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The Catholic Churchin Hungary: A Case ofRemodernisation?Paul Richard BlumPublished online: 25 Aug 2010.

To cite this article: Paul Richard Blum (1999) The Catholic Church in Hungary:A Case of Remodernisation?, Religion, State and Society, 27:3-4, 315-326, DOI:10.1080/096374999106511

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R eligion, State & Society, Vol. 27, Nos 3/4, 1999

*T his paper w as f irst p resen ted at the conference `R eligions in Europe in the Tw entieth

Century’ at the Open University, Milton Keynes, April 1997.

0963-7494/99/03/04/0315-12 � 1999 Keston Institute

The Catholic Church in Hungary: a Case of

Rem odernisation?*

PA UL RICH A RD BLU M

The title of m y paper contains a question m ark against the w ord rem odernisation.

The word im plies that the Catholic Church in Hungary is m oving tow ards a m ore

m odern status, and that in so doing it is reviving a form er status which w as m odern

in som e w ay. B ut in an age of postm odernism this concept is a question m ark in

itself. If we m ay take the ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council as m odernity

within the Church, the aggiornamento it represented was overwhelm ed by the revo-

lution of western society in the later 1960s, to the extent that the Church necessarily

failed to keep pace w ith contem porary o r ien tations and d isor ien tations in those

societies. F rom a global point of view the aggiornam ento w as perhaps par t of the

1960s revolution since it a im ed at nothing less than m aking m onolithic structures

flexible and focusing on the im pact of the individual and local groups on social life.

But in the eyes of these individuals the Church lost m uch of its authority, along w ith

all such struc tures which claim ed objective power. If there had not been the social

com m itm ent of the Church, the option for the poor, it would probably have lost any

reason fo r existence in the eyes of large par ts of the laity . W hat rem ained of the

Church as a positive incitem en t w as the quasi-existen tialist `engagem en t’ w hich

becam e the m ain or even only source of m eaning in society. I m yself am not quite

sure w hat `postm odern’ m eans, but I think it has som ething to do with the delusion of

1968 com m itm en t to bat tle fo r a renew ed soc ie ty `fr om b elow ’ , f rom an ind i-

v idual is tic and som e tim es u top ian social po in t o f v iew . T h is led to an ec lec tic

look ing back to trad it ion: p rem odern values and form s w ere in terp reted from a

personal perspective. T h is com bination is w hat gave the postm odern attitude its

aesthetic and spiritual, even m ystical shape.

To be sure, w hen all this happened the com m unist bloc was never included. Of

course the Universal Church w as concerned with what happened in the com m unist

countries, as dem onstrated by the visits to these countries by Cardinal K önig, as w ell

as by the V atican’ s O stpolitik.1 But inside these countries there was no possibility of

taking part in the changes in ecclesiology and society. A Czech intellectual told m e

shortly after the dem onstrations in P rague in February 1988 that `W e are not striving

for socialism w ith a hum an face (the DubcÆek form ula) but rather for capitalism with

a hum an face ’ ; bu t this w as at a tim e w hen capi talism had already begun to be

quest ion ed in the W est, n o t le a st in the p ap a l encyc l ica l le t ter S o l l ic i tud o re i

socialis of 1988.

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316 Paul R ichard B lum

A s in other com m unist countr ies, the Church in H ungary w as cut o ff f rom all

developm ents in society and Church for som e 40 years. 2 It never lived through an

aggiornamento , nor through any engagem ent of the laity, nor through any subsequent

delusions. D uring all that tim e it had just tw o patterns: the precom m unist Church and

the persecuted/corrupted Church. W hat it is experiencing now is both a reattachm ent

to the Church of the tim e before the Second W orld W ar and the vitalisation of a free

Church in a free society. W hile the form er m eans taking up w hat the Church was in

the old days, the latter evidently m eans taking up the im pulses of the Second Vatican

C oun ci l . S ince in th e o ld days th e C hu rch had been in tune w ith i ts t im e and

`m odern’ in the sense o f w hat w as m odern then, both o f these current tendencies

m ean that the Church in H ungary is undergoing a rem odernisation. But is it in fact

the case that both are not really m odern any m ore, because they are not keeping pace

w ith the position of the Church in the western w orld today? W e shall see.

H istory

Christianity was introduced to Hungary by the king , S t Istv’ n, in 996, and for alm ost

1000 years was an essential part of the def inition of being H ungarian.3 This identity

w as, of course, challenged by the Refo rm ation w hen Calvinism began to spread .

T hus am ong H ungarians in T ransylvan ia, par t of today’ s Rom ania, the Reform ed

denom ination is part of their selfconsciousness, m arking their difference from others

such as (Lutheran) Germ ans and (O rthodox or E astern- rite) Rom anians. In the other

parts of H ungary, under H absburg con tro l, Rom an Catholicism p revailed . Chris-

t ian ity w as con fi rm ed as a lead ing elem en t in H unga rian consc iousness by the

dom ination of the T urks for 140 years after the Battle of M oh’ cs in 1526. H ungary

w as then split into three parts: the centre triangle under Turkish rule; the eastern part,

T ransylvania, m ore independent but still controlled by the T urks; and the w estern

part ruled by H absburg Austria. I t was in Transylvania where, for the first tim e in

E urope , at the treaty of Torda (1557) tolerance of all Christian denom inations was

proclaim ed, giving alm ost equal rights to Catholics, Reform ed and Unitarians.4 After

the expulsion of the Turks the Catholic Church gained a m ore and m ore im portant

role in the Hungarian state. U nder the religious policy of M aria T heresa and Joseph

II there w ere tensions, of course, ar ising from the hierarchy’ s con flict o f loyalty

betw een the V iennese Court and the H o ly See, bu t the em pero r had the right of

`pa tronage’ , m eaning that no bishop could be nom inated w ithout his consent.

