” “Pastoral units to tackle the problem of lack of priests, and their isolation in rural areas: it was proposed by Cardinal Péter Erdõ during the press conference closing the bishops’ plenary assembly in Bucharest, yesterday. Péter Erdõ is the president of the Hungarian Bishops’ Conference (MKPK) and, from the last year, the president of CCEE. In accordance with the statistics relating to 2005, in Hungary, there are 2576 priests for a population of about 10 million people, mostly Catholics. But while in built-up areas the relationship is one priest every six thousand believers, in the countryside and in rural areas, one priest may also be in charge of 5 churches in 5 different villages. In this way, it is really impossible to establish personal relationships". According to the cardinal, "not only does the situation create pastoral problems, but it also renders those priests isolated and solitary. To avoid such condition, as Bishops’ Conference, we looked for a solution: creating structures for parishes in the countryside, generating groups of 2 or 3 priests living in community, and managing the parishes in the territories together".” “
