A katolikus autonómia két magyar apostola (Prohászka Ottokár és Shvoy Lajos)
A katolikus autonómia két magyar apostola (Prohászka Ottokár és Shvoy Lajos)

Summary/Abstract: The Josephinism in the 18th century placed the Church under the guardianship of state power and this practice still existed in the 20th century. The influence of the state eroded the authority of the Catholic Church and weakened the effi ciency of the pastoral work. In the Hungarian Catholic Church bishop Ottokár Prohászka brought a spiritual turning point at the end of the 19th century when he laid the foundation of modern Hungarian Catholicism. The bishop’s followers recognised the social changes and the pastoral challenges of Budapest which suddenly grew into metropolis. They created a community of priests called Regnum Marianum. Theaim of this community was to shape the way of thinking of young people aged 12–18 in the changing world. One of the founding members of the community was Lajos Shvoy, a young priest and catechist, who also became one of the founders of the Hungarian Scout Association. As the parish priest of the Regnum Marianum parish he initiated the apostolate of the laity decades before the Second Vatican Council. With this initiation he strengthened the parish autonomy and the personalised pastoral work. After the death of bishop Ottokár Prohászka in 1927, Lajos Shvoy filled the Episcopal chair in the Diocese of Székesfehérvár. He developed his diocese based on its parishes. He was passionate about visiting the villages where there were no priests and which were not autonomous parishes. He spread the personalised pastoral work which was initiated by Prohászka throughout his diocese. So he created autonomous and live communities even in the smallest villages which were far away from the centres of the Church. During the 41 years as bishop, he doubled the number of churches and autonomous parishes. Lajos Shvoy was the apostle of the autonomy of the Catholic Church since he was a young priest. He opposed both Nazism and Communism. Aft er the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, the aging bishop continued to fi ght for the Church autonomy in Hungary.

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