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BOX-FOLDER-REPORT: 35-3-1
TITLE:             Death of Uniate Bishop Dudas Poses Delicate Questions
BY:                KK
DATE:              1972-8-7
COUNTRY:           Hungary
ORIGINAL SUBJECT:  Hungary/15
THEMATIC SUBJECTS: Hungary--1966-1975, Church and State, Personalities

--- Begin ---

RADIO FREE EUROPE Research

EAST EUROPE

This material was prepared for the use of the
editors and policy staff of Radio Free Europe.

HUNGARY/15
7 August 1972

DEATH OF UNIATE BISHOP DUDAS POSES DELICATE QUESTIONS

Summary: The recent death of Dr. Miklos Dudas, residential
bishop of Hajdudorog and spiritual director of some 250,000
Uniate (Byzantine rite) Catholics poses a number of delicate
questions. First is the question of succession. The
government's candidate will undoubtedly be Dr. Imre Timko, recently
elected vicar capitular of the diocese of Hajdudorog and a
known "peace priest. if the Holy See were to appoint him to
succeed Bishop Dudas it might create a precedent for
appointing peace priests to other ecclesiastical vacancies. On the
other hand, the Holy See might accept Timko provided the regime
is simultaneously prepared to allow clergymen acceptable to the
Vatican in some of the other posts which are currently vacant.
Another consideration is that Bishop Dudas issued a pastoral
letter a few weeks before his death which contained indications
that the diocese was in a state of disarray. The letter did
not go into detail, but there are hints of dissatisfaction and
uneasiness among the Uniate clergy, who evidently desire greater
autonomy within the union with Rome. If the problem is not
handled prudently, it might endanger the stability of the
Uniate Church in Hungary and lay it open to inroads from the
Soviet-supported Orthodox Church of Hungary, which is
subordinate to the patriarch of Moscow. The fate of the other Uniate
Churches in Eastern Europe should be a warning to the Hungarian
Uniate Church, which is at present the largest of this
denomination in Eastern Europe.

* * *

Dr. Miklos Dudas, residential Bishop of Hajdudorog and head of some
250,000 Eastern (Byzantine) rite Catholics, popularly called "Uniates," died
at Nyiregyhaza on 15 July 1972, after a "long illness." A solemn funeral
mass was celebrated on July 21 at the Uniate Pontifical Church of
Nyiregyhaza, at which the Catholic hierarchy was represented by two residential and
ten auxiliary bishops (Archbishop Ijjas of Kalocsa was absent because of
illness). Bishop Dudas was then buried in the Basilica minor in his native

[page 2]

village of Mariapocs, where he was born in October 1902. [1] The Hungarian
government was represented at the funeral service by Deputy Chairman of the
State Office for Church Affairs Istvan Ballo. Ballo's presence was a mark
of deference to the ecclesiastical rank of the late bishop rather than to
his person, since his relationship with the regime had been extremely cool.

On Bishop Dudas

Dr. Dudas had been appointed bishop in March 1939, at the surprisingly
young age of 37. He had been in office for 33 years, 24 of them under the
communist regime. He had never made any secret of his lack of interest in
"politics," and took no part in the proregime "peace movement" of Catholic
priests. In fact his only role in political affairs was his membership in
the National Council of the Patriotic People's Front (PPF). He was elected
to that body in October 1954 -- the heyday of the late Prime Minister Imre
Nagy, who at the time was making a vigorous effort to instill new life into
the PPF -- and re-elected to it in October 1957. His re-election, however,
took place while he was in Switzerland for medical treatment, and it can
therefore be assumed that it occurred without his consent. At any rate, he
was not re-elected in May 1960.

The regime's displeasure with Bishop Dudas was evidenced by the fact
that he was permitted to attend only the fourth (and last) session of
Vatican II, in November" 1965. After relations between the Holy See
and the Hungarian government began to improve, however, he was permitted on
a number of occasions to visit the Vatican or to sojourn in Italy. For
example, he went to Sicily in March 1967 in an effort to restore his health,
which had been undermined for nearly 20 years by tuberculosis and diabetes.