All in all, then, the Church was one of the pillars of the H ungarian state. And this

w as true not only in the realm of politics and ideology, but also in public service. T he

Church ran m ost hospitals and ± even m ore im por tantly ± alm ost m onopolised public

education. T he first university in Hungary w as founded by the Jesuit archbishop of

E sztergom Cardinal P…ter P ’ zm ’ ny in Trnava (N agyszom bat) in 1635 . Before the

introduction of public schooling probably 90 per cent of schools were organised by

the Catholic Church, m ainly by religious orders like the P iarists, Benedictines and

Franciscans. A t the beginning of the First W orld W ar they still owned som e 60 per

cent of all schools.

Funding of these activities w as secured by real estate property. The Church w as

the greatest landlord in the country. The political and sociological im portance of this

fact is evident when w e consider that the other pillars of the Hungarian state, which

w as kept by deliberate Austrian policy as an agricultural country, w ere the gentry (10

per cent o f the population w ere noblem en) and the peasan ts. T here w ere internal

quarrels, of course, but the ideal of the Church and its flock w as the acies bene ordi-

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The Catholic Church in H ungary 317

nata as it was put on stage, for the last tim e, at the Eucharistic W orld Congress of

1938 in Budapest.

T he popu lation o f H ungary never experienced the Industrial Revo lution of the

nineteenth century, so the Church w as not com pelled to apply its social doctrine, as

expounded in Rerum novarum , in the form of w orkers’ m ovem ents. M ost H ungarians

were peasants, but at the sam e tim e `bourgeois’ in the sense that they lived in agree-

m ent with society, sharing values and culture. L iteracy w as w idespread: books were

not rare in a Hungarian fam ily. The culture was even m ultilingual.

W hen the com m unist regim e introduced a socialist econom y and industrial produc-

tion, it was not the case that the w orkers w ere liberated from alienated exploitation;

rather for the first tim e in history they were put into the condition of a proletarian

class, selling their w ork to the exp loiters, the Com m unist Par ty and its `w eb ’ of

nom enklatura.5

At the sam e tim e the Church was deprived of any m eans of helping the population

or of orientating itself to the new conditions. Shortly after the seizure of power by the

Com m unist Par ty the Catholic Church, or m ore exactly the clergy, was split into tw o.

A `peace m ovem ent of priests’ was founded w ith the role of organising all the priests

in the country.6 Those who opposed it were put into prison. In founding this organisa-

tion, which had parallels in Czechoslovakia, Y ugoslavia and Poland, the Com m unist

Party aim ed bo th at controlling the in fluence o f the Church on the peop le and at

sepa rat ing it f rom the au tho ri ty o f R om e . T here w e re no t m any a lterna tive s to

heroism or collaboration. M ost priests opted for inner em igration, form ally adhering

to the prescribed struc tures. The effect in sociological and psychological term s was

that State and Church fell apart. Since then an invisible `division line’ has separated

those w ho actively col labo rated and those w ho evaded col labo ra tion . W hile the

com m unist governm en t acted according to the b iblical insight `I str ike dow n the

shepherd and the flock is scattered ’ , 7 being a Christian becam e on the one hand a

public event of less and less im portance and on the other hand a personal stand. The

heroic stand of Cardina l József M indszenty as a leading figure in the 1956 uprising ,

his refusal for decades in the A m erican E m bassy to leave the country and his flock

after the pope, as he said, had ordered him to give way to Vatican Ostpolitik ± all this

was inspired by the political understanding of the P rim ate of the Hungarian Church

and P asto r o f al l H ungarians. R eali ty s tar ted to d iffer m ore and m ore from the

traditional p icture, how ever. As m any pr iests w ere suspected of w ork ing w ith the

regim e, faith tended to becom e m ore and m ore subjective,8 individual, or part of a

dissent w hich only later started to organise itself in underground groups. From the

1960s the gove rnm en t w as su r e abou t it s success in unde rm in ing th e C hur ch ’ s

authority and in political term s showed a m ore liberal attitude, w hich was essential if

it w ere to keep pow er after the catastrophe of the 1956 uprising. It initiated a fam ous

policy of `Goulash Com m unism ’ , wh ich m ade Hungary the m ost liberal and rela-

tively aff luent country in Com econ . Sm all groups of at m ost 15 m em bers w ould

gather to pray together (we should not forget that any gathering of m ore than five

people, theoretically even a bir thday party, had to ask for perm ission) . I t was not

part icu lar ly dangerous to be a C hristian , bu t it con tinued to be an obstacle to a

professional career; nobody openly Christian w as ever adm itted to an ideologically

sensitive position, starting from kindergarten teacher. By the early 1980s there w ere

som e 4,000 sm all com m unities, w ith practically no contact betw een them . T he body

of the Church was atom ised. Faith was `deconfessionalised ’ and `spiritualised ’ .

