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BOX-FOLDER-REPORT: 32-1-142
TITLE:             Hungarian Catholics Answer Khrushchev
BY:                Urban
DATE:              1962-3-29
COUNTRY:           Hungary
ORIGINAL SUBJECT:  Research and Evaluation
THEMATIC SUBJECTS: Hungary--1956-1965, Church and State, Ideology

--- Begin ---

X/230 CURT -- HUNGARIAN CATHOLICS ANSWER KHRUSHCHEV F 129.

Munich, March 29, 1962 (Research and Evaluation - Urban) --

The slow transformation of Hungary's Communist monarchy
into a heptarchy (or worse) of divergent tastes in thinking has
seen an equally remarkable although limited growth in the freedom
and determination of the Catholic press and especially Uj Ember
to engage official sources in cautious polemics. Until about
a year ago any general opposition to the tenets of Communism, to
say nothing of the public pronouncements of its leaders, would
have been unthinkable, and the most this paper and the monthly
"Vigilia" could do was to put forward reformist versions of
Christian thinking akin in intention to those of Hromadka, Bonhoeffer
and Hamel.

Last year the Catholic Church made a real effort to work
out a theological formula which would allow it to coexist with
the regime without forfeiting essential elements in Catholic
teaching. The Church was obviously in ho position to follow an
existentialist course. What we got, therefore, was a
rationalization of practical churchmanship, not always convincing or dignified
to behold. Apart from exploiting I.Timothy (2. 3,4), I.Peter
(2. 13), Romans (13. 1-7), one favorite line of approach was to look
for such precedents in Church history as would justify the Church
in trimming its sails to regime requirements. It was argued, for
instance, that the social ethos of Communism is entirely acceptable
to Christians because it has a worthy predecessor in the social
philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas, or, ("Uj Ember" 16 April 1961),
that cooperation with a "democratic" temporal power and an
enlightened attitude to the working class and property were sanctioned by
Pope Leo XIII.

Of the various interpretations of humanism, so ran one
Argument, it is not the Christian and Communist versions which
clash, but rather the Christian and the liberal, anthropocentric.
The latter conceives of man as a self-contained individual,
inaccessible to, and unneedful of, grace. Communist humanism, on
the other hand, shares certain characteristics with the teachings
of Christ, particularly in its educational program, but also
in abolishing racial and social barriers and taking an optimistic
view of man's future.

To the question "how can a Christian cooperate in
building a world which has become largely un-Christian?", the
following answer was offered: Where the man without religion conceives

[page 2]

X/230 CURT -- (1),HUNGARIAN CATHOLICS ANSWER KHRUSHCHEV F130.

of the world as a self-contained whole, unrelated to God, the
Christian holds that the world is God's creation. It is
therefore, not only possible, but incumbent upon the Christian to
play his part in shaping the affairs of men. Further, there
is common ground between the Christian and his adversary also
in their conception of what constitute worthy ends of human
endeavor. When the man without religion argues that material
comforts and goods are the proper rewards of man's creative
effort, he is still assuming that these are means toward reaching
a culturally, morally, and in the end, also spiritually superior
type of existence. The Christian, on his part, can engage
in Meaningful dialogue with his non-religious interlocutor,
because he can find in Christian teaching enough material to
justify him in socially cooperating with people who do not
otherwise share his persuasion ("Vigilia", January 1961).

Another trend, closer to the existentialist view,
questions the value of theology in its present esoteric form.
Christianity is as topical or outdated as its priests and
theologians make it. There is progress in the affairs of men, and if
it is God's will that man should satisfy his curiosity and
improve his state in ever changing ways, it is surely part of
His design that the Christian should bear equally modern witness.
The truths of Christianity are capable of application over the
whole field of modern life - to intercept the works of men even
in those marginal areas where the Church has traditionally shied
away from making its voice felt, is the Christian's duty in
Eastern Europe. None of us is answerable for times other than
our own, but there we must act, for or against, but always within
the "Zeitgeist", not away from it. To make this change possible,
theology, too, must shift its ground. If the compass of Christian
interest is the whole of life, theology must cease to be preoccupied
with dogma and theologians cease to be recruited from among the
clergy only. Unless he can do this and pro duce an "existential
science" man will get little help from it in his search for God.
When the Christian lifts his eyes to the eternal order of things,
he will find but two cornerstones to support him in his faith:
Revelation and Redemption. But these are absolutes, affecting
the whole of mankind in an eschatological sense only; individual
salvation is not guaranteed. On this side of eternity the
Christian is responsible for his deeds. "The answers are many,
every moment demands its own solutions. The ways of faith and
grace are equally numerous," ("The Tasks of Theology", "Vigilia",
January 1961).