With the passing of Bishop Dudas the top hierarchy of the Hungarian
Catholic Church lost its senior bishop (in terms of length of service), and
the Uniate congregation has been deprived of a brilliant and completely
dedicated leader who did much to consolidate the position of his Church
within the broader structure of the Roman rite Catholic Church in Hungary,
of which the Uniates constitute a relatively small but by no means negligible
part. (The number of Catholics in the country is estimated at over 7,000,000,
of which about 250,000 are Byzantine rite Uniates.) For example, in 1968
Dr. Dudas obtained permission from the Holy See to extend his authority to
all Uniates living in Hungary. Prior to that time only those living either
within the diocese of Hajdudorog or in the apostolic vicariate of
Miskolc -- a remnant on Hungarian soil of the one-time Uniate diocese of Presov
(Eperjes), the bulk of which became attached to Czechoslovakia after World War
I -- were under his jurisdiction. [2]

------------------------------
(1) Uj Ember and Katolikus Szo, 23 July 1972.

(2) Katolikus Szo, 1 July 1969, and. Uj Ember, 2 July 1972.

[page 3]

The Problem of Succession

The death of Dr. Dudas, which was by no means unexpected, given his
precarious healthy poses a number of delicate questions connected with the
succession to his office. It is generally known that the Holy See and the
Hungarian government have been trying for years to reach an agreement with
regard to the filling of the highest ecclesiastical posts in Hungary. The
negotiations, which are reportedly still going on, [3] have been slow to
produce tangible results, and no progress at all has been reported since
February. 1972, when agreement was reached on the appointment of a number of
apostolic administrators and auxiliary bishops. With Dr. Dudas gone, only
one archdiocese out of three and two dioceses out of eight are now
administered by residential bishops -- an extremely low proportion, [4]

Imre Timko: The Leading Candidate

Bishop Dudas had three vicars general: Ferenc Korte for the diocese
of Hajdudorog, Denes Juhasz for the apostolic vicariate of Miskolo, and
Dr. Tmre Timko for the "splinter" Uniate communities outside these two
areas. Korte and Juhasz are relatively obscure clergymen, though the
latter has a peace priest record.

Timko, on the other hand, is a prelate well known both in Hungary and
abroad. Born in 192.0, in the early 1960s he established a reputation both
as an outstanding student of Church history and as a. prominent peace priest,
to all appearances ranking high in the eyes of the government. There is
evidence that Dr. Timko (who is fluent in many languages, including Russian)
has become one of the regime's "trusted men" in the hierarchy of the
Hungarian Catholic Church. For example, in 1962 and 1963 he was a "special
agent" of the Bench of Bishops, and went frequently to Rome to make 
arrangements for Hungarian bishops who were to attend Vatican II and to
"assist" them during their stay in Rome. [5] In recent years he has become
more deeply involved in the activities of both the Bench of Bishops and the
peace movement. Since the fall of 1966 he has been a member of the Bench
of Bishops' External Committee and deputy director of Opus Pacis, the
organization of the Bench which supervises the peace movement. Although he is a
professor of theology at the Catholic Theological Academy of Budapest (of
which he was dean during the 1971/1972 school year), he has had plenty of
time to travel extensively in the West to attend not only church meetings
with strong peace priest overtones but political meetings as well. For
example, between 4 and 6 July 1972 he participated in a Hungaro-Italian
round-table conference in Rome at which European security and co-operation
were discussed in terms favorable to the political objectives of the Soviet
Union,

-------------------------------
(3) According to the Hungarian Television foreign affairs program "Forum,"
21 June 1972.

(4) See KK/Hungarian Unit, "New Vatican Appointments in. Hungary," Hungarian
Background Report/3, Radio Free Europe Research (EERA), 10 March 1972.

(5) Uj Ember, 16 August 1964.

[page 4]

Shortly after the death of Bishop Dudas the chapter of the diocese of
Hajdudorog unanimously and by secret ballot elected Dr. Timko to the post
of capitular vicar, and in compliance with the canon law notified the Holy
See of his election. [6] At the same time he was entrusted with the
leadership of the Miskolc apostolic vicariate formerly headed by Denes Juhasz.
Thus the government of the Uniate Church in Hungary has been concentrated
in Dr. Timko's hands.

It is now up to the Holy See to appoint either an apostolic
administrator or -- and this seems even more important -- a residential bishop for the
diocese of Hajdudorog. The diocese can be provisionally administered by a
capitular vicar or an apostolic administrator, but sacramental functions such
as the. ordaining of priests can only be performed by a bishop... In. the case
of the Uniates the problem is of particular importance because their liturgy
differs from that of the Latin rite, and a "Latin" Catholic bishop can
officiate only in emergencies. There seems good reason, therefore, for the Holy
See to fill the vacancy without delay.