A s M ik ló s T o m k a h as sho w n , w h i le the n um b er o f p eo p le g o in g to ch u r ch

decreased constantly during the 1970s and 1980s, the num ber def ining them selves as

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318 Paul R ichard B lum

`be lievers’ rem ained m uch m ore stable. In the m id-1980s Tom ka published evidence

of this fact produced by sociological m ethods, including evidence of the m oral and

psychological value o f faith am ong the popu lation. H e p rovoked harsh criticism s

from those involved in official religious policy.9 By the end of the com m unist era,

how ever, the governm ent was ready to adm it the political need for religious educa-

tion in fam ily and church, negotiating an agreem ent at the beginning of 1989.10 W hile

continuing to stress the `leading role of the Party’ it was thus adm itting private and

(from its point of view) pluralistic instruction.

At the sam e tim e, religious groups dared to look for contacts and to share religious

experience. N ow adays alm ost all the scattered groups have m erged into a sm aller

n um ber o f chu rch m ovem en ts . S om e o f these ar e local H unga rian b ranches o f

foreign organisations,11 such as Focolare and Opus D ei, or charism atic m ovem ents

(now w ith som e 2,000 m em bers) like Em m anuel or Beatitudes (form erly L…on de

Juda) , but ind igenous m ovem en ts have been rev ived as w ell, especially Regnum

M arianum , 12 founded at the beginning of th is cen tu ry as a pr iests’ m ovem ent and

transform ed into a socially orientated youth organisation. T he success of these new

religious m ovem ents and of som e older m ovem ents illustrates one aspect of post-

m odern religiosity, nam ely a tendency away from secular political com m itm ent and

tow ard s sp ir i tu al expe rience and gu id ance . O f cou r se , one h as to d iff er en t iate

between those w ho had been involved in underground spiritual seeking and are now

com ing into these spiritual com m unities and those, m ainly young people, who have

joined new religious m ovem ents (Catholic or other kinds) f rom an atheist or agnostic

environm ent. In the form er case western religious traditions are now encounter ing

the spiritualisation of religion forced by the antichurch policy of the atheist state. In

the latter case a spiritua l vacuum is felt and filled.

By the end of com m unist tim es there w ere also som e charitable activities, such as

the M alta Charity, led by the parish priest Im re K ozm a, which played an im portant

role w hen it sheltered East G erm an refugees in Budapest during the m ass m igration

of the sum m er of 1989 that caused the crum bling of the Berlin W all, and w as am ong

the first to bring aid to the turm oil of the Rom anian Revolution of Christm as 1989.

The end of the com m unist regim e w as also m arked by the nom ination to vacant

dioceses of a num ber of bishops w ho had been intellectually trained under the con-

ditions of a persecuted Church and had undergone the experience of priesthood in a

com m unist state.

The `Social Letter’

Soon after the changes of 1989 several political and social organisations appealed to

the bishops to share the Church’ s view of the econom ic and soc ial situa tion of the

co un tr y . T he b ish op s acco r d ing ly b eg an to p r epa re a p asto ra l le tte r un de r th e

initiative and guidance of the bishop of Szeged, Endre Gyulay. This process was in

no w ay easy : under the given cond itions intellectuals capab le o f interp reting the

soc ia l doc tr ine o f the C hur ch and an alysing th e po li t ic al , e con om ic and social

situation from a church point of view were rare in H ungary.

In A ugust 1996 a c ircu lar let te r f r om the H ungarian B ishops ’ C onfe rence to

`be lievers and all people of goodw ill’ about H ungarian society w as finally published

u nde r th e t i tle T o w a rds a M o re Ju st and M o re B ro th erly W o rld ! 13 U nd er fou r

m ajor headings it describes (in m y own w ords) (1) the social situation of the people,

i nc lu d in g hea l t h m a t te r s; ( 2 ) th e na t io n a l e co n om y , in c lu d ing en v ir o nm en ta l

p roblem s; (3) the state and civil society; and (4) culture, including the m edia and

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The Catholic Church in H ungary 319

education . Each chapter opens w ith factua l descriptions and then m oves on to `inter-

pretations and suggestions’ . This approach indicates a certain hum ility, as does the

expressed intention: `W e w ant to rebuild through com m on efforts not only econom ic,

social and political life in our country, but also consciousness of values (including

m oral values), in order to help ¼ to build a better and m ore hum an life ¼ ’ .14 The

em phasis is first of all on econom ic and political m atters, and then on m oral issues.

T hus the Church takes in to accoun t the fact that it is no t the leading elem ent in

society but just one am ong others and offers its contribution to a com m on effort. At

the sam e tim e, however , in so doing the Church rejects any traditional confinem ent

to `m oral questions only’ , which w as favoured by the form er political system s and

which m any presen t-day po liticians w ould like to see resto red. The Letter claim s

com petence fo r the Church in poli tical m atters in a lay society, bu t as on ly one

elem ent of that society, as confirm ed in the final observation: `the Church today is

still par t of the life of society, as it has been an o rgan ic part [of H ungary] for a

thousand years.’ 15 The very first paragraph refers to the 1100th anniversary of the

foundation of the Hungarian S tate and the 1000th anniversary of the establishing of

Christianity in H ungary ± both celebrated in 1996. The difference in m ood be tween

the celebration o f 1996 and the celeb ration of the M illenn ium one hundred years

earlier is very striking: at that tim e alm ost everything which shapes the urban beauty

of Budapest was being built with the intention of glorifying Hungarian independence

and culture (and to the envy of Vienna to such an extent that the em peror personally

took care that the opera house in Budapest w ou ld not be larger than that o f the

Austro-H ungarian capital). This glory is history now .

