Catholic Theological Education in Hungary
Catholic Theological Education in Hungary

Summary/Abstract: The paper provides a brief overview of the Catholic theological education in Hungary, its organisation, divisions, and topics. A major restructuring began only in the seventies and was finalised only in the mid-nineties. It was only then that staff and student numbers, a logically structured curriculum, and the publication of Hungarian theological textbooks approached the situation in other countries. The establishment of a Catholic university was certainly a highly significant event, even if it was not accompanied by any growth in the size of the Faculty of Theology. Another important development was the foundation of the Institute of Studies for the Religious, which was the first theological institution to encourage a comprehensive study of the history of religious orders in Hungary. Large numbers of lay students now study at the metropolitan and provincial theological schools. Their similarly large presence in the postgraduate sphere has established them as the dominant new force in comparison with which the number of seminarians and religious who are involved in theological study can only drop. Hungarian higher education, the theological sphere included, is uniformly regulated. The system of financial support for theological institutions and students, however, is fragile, and student numbers show no sign of increasing any further.

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