A question arises, however: To whom should the post be given? While
there is no doubt that the Hungarian government's candidate is Imre Timko,
it is legitimate to ask whether the Holy See will accept him, in view of his
peace priest record. In nominating him the Holy See might set a dangerous
precedent and weaken its ability to resist regime pressure to appoint other
equally committed peac.3 priests to the large number of vacant positions in
the Hungarian Catholic hierarchy. Hitherto the Vatican has withstood such
pressure quite successfully, but as a result a considerable number of posts
have remained unfilled. Since the partial agreement, of September 1964, the
Holy See and the Hungarian government have tried to work out compromises in
order to reach a settlement, and in many instances prelates acceptable to
both sides have been appointed. But in none of these earlier cases has the
Holy See gone so far as to accept a peace priest.

On the basis of present knowledge, however, it can also be argued that
there is no other member of the Uniate clergy in Hungary who is
scholastically qualified to fill the post of bishop of the diocese of Hajdudorog.
From this viewpoint Imre Timko would of course be. an excellent candidate.
In accepting him the Holy See would undoubtedly have to waive a good many
reservations, but on the other hand this might make it easier for the Vatican
to have other vacant bishoprics filled by men without peace priest records.
However, the Holy See might try hard to push through these other candidates
at the same time that Timko is nominated, for if his elevation to bishop of
Hajdudorog is an isolated move, the Holy See will later have less opportunity
to pursue its objectives. After all, the Hungarian government is in a very
strong position to resist such claims, and might easily "forget" the
Vatican's willingness to be accommodating.

Tension in the Hajdudorog Diocese

The reorganization of the leadership of the diocese of Hajdudorog
appears all the more urgent because there is some evidence of disarray in

------------------------------
(6) Uj Ember, 30 July 1972.

[page 5]

its affairs. Corroboration of this can be found in a pastoral letter dated
21 June 1972 addressed by Bishop Dudas to the priests and faithful of the
diocese. The letter went back to the beginning of 1972. Bishop Dudas
informed the people of his diocese that at that time, "when I was again
overtaken by illness, a number of unusual, and almost inexplicable
difficulties began to trouble the life of the diocese, and I felt it would be in
the best interests of all if I asked the Holy Father to be relieved of my
present duties. I did so, but His Holiness informed me, through a special
envoy, that he did not wish to relieve me and that I should continue to run
the diocese with an assistant to be appointed by him." Subsequently the
pastoral letter referred to a communication signed by Cardinal Villot and
dated 10 June 1972, informing Bishop Dudas that he had been appointed a
member of the papal commission on the revision of Eastern canon law.
Dr. Dudas went on to say that since his health had continued to worsen he
had asked for the apostolic benediction of the Holy Father, and that this
had been granted to him by telegram on 21 June 1972. The pastoral letter
wound up with a dramatic message to the priests and faithful of the diocese
in which Bishop Dudas thanked them for their prayers and bade them farewell.

This letter, which was published in the 1 July 1972 issue of Magyar
Kurir, the semi-official paper of the Hungarian Catholic Church,is an
unprecedented document in that it mentions the existence of internal troubles in
the diocese, even though it fails to go into detail. Magyar Kurir has a
very limited circulation, and since the Catholic papers Uj Ember and
Katolikus Szo have so far passed over Dudas's pastoral letter in silence, it is
logical to assume that its contents are unknown to the general public. At
any rate it is unlikely that the difficulties mentioned in Bishop Dudas's
letter -- because of which he offered his resignation, as if his person
constituted a hindrance to their removal -- were due to friction between the
late bishop and the Hungarian government; if that were the case Magyar
Kurir would hardly have been allowed to publish the letter. Hence, it must
be presumed that he was referring to internal difficulties of an
ecclesiastical nature -- most likely a growing tension between himself and the younger
members of his clergy over the issue of greater Uniate autonomy within the
union with Rome. The existence of such tension was strongly implied by
Dr. Timko in a speech to church dignitaries at Nyiregyhaza after Bishop
Dudas's funeral. Said Timko: "We look upon his [Dudas1 s] memory as on that
of a father to whom his son owes respect, even though the former's opinions
and approach differed from those of the new generation." [7]