In line w ith this realistic attitude all aspects of the Catholic social doctrine which

T om ka once called ` t r ium phal ist ic ’ 1 6 a re pu t a side. I t i s true tha t the C hurch is

com m itted `to propagate the G ospel ¼ and show the w ay to eternity ’ , but `w ithin all

historical situations’ and as `criteria for leading an earthly life’ . T hese are the intro-

ductory rem arks.17 Throughout the L etter the Church is seen neither as a pillar of the

state, nor in opposition to it, but w ithin a reality which is in fact indifferent to it. It is

in this m arginalised position that the H ungarian Church offers its help.

Hum ility in the `Social L etter’ is nevertheless accom panied by an asser tion of the

p rio r ity o f the p r incip le o f so lidar i ty over tha t o f subsid ia r ity . T he th ree b asic

princ iples or pillars (alappill…r) of social doctrine are said to be `In the first place the

d ig n i ty o f th e h um an p e rson , the p r in c ip le o f so l id a r i ty , an d the p r in cip le o f

subsidiarity ’ . 18 W hile quoting Quadragesim o anno which states that acting against

su b s id ia r i ty is o b n o x i ou s t o so c ia l o r d e r , b e cau se a l l so c ia l a c t iv i ty a im s a t

supporting all m em bers of the social body ± a statem ent w hich evidently involves a

perspective looking dow n from above ± the L etter refers to G audium et spes to draw

the conclusion that cooperation in com m on w ork has to be encouraged.19 Subsidiarity

can be interpreted as a practical effect of the principle of hierarchy ± the delegating

of com petence to every level while giving support f rom top to bottom ± and for the

`Social Letter’ solidarity along with subsidiarity needs to be realised w ithin society.

T he reason fo r this, says the letter , ar ises ou t o f recen t his to ry. T he sty le o f the

com m unist governm ent w as paternalism , and the claim (or fiction , w e m ight say) that

the state takes care of every detail of the life of its subjects has deprived them o f

in dependen t th in k ing , in i t iat ive and re spon sib il i ty . 2 0 T h e au tho rs o f the L et ter

describe clearly the historical delay w hich has affected the Hungarian people: they

are faced with the task of achieving im m ediately w hat slow ly deve loped in w estern

coun tr ie s du ring th e 60 y ear s w h ich elapsed be tw een Q u adragesim o anno an d

Centesim o anno.

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320 Paul R ichard B lum

The L etter’ s practical proposal is for a social m arket econom y.21 In an autonom ous

econom y it is the duty of the state to m itigate social injustice, and the international

com panies are rem inded tha t they should not only profit from investm ent but should

also im por t m oral and cultural standards: globalisation includes the globalisation of

responsibility.22 The Letter not only calls for social responsibility in the econom y, but

also stresses that according to the principle of hum an dignity there can be no distinc-

tion be tween `honourable’ and `dishonourable’ (…rdem es ± …rdemtelen) poverty.23 In

this w ay it em phasises the `option for the poor’ : to speak out for those w ho cannot

defend them selves.24

The Social Letter thus calls for a speeding-up of the developm ents that took place

in western society in the 1960s, involving individua l and com m on com m itm ent `from

below ’ (`alsóbb szintuÂÂ’ : `m oving from the lower rank’ ).25 The Church refers to the

cal l by the opposition m ovem en t du ring com m unism fo r a `civ il society ’ ( `civil

t ’ rsado lom ’ ) w hich w ould include decentralisation , par ticipation in pub lic affairs

starting from the low er levels of soc iety (regarding housing, w ork and so on), and the

creation of appropriate organs. The authors add that all this is required by the prin-

ciple of subsidiarity as well, but argue that governm ents since 1989 have failed to

realise these dem ands because it w as no t in their interest to foster dem ocracy by

`socialising’ them selves (t’ rsadalm iasod’ s, V ergesellschaf tlichung).26 The effect is

th a t c en tra l is at io n con t in ues and ev en sign s o f r e sta t isa t ion (œj r a ’ l l a m o s õ Ât’ s ,

W ied erversta a t l i chu n g ) a r e to be seen . T he com m u n ist go v e rn m en t a im ed a t

atom ising all society (including the Christians),27 but the new governm ent follows the

sam e line. (T here seem s to be som e truth in this assertion: the m ost prom inent parties

today, the Socialist Party (M SZP) of G yula Horn and the L iberal Party (SZD SZ), are

constantly be ing criticised for corruption.) Politicians say that they need the support

of the Church, and therefore keep som e of their social prom ises, but their m ajor aim ,

says the L etter, is to continue with the policy of state capitalism . Hungary’ s present

econom ic problem s are caused by the enorm ous debts incurred by the K ’ d’ r regim e

in o rder to finance G oulash Com m unism , w hich in practice m eant paying salaries

higher than the value produced by the workers. The inactivity, or m ore accurately the

ineffective activity, of the reform ed com m unists and the liberals seem s to be having

the effect of stirring up old feelings and prejudices, so that for m any people com -

m unism , liberalism (which is frequently said to be connected w ith Jewish em ancipa-

tion in the nineteenth century) and freem asonry are once again the enem y of religion.

The open and harsh critic ism directed at political activity since 1989 is confirm ed

in the Letter by de tailed figures on the social and econom ic situation of the country,

data which are m ost im pressive at any first reading of the text and which have never

before been com piled so com pletely.

