HIS-Press-Service, 1982 (7. évfolyam, 22-24. szám)
1982-06-01 / 24. szám
HIS Press Service No.24, June 1982 Page 5 A possible solution would be to hold religious instruction on Saturdays, though it is doubtful whether the authorities wouldibe will ing, for example, to heat the schools on Saturdays in winter or provide bus service for the pupils attending. This would also place a great burden on the parents and children involved who would be required to sacrifice part of a day (Saturday) which others spend at home, especially since it is a day on which either the children are needed to help out in the house and on the farm, or common activities can be planned. Saturday religious instruction would also create difficulties for the priests, since it is one of their busiest days for pastoral work. State Insistence on "Ordered Conditions" During a discussion in Eger with the vicars and deans of the diocese, Secretary of State Imre Miklós, who is president of the State Office for Church Affairs, said that "Hungarian church politics is based on the principle that ordered conditions must be created." When asked how the religion hours could be properly fitted into the five-day school week, he replied that the problem would have to be worked out on the local level since a state-wide solution is impossible. The Secretary of State did not say whether the problem would be solved in that local authorities would overlook deviations from existing regulations, or whether the existing and all too detailed laws, which are filled with hinderances, would be changed in such a way that local situations - which often vary greatly from one another - could satisfactorily be taken into consideration. Whatever approach is taken, new limitations upon school religious instruction can be somewhat compensated for only through generous changes in present restrictive regulations. It should be allowed, for example, to hold religious instruction in the parishes, or when necessary even in private homes,without any burocratic limitations; furthermore, it should be possible to build facilities where religious instruction can take place. Alleviating the burden of the priests involved in religious instruction could only come about if the State were to give lay persons, such as the graduates of the lay theological extension courses whom the Church considered qualified for this work, permission to teach religion. During their summer session on 8 and 9 June, the Hungarian Bishops Conference also discussed the problems arising for religious instruction in connection with the 5-day school week. One can only hope that Hungary's bishops will be able to find a beneficial solution for the Church to this new problem.