The seriousness of the conflict was indicated by Dudas's remarks about
his "new illness," which he mentioned in the opening passage of his letter.
He was struck by the affliction in the early spring of 1972, and it prevented
him from spending Easter in his diocese. Since he was in extremely poor
health -- a fact well known to the Vatican -- the diocesan problem must have
been serious indeed, for the Pope refused to relieve him of his office. The
"special envoy" who conveyed the Pope's refusal and his promise to send an
assistant may have been Msgr. Giovanni Cheli, who was in Hungary in March
1972 to attend the consecration of the four new auxiliary bishops who had

------------------------------
(7) Uj Ember, 30 July 1972.

[page 6]

been appointed in February 1972. [8] The "assistant" promised by the Pope
has not yet been nominated. Since Dudas had three vicars general to help
him administer the Hungarian Uniate Church, this assistant should have been
an auxiliary bishop who could perform certain duties incumbent upon bishops
(confirmation, ordaining priests) which Bishop Dudas was unable to
undertake. Incidentally, had an auxiliary bishop been appointed during Dudas's
lifetime, the diocese of Hajdudorog would have been in better shape after
him death.

Uniate Discontent: An Interview with Dr. Hollos

It is difficult to say whether the exact nature and extent of the
difficulties referred to by Dr. Dudas will ever be revealed. In an attempt not
to solve this riddle but to give some idea of the discontent that exists in
some quarters of the Uniate Church, reference should be made here to an
interview granted recently to Uj Ember [9] by Janos Hollos, professor of canon
law at the Uniate Theological Academy in Nyiregyhaza. The "peg" on which
this interview was hung was the 60th anniversary of the creation of the
diocese of Hajdudorog (it was founded by Pope Pius X in June 1912). Professor
Hollos first noted that the Hungarian Uniate is at present the largest
Byzantine-rite Catholic community in Eastern Europe which is in union with
Rome (hence the name Uniate). Since the Hungarian state was created some
thousand years ago there have always been Hungarian Christians who wished
to worship in the Byzantine fashion. They had no Church of their own,
however, but practiced their religion in the various Uniate Churches to which
the national minorities living in Hungary belonged. This, Hollos pointed
out, cast a shadow on the Hungarian character of Eastern Christianity.

[Note: The campaign for a Hungarian Uniate Church gathered momentum in
1868, but, though the census of 1900 recorded some 300,000 Greek Catholics
in Hungary, the Holy See relented only in 1912, and the diocese of
Hajdudorog was not established until then. [10]

The Uniate Churches accept the supremacy of the pope and the tenets of
the Roman Catholic faith, but retain the Byzantine rite and hold services
in the national language, and within their union with Rome strive for a
certain degree of internal autonomy. The Uniate Church of Rumania (established
in 1698-1700) was abolished by law in 1948, and that of Slovakia (founded in
1646) in 195O, and both were once again forced to merge with the Russian
Orthodox Church, from which they had originally come. During the Prague
Spring the Slovak Uniate Church was reinstated, but it is at present in a
precarious situation. The only Uniate Church to survive in Eastern Europe
has been that in Hungary.]

Professor Hollos then expressed the belief that some Hungarian Uniates
are not at all happy in the bosom of the Roman Catholic Church, and therefore

------------------------------
(8) Ibid., 2 July 1972

(9) Ibid.

(10) Revai-Nagy Lexicon (Budapest, 1913), p. 686.

[page 7]

he advocated a "redefinition of the concept of union with Rome and
accordingly a reordering of the legal position of the Hungarian Uniate Church."
He complained that relations between the Roman Catholic (Latin rite) Church
and the Uniate Church had not been settled "in a satisfactory manner," and
said that there is a tendency to "Latinize" the Uniate Churches, which is
supported by Rome. He hailed the fact that by recognizing the rights of
individual Churches within the framework of Catholicism Vatican II
had furthered the efforts of Hungarian Uniates to assert their individuality.
He considered this to be the unfolding of the ecumenical spirit which
motivated the council, and suggested that the following objectives be pursued:
Besides stressing a greater role for the independent rite, with its peculiar
Eastern content, steps should be taken to clarify the legal foundation of
the autonomy of the Uniate Church. This implies the settling of
hierarchical questions, and should eventually lead to the establishment of a Uniate
Church province headed by an archbishop or patriarch, according to the
traditions of Church administration in the Eastern rites. Professor Hollos
objected to the fact that the Hungarian Uniate Church is still subject to
a "Latin" archbishop (the archbishop of Esztergom) and that the bishop of
Hajdudorog is not a member of the Vatican Synod of Bishops.