Poverty has increased dram atically: between 1989 and 1993 the percentage of the

population officially affected rose from 5 to 25. The num ber of people below the

subsis tence level in this coun try o f som e 10 m illion inhab itan ts g rew from one

m illion in the 1980s to tw o m illion in 1992 and three and a half m illion in 1995.28 In

1996 the average m onthly wage w as 46,000 forints (about £185). Today pork costs

about £2 per kilogram m e. R ough ly speak ing , salar ies are ten tim es low er than in

G erm any, but p r ices o f everyday goods are on ly half the G erm an level, so fo r a

H ungarian p rices are f ive tim es higher than in the W est. U nem ploym ent is on an

international level at 10 per cent but the social security system is inadequate and is in

fact being cut because of the state’ s financial deficit. The real value of pensions has

decayed by 23 per cent in 5 years. Probably 30±40,000 people are hom eless. Forty-

f ive per cent of children under 19 live in households w hich have less than the subsis-

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The Catholic Church in H ungary 321

tence leve l incom e. Fam ilies get less support than ever . In 1995 the num ber o f

abor tions reached 77 ,000. T he Letter com plains that there is no visible plan in the

shaping of econom ic and social structures.29

T he L etter pays attention to m inorities. W hile governm ent statis tics say about

2 per cent of the population belong to m inorities, recent estim ates put the f igure at

8±10 per cent. The difference depends on tw o factors: language and self-identifica-

tion. M any people avoid identifying them selves as m em bers of m inorities because

they are afraid of the kind of discrim ination they suffered in the past; w hatever their

orig in , they identify them selves as H ungarian citizens. M ob ility and urban isation

have m ean t that even in fam ilies of G erm an, Ruthen ian, Serb or o ther o rigin, the

m inority language is very often forgotten. T he estim ated 500,000 Rom a live under

the worst conditions today. They w ere the first to lose their jobs after 1989; unem -

ploym ent am ong Rom a is on average 40±50 per cent and in som e villages as high as

100 per cent.30 The Letter em phasises their plight.31

The figures on public health given in the L etter are presented w ith concern. L ife

expectancy is now only 64.8 years com pared to 72.9 years in A ustr ia. M ortality

am ong adult m en is said to be higher only in the form er Soviet U nion and Rom ania.32

Alcoholism has doubled during the 1990s and now affects m ore than 10 per cent of

the population. Since the 1980s H ungary has had the highest rate of suicide in the

world.33 Crim inality has doubled in the 1990s.34 T he Letter expresses strong views on

co r rup tion , w h ich r em ains unpu n ish ed w hen indu lged in a t m idd le and h ighe r

levels.35 Detailed figures relating to the national econom y are provided.36 The Letter

argues in favour of joining the European U nion, w hile speaking clearly about the

difficulties the country will have to face when it w ill be com peting with others.37

Aspirations towards NA TO and the EU involve a m ajor problem w hich is also a

problem for the Catholic Church. A s a result of the treaty of T rianon in 1920 the

Hungarian state lost two thirds of its territory and one third of its population,38 and

after the Second W orld W ar m ore losses were im posed. Consequently large popula-

tions of Hungarians live in today’ s Slovakia (600,000), U kraine (155,000 in 1959),

Rom ania39 (an estim ated 2,100,000) and states of the form er Yugoslavia (477,000 in

1971).40 Hungarian thinking is heavily conditioned by history. This is evident in the

opening and closing passages of the `Social Letter ’ , as quoted above, and in m any a

political event. W hen , fo r exam ple, in 1991 an econom ic cooperation treaty w as

concluded betw een Poland, Czechoslovakia and H ungary (w hich w ere subsequently

called the V isegr’ d countries), it w as signed in the sam e old V isegr’ d on the Danube

where a sim ilar treaty had been concluded in 1335. In the sam e way, despite the fact

that no one in Hungary seem s to think that a revision of the country ’ s borders is a

realistic expectation , the H ungarians `ou tside the bo rders ’ are referred to in the

Letter, because they still belong to the fam ily.41 The H ungarian governm ent is now

negotiating w ith the new governm ent of Rom ania in order to ease the situation of the

Hungarians there (under Ceaus, escu they w ere openly persecuted); m ore difficult are

relations w ith S lovakia. D uring the war in form er Y ugoslavia m any Hungarians fled

fr om Y u goslav ia to H un ga r y , c au sin g ser iou s soc ia l p r ob lem s. T he C h ur ch is

invo lved , too . I t w as on ly in 1994 that the V at ican red rew the borders of those

dioceses w hich had ceased to coincide with those of the various countries. H owever,

since the F irst and Second W orld W ars H ungarian C atho lic com m unities in the

ne ighbouring countries continue to depend to a large extent on spiritual and m ater ial

support from H ungary . T here is a real danger that w hen H ungary en ters the E U

Hungarians outside the country w ill suddenly find them selves outside Europe. The

concep t o f `C en tral E u rope ’ w as a key one for d issiden ts under com m unism : i t

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expressed their s trugg le fo r iden tif icat ion w ith the E uropean ideals o f f reedom ,

com m unication and self-determ ination. E xclusion from Europe w ould m ean m uch

m ore to them than just econom ic disappointm ent.

