1 Calvinists were 20% and Lutherans 4–5%. In Poland Catholics numbered 95%, in Bohemia and Moravia 30%, in Slovakia 50%, in Slovenia and Croatia almost 95%, in East Germany only 7%.

2 In 1928 the Catholic Church owned 1,197,909 acres, the other churches 85,365 acres of land. By 1975 the Catholic Church had lost 92% of its holdings by land reform. See A magyar katolikusok szenvédesei 1944–1989. Havasy Gylu dokumentumgyujtemúnye, Budapest 1991, 25 (hereinafter HGy).

3 Approximately 40% of schools and hospitals were controlled by the Catholic Church, not always to the benefit of the poor. In the following I rely on the extended ms. of Miklós Tomka: Politika, vallás és Magyarországon lözött. An abridged version was submitted to New Hungarian Quarterly 1991.2.

4 Cf HGy, 28ff.

5 As a Jesuit novice I had no vote, along with about 1 million other ‘suspects’ in the 1947 election. Nuns were disenfranchised under the charge of prostitution. See HGy, 30.

6 Between 1950 and 1958 no less than six Jesuit provincials were imprisoned until the last one was forced to admit state control. The tyranny of the antireligious state worked from within.

7 In 1961 another wave of arrests led to priests being imprisoned. At the instigation of AEH there appeared an episcopal document approving the trials. Even if the latter were a forgery, the bishops did not distance themselves from it. See Tomka, op. cit.

8 Tomka estimates the number at 7000. Cf Hanyatlás vagy megújjulás, Beszélgetés a mai vallásosságról, an interview in Elet és irodalom, July 1985.

9 The beat culture undoubtedly helped their association. Beat music, especially that of Jenö Sillye, and musical mystery plays have become a popular feature of the whole movement Cf István, Kamarás, Lelkierömü Nagymaroson, Budapest 1989Google Scholar.

10 In 1956 a devout Catholic student who took refuge in England told me that in these years they had learnt to read between the lines of pastoral letters. They used to know what had been dictated by the ever‐present state officials and collaborators. Another went so far as to say ‘We have learned living as Christians and Catholics without our priests, we need them only for administering the sacraments.’

11 From an interview with Imre Miklós, 1988.

12 Cf P. Horváth, ‘Szekularizációés vallásossag’, Táradalmi Szemle; M. Tomka, ‘Stages of Religious Change’, ibid.

13 W. Zauner, ‘Christsein im neuen Europa’, Theotogisch–praktische Quartelschrift, Linz 1991, 119–127.

14 The communists tolerated the survival of the Theological Faculty of Budapest University. When the new regime intended to restore the status quo ante, the opportunity to work alongside other scholars was missed. The body of teachers left the decision to the Congregation for Religious Education and they now work in a separate Catholic institution dangerously dependent on Vatican directives. There is an attempt to build up a Catholic University. Where will its teachers come from? After 40 years there is no Catholic intelligentsia left to catch up with new trends in western literature. This perhaps accounts for the growing suspicion of western decadence on the part of the older generation, from whom the teachers will come, like in 19th century Dublin and Kensington, this attempt to found a Catholic University is perhaps, in the words of K. Rahner ‘ein Marsch ins Ghetto’.

15 Cf the recent wrangle over the re‐introduction of R.E. in schools. The present solution of the state subsidising optional classes outside the normal timetable has angered the main body of Catholics. An old‐fashioned tension between anticlerical liberalism and a well‐meant dream of a captive audience compelled to learn about Christian values has emerged. No one seems to have questioned whether the Church has the resources to run a comprehensive R.E. programme. See the debate about liberalism and Christianity in Vigilia 1991/5, 358–369.

16 At present 40% of the students at the Theological School are lay. They see little or no chance of employment by the Church, despite the menacing scarcity of priestly vocations. Many, especially female, students complain about their treatment by their teachers. Doubtless the Church lacks the financial means to employ laypeople but few of the present clergy see its future inevitability.

17 Cf Tomka's article cited in Note 3 above.

18 In what follows I am indebted to a ms. by Imre András' Neue Herausforderungen in einem künftig pluralistischen Osteuropa.

19 One could instance how Hungary is first on the list of suicides and high on the lists of abortions, alchoholism and divorce. The population is decreasing and as such dwindling into a future which is now officially free.

20 Cf Rahner, K., ‘Aspects of European Theology’, Theological Investigations XXI, London 1988, 78–98Google Scholar, 84.

21 Guardini, G., Stationen und Rückblicke, Würzburg 1956, 9–23Google Scholar.