What he is asking for here is an autonomous Uniate province in Hungary
which would be on an equal footing with the rest of the Hungarian Catholic
Church. Such autonomy should entitle the future Uniate archbishop or
patriarch to a seat in the Synod of Bishops. At present, only the president of
the Catholic Bench of Bishops (the archbishop of Kalocsa) is entitled to
such a seat. The Uniate bishop of Hajdudorog is on the same footing as his
fellow Latin .rite bishops.

These ideas, which are based on legitimate claims, have certainly been
discussed for some time in the circles that surrounded the late Bishop Dudas.
It is unlikely that he would have objected to thoughtful efforts to achieve
greater autonomy for the Uniates, provided it did not weaken the union with
Rome. He might, however, have been fearful lest the striving for more
autonomy imperil the independent position of the Uniate Church vis-a-vis the
Orthodox Church from which the Uniates were carved out. It would be only
natural for the Orthodox Church to try to retrieve its "lost" brethren.
This happened in the Soviet Union, in Rumania, and between 1950 and 1968 in
Czechoslovakia, and it is quite understandable that the fate of their
co-religionists is a bitter memory for Hungarian Uniates.

Although there is only an embryonic Orthodox Church in Hungary it is
subject to the Soviet Orthodox Church. While this minuscule Orthodox
community cannot at the present time be regarded as potentially dangerous to
Hungarian Uniates, it is conceivable that sharp discussions within the Uniate
Church might lead to a certain loss of internal stability. This, in turn,
might unintentionally weaken the Uniate Church, thereby giving the
Sovietbacked Hungarian Orthodox Church a good opportunity to "fish in troubled
waters" -- certainly with the tacit approval, if not out right support, of
the Hungarian government. Such an apprehension may have loomed large in the
mind of the late Bishop Dudas when he saw his clergy campaigning for more
autonomy within union with Rome.

[page 8]

It is of interest that Professor Hollos disagreed with an opinion
expressed [11] by Feriz Berki, head of the Hungarian Orthodox Church to the
effect that the present form of union with Rome is unanimously condemned by
the whole Orthodox world because it has proved to be the major obstacle to
the restoration of Christian unity. Even though he himself advocates a
redefinition of the concept of union, Professor Hollos believes this is going
too far. Nevertheless, he wound up his interview by calling for a "dialogue"
with the Orthodox Church in Hungary, in accord with the ecumenical spirit
of Vatican II. One might add that it is one thing to cultivate
common theological and spiritual traditions with the Orthodox Church, to which
the Uniate churches belonged for centuries, but quite another to do so in
such a way as to become vulnerable to the efforts of the latter to "retrieve"
the former. For the time being, however, the danger is more academic than
real. On the other hand, the possibility of its happening should not be
altogether ruled out.

While all the above has had to be put on record, it must also be said
that Dr. Timko, who, as capitular vicar, is now running the Uniate Church
in Hungary, has apparently pledged himself to support both union with Rome
and a greater assertion of Uniate individuality. At the reception in
Nyiregyhaza after Bishop Dudas's funeral he outlined the "intentions and hopes"
of Hungarian Uniates in the formulation adopted at Vatican II: "Unity in
diversity." [12]

It remains to be seen how this slogan will be translated into practice
without weakening the position of the Uniate Church in Hungary vis-a-vis
the non-Catholic world. If those in charge proceed not only with
determination but also with prudence, a solution may be found which harmonizes the
ties of union with Rome with greater self-expression for the Hungarian Uniate
Church. This is a matter to be settled between the Holy See and the
Hungarian Uniates, at least in theory. But in actual practice it must be
"assumed that the Hungarian government will want to have a say in the matter,
since it concerns the reorganization of institutions over which it exerts
control by virtue of the sovereignty of the state. The stand of the
government is the unknown factor in the whole issue.

KK
(Hungarian Unit)

------------------------------
(11) In Vigilia, June 1972 (p. 379).

(12) Uj Ember, 30 July 1972.

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