"For 80 years our faithful have been tainted by party politics, and education for parish life has been very slow.": From the history of the united Roman Catholic parish in Kiskunfélegyháza, 1933 and 1948

Abstract

In the area of Kiskunfélegyháza, a rural town in the lowlands, there were several Roman Catholic parishes from the 19th century. In 1933, the first parish was established in the spi­ rit of Catholic autonomy, but it was not established alongside individual parishes, but — unusually — at the city level, a common parish was created. The main reasons for this were the common supervision of Catholic schools and the habit of collecting church taxes in a uni­form way. However, the initial, relatively smooth cooperation was soon replaced by various tensions. The parish elections were interfered with by party political interests and personal differences between parish priests became more pronounced. According to the diocesan supe­riors, the Bishop of Vác, the electoral struggles of the parish of Kishunfélegyháza and the feuds within the common parish were unprecedented in almost the whole country. As the municipal management of urban Catholic affairs was becoming increasingly problematic, and the po­ litical turnaround — e.g. the nationalisation of schools — made the existence of the com­ mon parish obsolete, independent parishes were organised alongside the individual parishes in 1948. This paper briefly discusses the history of Catholicism in Kiskunfélegyháza, and examines in detail the path leading to the establishment of the unified parish, the increasing difficulties of its operation, and the circumstances of its dissolution in 1948.