Speaking out loud

One of the major problems of the Hungarian Catholic media is the continuing reflection in the clergy – a leftover from Communist times – of a conviction that pastoral initiatives should be kept secret. This suggests just how strong was the influence then exerted by the Soviet regime on the Church. Apart from internal problems, deriving from the past, today the challenge of religious information is how to survive in trying to compete against the big commercial networks. Yet, if we review the situation 17 years after the transformation of the country’s political system, we may note a lot of progress in the communication of the Hungarian Church. We talked about it with Csongor Szerdahelyi, director of the Press Office of the Hungarian Bishops’ Conference. What’s your view of the situation of the Christian media in Hungary today?“Today that presence is far stronger than it was in the time preceding 1989, the year of the country’s transformation. The Catholic Church has various weeklies, monthly magazines and periodicals. The religious orders and the ecclesial movements also have good quality media products. Apart from this, the Church has three radio stations, the national “Catholic Radio” and two regional stations; there are also some Catholic editorial departments that regularly prepare transmissions for Hungarian radio and television. The Church is also active on the Internet. Religious information is promoted by many national and regional media, but it’s clear we can’t compete with the secular media that have big international sponsors”.Is there any reciprocal feedback between Catholic and secular media? Is there any collaboration between them?“The secular media show greater attention towards the larger Catholic organs: they cite them and use them as sources of information. The religious press naturally monitors, prepares reviews of and, if necessary, ‘enters into polemic’ with the secular mass media”. Can the Catholic media count on the aid of the faithful and of the national Church?“The weeklies are self-financing, while many monthlies are financially supported by the religious orders. The Catholic radio stations are mainly funded by the Bishops’ Conference, but also receive aid from the movements”. Are Catholic newspapers also available on newsstands or only distributed in churches?“The two major Catholic weeklies are also on sale in newsstands, but most purchases take place in parishes and in churches”. Is Hungary’s Catholic Radio station successful? Are there plans for a TV station? “Yes, it’s successful; within a few years it has achieved high audience figures, and the quality of the broadcasts has been recognized by the other media and given a seal of approval by the public. Television, for the time being, is not being planned, but religious programmes are regularly transmitted on Hungarian TV channels”. What’s the biggest problem of the Hungarian Catholic press? “Often, still today, the clergy don’t realise the enormous pastoral potential that the media represent. The Church’s strategy of communication before 1989 could be summed up in the motto: “If only the news doesn’t get about!”, in other words, if something fine happened in the Church, for example the birth of movements, new conversions, pilgrimages…, priests tried to hush them up for fear of reprisals by the Communist authorities, who tried to deprive the Church of its best pastors by transferring them to small backwoods villages, without youth and without communities. The change of regime coincided with the start of a new era of communication, in which the ‘struggle for souls’ takes place also in public. Events only become a reality when the media speak of them: the Church still needs to adapt to this new situation”. Fact File During the Communist period the Catholic press had been reduced to “Új Ember” (New Man), the only religious weekly tolerated, though heavily censored, by the regime. With the change in regime, the Church found itself in a new situation: instead of freedom of expression, other difficulties emerged: those of finding funds and structures, not to mention the lack of the necessary skills. Apart from national media, organs of the regional press also developed. These small concerns began on a voluntary basis, without funds and without the coordination of the Bishops’ Conference, often without professionals, but with tremendous enthusiasm, able to satisfy local needs. The two major Hungarian Catholic weeklies, “Új Ember” and “Keresztény Elét” (Christian Life) are sold in large quantities, also abroad, especially in Romania and Slovakia where over 2 million Hungarians are living. The first Catholic press agency of Central Europe, “Magyar Kurír”, publishes its bulletins on the Internet. Although founded 95 years ago, it has now been renewed on the web and provides religious information in real time in four languages. Hungarian Catholic Radio broadcasts 24 hours a day and has done for three years.