T he H unga rian b ishops unde rl ine the fac t tha t w hen deal ing w ith social and

political m atters the Church does not arrogate any power to itself; 42 but they em pha-

sise that it is strictly fulfilling `the m ission obtained from Chr ist led by responsibility

fo r the coun try ’ . 4 3 I t is in tere st ing to com pare these s tatem en ts w ith equ ivalen t

passages in the docum ent published in February 1997 by the Germ an Catholic and

Protestant Churches.44 W hile waiving any claim to power in very sim ilar w ords the

G erm an docum ent m akes no reference to a specific Chr istian m ission.45 A Christian

perspective on social problem s is based on the Christian vision of m an as found in

the Bible and evident in experience (Erfahrung), a term which is referred to history,

G od’ s fidelity (Treue) and H is m essage.46 Ethical claim s originate in the divine gift of

the ability to act in a reasonable and responsible m anner.47 W hile the Germ an docu-

m en t, then , alm ost conceals any d ivine com m andm en t under hum an experience

(which m ight be a consequence o f the interdenom inational or igin of the text), the

H ungarian b ishops exp ressly refer to such a com m andm ent. W hat is new in the

`Social Letter’ is that they consistently apply the Christian m essage to present-day

politics, the econom y and social welfare. Of course, the question of how eternal truth

should be applied to concrete situations still rem ains to be answ ered.

In 1995 Bishop Asztrik V’ rszegi, abbot of Pannonhalm a (the abbey which is as old

as the Hungarian Church), voiced the criticism that `the leadership of the Church has

been late in recognising the signs of the tim es’ .48 `A m ajority in the Church have the

ideal and rea lity o f the p rew ar per iod befo re the ir eyes: a pow erfu l and st rong

Church, influential through its institutions. ¼ Today the restoration of authority and

the control and safeguarding of the institution seem to have gained the upper hand.’ 49

Since the `Social L etter’ was issued there seem s to be less reason for concern: the

picture of the Church as a pillar of the state, if not a state w ithin the state, seem s to be

changing, thanks to an expressed social com m itm ent.50 The fact that the Church is

creating institutions for education, inc luding a Catholic university, m ight look like a

restoration of the old instrum ents of political power, but it is m ore like ly to indicate a

new social concern.

Bishop Gyulay is well aware that the Church today has no m eans of influencing

society except through its believers and sm all structures such as par ishes, a few

Catholic schools and tw o weekly journals. T he Letter does not insist on the rights of

the Church , therefore, bu t on its du ties: far f rom prescr ib ing so lu tions, i t rather

describes the problem s from a Christian point of view , and thus deliberately does not

confine itself to an ecclesiastical agenda , but expresses its desire to share its concern

w ith society as a whole.51

Catholics are a m inority now . R ecen t po lls5 2 show that s ince 1992 , o f citizens

over 50 years old living in villages, 28 per cent go to church and 12 per cent are

n onb el ieve rs; o f th ose l iv ing in tow n s, the f igu r e s a re 1 7 p er cen t and 20 pe r

cent respective ly. For citizens aged betw een 18 and 40 the figures are 10, 29, 5.6 and

4 3 per cen t respec tively . T he H unga rian C hur ch is aw ar e that the t im es o f the

`V olksk irche ’ , the `People’ s Church ’ w hich pervades all strata and activities, are

definitely gone: nevertheless it is not w illing to give up teach ing the G ospel. T he

C hu rch look s b ack to the p er iod o f it s p r ew ar au th o r ity and d isce rn s th e t ru e

Christian foundation of that pow er, nam ely the com petence of the Church for the

m oral and social life of the whole of society, but it realises that the restoration of the

Church has to take the form of its transform ation into a hum ble `com m unity Church’

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The Catholic Church in H ungary 323

which acknow ledges tha t it is in a m inority position. The figures quoted above show

that the antichurch policy of the com m unist regim e eventually created w hat in free

and affluent countries was the effect of secularisation: a decay of religious practice.53

Since 1989 the econom y and popular values in H ungary have been assim ilating to

those of the W est. S im ilar ly, the Church has been developing strategies appropriate

to the W est, and indeed m ay even be able to teach the Churches in affluent `western’

postm odern societies about how to survive. T his topic could be the subject of a hypo-

thetical pastoral letter on the Church itself.

P ractically speaking the publication of the `Social Letter’ has already strengthened

the m oral authority of the Church in society. In 1990 opinion polls show ed tha t the

Catholic Church w as regarded as the m ost reliable of public institutions. It lost som e

of this reputation in the years that follow ed, but has largely rega ined it thanks to the

`Social Letter’ .54

In the view of L’ szló Luk’ cs, the com m unications off icer to the B ishops’ Con-

ference,55 the topics addressed in the Letter ought to have arisen from the `basis’ ,

from the Catholic com m unities them selves, but he regrets that these were in no way

prepared to g ive voice to their prob lem s. N ow a process o f divulging has started.

Represen tatives of parish councils gather to learn about the L etter and discuss its

contents. They are supposed to fam iliarise the parishes w ith it, but here the lack of

practice in com m unicat ion is ev iden t. M any are no t u sed to leadersh ip, to com -

m unication or even to talking in public about Christian topics. T he Letter is thus the

first exam ple of a new instrum ent for m otivation, training and integration at the level

of the Catholic groups.

