupils participating in religious instruction are less than 10 years old.

HIS Press Service No. 24, June 1982 Page 2