Finally, there was a school of thought represented
principally by Vid Mihelics and a handful of intellectual
clergymen. Here cooperation with "Marxist humanists" (Communists are
seldom mentioned) is foreseen not only as possible but as distinctly
desirable, provided that ideological tolerance is shown by the
regime. The Church was, in face, prepared, on this showing, to do

[page 3]

X/230 CURT -- (2) HUNGARIAN CATHOLICS ANSWER KHURSHCHEV F131.

most of the running. "While Marxists reject the whole of Christian
teaching," Mihelics wrote, "We, Catholic thinkers do not
globally reject Marxist theory. There are points in dialectical
and historical materialism which we can adopt in our thinking."

Recently, however, the Government's decision to step
up its campaign against religion and, especially, to refine its
methods, has brought forth a less spectacular but quite
unmistakable response. Last year's compromise solutions would appear
to be less avidly sought and a number of articles have put (and
have been allowed to put) sentimens unexceptionable from a
Christian point of view and covertly opposed to the "Communism
equals affluence equals happiness" motif of the. Soviet leaders.
One case in point is an editorial by the eminent young journalist
and poet Janos Pilinszky in "Uj Ember" 25 March 1962.

Writing under the title, "Modern Asceticism" Pilinszky
takes up and demolishes one of Khrushchev's opening remarks at the
March Agricultural Plenum. The Soviet Premier said:

"To preach equality in the spirit of the first Christian
communities with their low standard of living and
asceticism is alien to scientific Communism. Communism
mut not be depicted as a table laid with empty soup-plates
and occupied by highly conscious and completely equal
people." (5 March 1962.) (My italics)

Although not mentioning Khrushchev by name Pilinszky
challenges the implications of Khrushchev's words and is quite frank
about the dangers which, to his mind, an affluent society, unassisted
by the uplift inherent in spiritual teaching, represents to
Christians and, indeed, to all men. His message is almost Lawrencian:
"give them the gear so that we can free ourselves to talk about
something else," but this "something else" requires for Piljnszky
the asceticism and self-denial of men whose sights are set beyond
the attainment of material comforts.

"To be creative and to love are impossible without
self--denial and sacrifice... To pursue the sciences and
arts as full and rounded men makes it absolutely
necessary for us to lead the lives of ascetics... Asceticism
is not the condition but the consequence of a higher type
of living."

Coming closer to Khrushchev's theme Pilinsky examines the
effect satiety may have on a classless society. He says:

[page 4]

X/230 CURT -- (3) HUNGARIAN CATHOLICS ANSWER KHRUSHCHEV F132.

"It will undeoubtedly be a blessing of our age if the
possessive cramp "mine-yours-his" will no longer
threaten (our integrity), but welfare can also sap
the springs of man s creative energies... In the
midst of increasing affluence we must have the courage
to seek impoverishment in the sign of the splendid poverty
of the loving and constructive man."

At this point Pilinszky joins issue with Khrushchev's
dictum; far from apologizing for one empty plates, he insists that
they were and are necessary. What socialized affluence is trying
to do is not to make men more perfect but to make imperfect human
beings more comfortable, and this, he implies, should be rejected:

"It is one of the miracles of the Gospels that they
preached the virtue of self-denial to men still in a
state of poverty... The ambition to attain wealth,
the urge to hoard and collect, have a way of turning
life into a mere quantitative affair... Through asceticism
the poorest can be rich, but without it the wealthiest
are, in truth;, poverty-stricken."

Arguing that poverty is a positive quality Pilinszky makes
it quits clear that his words are addressed not to Christians on
the Western side of the curtain (although they too, would profit
from them) but to warn against the vision of material abundance which
Khrushchev depicted for the Party at the 22nd Congress:

... In an age of technology, welfare and social peace,
poverty will play an increasingly important part in
shaping the moral and spiritual values of modern man...
Social peace will make things drab and grey unless it is
permeated with love. The asceticism which the Gospels
preach does not mean a pessimistic non-participation...
On the contrary.. the demand for self-abnegation removes
the obstacles which hamper man's love for his brother."

This is a round-about way of answering the Soviet Premier
but it is clear and courageous and only one in a row of similar
manifestations. It may well be that the Church as a whole will
use the present loosening-up in Hungary to put its message more
effectively than it has in the past. The sharpening of aetheistic
propaganda will certainly give the Episcopate every reason to do
so.

ma 2020

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