In the dioceses synods are now being held, w hich inc lude the participation of lay

people. Th is process is new to the Church , and som e leaders feel uneasy, m aybe

because they are afraid of uncom fortable questions about the past or about claim s for

increased in fluence on the par t o f the laity. M any laypeople w ho held im portant

positions in the com m unist state are now w ork ing in the synods, and this causes

m istrust am ong those who have suffered discrim ination for being Christians. The fact

that these m atters are being discussed is, how ever , a success in itself. W ho know s, all

this m ight be the start of a cu lture o f com m unication am ongst properly info rm ed

participants.

W e m ay conc lude , then , that w ith its `S ocial L et te r ’ th e C a tho lic Ch urch in

Hungary has not only show n its awareness of the needs of the tim e but has taken a

consider ab le s tep o n the road to m od ern isat ion , at the sam e t im e care fu l ly r e -

affirm ing its traditional responsibility in a secular world.

N evertheless, one m ore observation is approp riate. T he surv ival of the Church

seem s to depend very m uch on this kind o f m odernisation. The Church str ives to

pervade society on the basis of Christian hum an principles acceptable even to non-

believers. O n the other hand, a society in which a general hum anist perspective is

sh a r e d r eg a r d le s s o f an y d o c t r i n a l au t h o r i t y ca n a cc u r a t e l y b e d e sc r i b ed a s

secu lar ised . (T his is a m ajo r d ifference betw een secula rism and ant irelig io sity.)

Churches w h ich call fo r the app lication o f C hristian values not only am ong the

fa i th f u l bu t a lso am o ng ` a ll peo p le o f go od w il l’ seem to b e do ing so m e th in g

equivalent to fostering secularism . H ence the Church runs a high risk, for secularism

is the presence of Christian values in the absence of faith and Church. On the other

hand, faced w ith deconfessionalisation and loss of church activity, be it caused by

western affluence or by com m unist persecution, the Church is encouraged to concen-

trate on the essentials, its original contribution to society, its m ission and its pow ers

of survival. Thus the Church is redefining itself as leaven in society rather than as a

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pillar of the state. W hereas in the old days the universality of the Church expressed

itself in visible om nipresence, it now realises itself in care for society as a w hole and

f o r ever y ind iv id ual , espec ia l ly the `vo ice le ss’ , w i thou t any a sp ir at ion to tak e

com m and . T he C hurch in H ungary has d raw n p ractical and ecclesio logical con-

clusions from its underground experience: it exhibits self-assurance despite a hostile

environm ent. T hus the Church is probably going to succeed in becom ing one elem ent

in the m odern, pluralist and relativist world without giving up its distinctive faith.

N otes and R eferences

1 This concern for the Church in com m unist countries was of course also demonstrated by

opponents of the Vatican’ s Ostpolitik like Fr W erenfried van Straaten, w ho founded Iron

C ur tain C hurch Relief, later called A id to the Church in N eed. A g lobal view on the

C hurches in Eastern Europe before and after 1989 is given in D esm ond O’ G rady, The

Turned Card (London, 1996).2 For w hat follow s I am to a great extent indebted to conversations w ith church personalities

in H ungary, including Bishop E ndre G yulay of Szeged, Archabbot B ishop D r A sztrik

V ’ rszegi OSB of Pannonhalm a, Fr Dr L ’ szló Luk’ cs O .Piar., and the press officer of the

H ungarian Bishops’ Conference, Prof. Dr Miklós Tom ka. I want to express m y gratitude to

all of them for their patience in answering m y questions. O f course, the presentation of the

facts and the conclusions are my own.3 Egyed H erm ann, A katolikus egyh’ z tört…nete M agyarorsz’ gon 1914±ig, 2nd edn (Munich,

1983); Adriany Gabriel, Beiträge zur Kirchengeschichte U ngarns (M unich, 1986) (Studia

H ungarica 30). Recent studies on the history of the Church in Hungary include: M argit

Balogh and JenoÂÂ G ergely, E gyh’ zak az œjkori M agyarorsz’ gon, 1790±1992 (Historia ±

M T A Tört…nettudom ’ nyi Int…sete, Budapest, 1993±96) (2 vols); Jenö G ergely , József

K ardos and Ferenc R ottler , A z egyh’ zak M agyarorsz’ gon Szen t Istv ’ n tó l nap jaink ig

(K ronona K iadó , B udapest, 1997). O n the reversion to pagan ism in national rhetoric

a round 1900 see K a ta lin S inkó , `Œrpad versus S ain t I stv ’ n : co m pet ing heroes and

com peting interests in the figurative representation of Hungarian history’ , in Tam ’ s Hofer

(ed .) , H ungarians be tw een `E ast ’ and `W est’ : T hree E ssays on N a tiona l M yths and

Sym bols (M useum of E thnography , B udapest, 1984), pp. 9±26 (also in Ethnographia

Europea , vol. XIV, pp. 67±83).4 Ludw ig Binder, G rundlagen und Formen der Toleranz in Siebenburgen bis zur M itte des

17. Jahrhunderts (Köln/Vienna, 1976): Im re Tem pfli, `Ein Land und vier Religionen’ , in

M agyar egyh’ ztört…nelm i v’ zlatok, nos 3/4, 1994, pp. 35±70.5 Istv’ n Balogh, Kritik der revolutionären Vernunft (M TA Politikai Tudom’ nyok Int…zete,

Budapest, 1992), pp. 234 ff.6 József G yula O rb’ n, Friedensbew egung katholischer Priester in Ungarn (Budapest, 1996).

