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A new beginning in Hungary

Due to the political situation in 1948 - 1949 M. de Lescure made up her mind to close the two communities in Budapest. Our schools had been nationalised and the rscj's were moved into our houses in Austria. The 13 Hungarian novices and postulants together with the mistress of novices, M. Walburga Spee and two Professed were given shelter in Avigliana, Italy. I was only a student at that time, but as I was sure of my vocation as an RSCJ I left Hungary with them. Although my first years as a Religious were spent in Italy and France, my call to religious life was also a call to live with very poor people in the Missions. However I had to wait for 26 years, living in Austria, before I was at last sent by our general, Sr. Camacho, to Egypt. There I lived for 6 years among the poor in the village of Beni-Ebeid before returning to Austria.

I felt a strong motivation after the Chapter 1988 to work for the poor and migrants, to give them space in my life. Sr. Helen's letter for the Feast of the Sacred Heart in 1989 spurred me to seek what I was to do and where I was to go. The new call arrived from Hungary. In the summer of 1989 the East German refugees flooded the country where numerous camps were opened for them. To run these camps volunteers were needed. Reading an article on this issue was enough for me to leave for Hungary, to return after 40 years, as a volunteer in a refuge camp in Budapest. I shared the life of the refugees living in the camp. I helped them as an interpreter, to arrange their affairs and to accompany them in their desperate situation.

These weeks in the camp opened my eyes to a new challenge. A well known Hungarian priest who was the pivot of the voluntary work told me: "You should come home, In this postcommunist era we need you?. Especially the young people are in spiritual need."

Two other Hungarian rscj's living in Austria had been waiting already for the occasion to return. The concrete call arrived. On the 6th January 1990 Srs. Anna Laszlo and Ilona Majthenyi moved to Hungary. The parish community, which welcomed them, was very active and full of young people. I myself joined them some months later. The beginning was not difficult, the families and young people where very receptive and enthusiastic. Many families had kept their faith, though sometimes they had paid a high price for it. The aim of the Communist system was to cut off the roots of family, national and religious traditions and to train experts who were able to achieve only individual goals. The result was a deep crisis of values, a lack of initiative and common goals. The different groups in society could not communicate with one another.

We offered them Days of Prayer, Bible groups. Retreats, personal accompaniment, contact with families, with the whole parish, especially with the young people. With them we were engaged to solve the problems of the refugees from the eastern countries, from Rumania, Ukraine and the former German Democratic Republic....

These were the occasions when, after the resistance, the people of those countries were able to open to a new, lifegiving spirit in the Church. But the Spirit of Vatican II has not penetrated the Hungarian Church deeply enough. The first young woman who showed interest in religious life had the same religious background as mentioned above.

On 6th September 1991 we began our common journey with 6 candidates in the small guest house of the parish. In September 1992, thanks to the international support we received from the Society, we opened our noviciate not far from the parish. The initial formation of 5 novices began.

For the first time (without enclosure) it was possible for the Society in Hungary to turn towards the poor, to the people who live on the edge of Society, to the excluded and to be inserted into the life of the parish and the local community. This new beginning in Hungary was above all a response to the needs of the country after 40 years of Communism. After a break of 45 years, in 1994, we could again celebrate the Novices first vows One year later we opened our second community in Budapest.

In 1998 another step into the future was taken. For the first time in Hungary we could open a small community of 3 rscj's outside of Budapest. The call came from Szeged a university town in the south not far away from the border of Serbia. Here we are involved in education, pastoral work among students, and work among the homeless. In the same year Erzsebet Szilagyi made her final profession and after a year of preparation in Ireland she began her ministry as Mistress of Novices.

The contours of a new life have been outlined. If we look at the reality with love and awareness, then the Spirit will give us the creativity to be authentic witnesses to God's Son. Our country, like many others, is thirsting to drink from the healing, live-giving Source.

In spite of difficulties we have many opportunities for service in Hungary as there has been nothing to nourish spiritual life for forty years. Our new beginning can truly be called a re-founding of the Society in Hungary.