See also: A dri’ nyi, op. cit., pp. 177±97; G abriel A dri’ nyi, F ünfzig Jahre ungarischer

Kirchengeschichte 1895±1945 (M ainz, 1974) (Studia H ungarica 6); Friedrich H ainbuch,

Kirche und Staat in U ngarn nach dem Zweiten W eltkrieg (Munich, 1982).7 See Im re K ozm a, `Palm s thrive in adversity: the Catholic Church in Hungary’ , in Paul

Richard Blum (ed.), The Catholic Church in Eastern Europe: Persecution, Freedom and

Rebirth (Aid to the Church in Need, Königstein, 1990), pp. 69±78, here p. 71.8 M iklós T om ka, R el ig ion und K irche in U ngarn: E rgebn isse re lig ionssozio log ischer

Forschung 1969±1988 (Vienna, 1990), pp. 244 ff.; in 1985 he m ade a distinction betw een

interior and exterior religiosity.9 M iklós T om ka, `D ie Ro lle der R eligion in unserer G esellschaft’ , in Tom ka, op. cit.,

pp. 238±50 (first published in H ungarian in the journal Kritika , no. 1, 1985, pp. 4±5.10 Paul Richard Blum , `Budapest plant für 1990 ein Religionsgesetz’ , Deutsche Tagespost, 12

A ugust 1989.11 In the `spiritual vacuum ’ after 1989 nontraditional churches and organisations, such as the

Faith Church (100,000 members) and Operation Mobilization, came into H ungary as well.

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See A lex Kuli, `Everyday is like Sunday’ , Budapest W eek , no. 314, 10±16 April 1997,

pp. 12±13.12 King Stephen dedicated the country to the Virgin Mary.13 All quotations are m y ow n translation. The Hungarian title is Igazs’ gosabb …s testv…r-

iesebb v il ’ g o t ! (B udapest , 1996 ) ; pub lished by A M agyar K ato l iku s Pü spö k i K ar ,

Töm egkom muni’ cios Irod’ ja, H-1053 Budapest, Ferenciek tere 7±8, III lh. II. em. I also

made use of an as yet unpublished G erman version. An English version is being prepared.14 ibid., n. 9.15 ibid., n. 112. The G erm an translation is `ihr integrativer Teil’ , `its integrative part’ , w hich

is even stronger.16 Tomka, op. cit., p. 5.17 Igazs’ gosabb ¼ , n. 1.18 ibid., n. 24.19 ibid., n. 26, quoting Quadragesim o anno 79 and G audium et spes 31.20 Igazs’ gosabb ¼ , n. 27.21 ibid., n. 30.22 ibid., n. 55, n. 54.23 ibid., n. 24.24 ibid., n. 24, with reference to Rerum novarum 29.25 ibid., n. 69.26 ibid., n. 68, n. 69.27 ibid., n. 4.28 ibid., n. 14.29 ibid., n. 16±18.30 `Fünf vor Zwölf? Zur M inderheitenfrage ± aus Sicht der Regierung’ , D er Neue Pester

Lloyd, 9 A pril 1997, p. 3.31 Igazs’ gosabb ¼ , n. 18.32 ibid., n. 19.33 ibid., n. 20.34 ibid., n. 21.35 ibid., n. 22.36 ibid., n. 38±48.37 ibid., n. 40.38 Adri’ nyi, op. cit., p. 22.39 O n the Catholics in R om ania, see G abriel A dri’ nyi, `D ie G eschichte der katholischen

K irche in R um änien im 20. Jahrhundert bis 1988’ , K irche und G laube in R um änien

(Kirche in Not/O stpriesterhilfe) (Munich, 1990) (Beiträge zur Religions- und G laubens-

freiheit 3), pp. 11±23.40 Tibor Seifert, `Ü ber die Nationalitätenpolitik in der zweiten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts in

den m it Ungarn benachbarten Staaten’ , Der Neue Pester Lloyd , 9 April 1997, p. 4.41 Igazs’ gosabb ¼ , n. 9.42 ibid., n. 10.43 ibid., n. 5.44 Für eine Zukunf t in Solidaritä t und G erechtigkeit: W ort des R ates der Evangelischen

Kirche in Deutschland und der D eutschen Bischofskonferenz zur w irtschaftlichen Lage in

Deutschland (Hannover/Bonn, 1997) (G em einsame Texte 9).45 ibid., n. 4.46 ibid., n. 97±99.47 `D ie eth ische Forderung entspring t der von G ott gegebenen B efähigung zu einem ver-

nünftigen und verantwortlichen Handeln’ (ibid., n. 95).48 Asztrik V ’ rszegi OSB, `The Church after the change in Hungary’ , Concilium , no. 2, 1995,

pp. 132±34; here p. 132.49 ibid., p. 138.50 ibid., p. 134.

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51 Interview with Bishop Endre Gyulay of Szeged, 4 M arch 1997.52 Inform ation from M iklós Tomka. See also Miklós Tom ka, `Präm oderne Kirche in post-

kom munistischer G esellschaft ± der Fall Ungarn’ , H irschberg , no. 50, 1997, pp. 129±34.53 It is a serious question w hy the com m unist regim e did not succeed in secularising Poland

as it did all the other eastern-bloc countries, particularly in view of the fact that since 1989

secularisation (loss of the Church’ s authority, declining church attendance etc.) has set in

in Poland as elsewhere.54 Interview with Dr L ’ zsló Luk’ cs, 10 April 1997.55 Expressed in a meeting of parish council leaders in Budapest, 22 February 1997.

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