Changes in the Role of Churches and Religious Organizations in the Field of Social Self-Reliance in Hungary ( 1867 – 2016 )

The purpose of this paper is to review the most important trends as found in rendering social services by churches. The typical purposes pursued by religious associations in the era of Dualism and the changes detectable in the activities of the civil sector in Horthy-era were the fi rst examined topics. The paper relies on the empirical research that I conducted in 2014, and that analysed the activities of the largest charity organizations in Hungary. It was possible to conclude that in Hungary there was an exemplary tradition of developing cohesive civic activities in the area of charity. Their effi cacy depended on the ability of the organizations to solicit from the donors to help others.

1.I have been conducting my research at the doctoral school of the University of Pécs, Faculty of Law.My research interest is social self-reliance in Hungary since the era of Austro-Hungarian Dualism.This subject is typically not related to churches, but rather to the civil sphere, where it is the citizens who notice social needs, and then formulate and organize activities and organizations to meet such needs.Professionals in the civil sector see this distinction clearly: for them, churches are not part of the civil sphere, so churches are involved in performing social services and are caring for social needs on the basis of separate regulations, diff erent tax legislation, diff erent fi nancing, and remarkably diff erent legal status from the regulations that are applied in the civil sphere.
I have off ered to speak here of civil society organizations that are attached to churches, and in this way, are quasi-religious organizations.And secondly, I will be presenting the ways in which churches themselves are involved in performing social services.Since both these topics and the scope of the indicated period are very large, I will limit myself to highlight the major trends in this paper.
Let us see fi rst how various theories relate the church to associations; in other words, what common ground do these two types of organizations share according to the various theories.St. Paul, our earliest author, believed that the Church was an association of Napsugar Mondovics individuals, a body where all believers become members by being reborn. 1 In addition to that, according to Paul, the church was a living organism, an active body.John Locke simply believed that church-related communities are the same as secular civil communities: they correspond to each other, even though they have diff erent goals. 2 Similarly, the Weimar Constitution [ § 124] discusses religious associations under the heading of the free foundation of associations and partnerships.It is widely accepted that the Church is actually a special association of individuals -and I keep this assumption in mind when I discuss the roles that churches and church-related civil society organizations play in performing social functions.
2. First of all, it is necessary to defi ne what I mean by quasi-religious organizations among civil society organizations.These organizations are also under the civil law in force, 3 but they form a special group, either because they were founded by clergymen, or because they display a specifi cally ecclesiastical or religious nature in their objectives.They aim, like the other non-governmental organizations, to reach society, and to fulfi l social functions.Their predecessors during both the Era of Reforms and Dualism had the following names: religious societies, denominational societies, devotional societies; 4 meaning that they were clearly present -and visibly diff erent from civil society organizations -also in the civilian era when a variety of associations proliferated.
Their features have remained the same regardless of whether we take 21 st -century quasi-religious associations or their predecessors in the end of the 19 th century into account.What are these common features and what are the benefi ts of these features when performing social services?I want to stress that I defi ned the following features when I examined them in connection to their effi ciency in the performance of social services.
One of their special features is that they do not discriminate against members of other religions: they off er their services without taking their own denominations into account, in a non-denominational way.The main reason is that they want to impact society as a whole, thus they make their services accessible to everyone, and they represent their goals before the masses.Secondly, they formulate universal values, which are able to mobilize the masses in favour of their goals.These are clearly Judeo-Christian values, like, for example, taking responsibility for others, charity, selfl essness, sacrifi ce, solidarity.Although one can hear about these values in the communication of civil society organizations too, they aren't formulated in such a strong and consistent manner as in the case of religious organizations.This also shows that these organizations are closely intertwined with the church behind them.Another outstanding feature is that they have a church as their hinterland, that is to say, the founding religious entities are able to mobilize their fi nancial and human resources, and even their international relations, to achieve a social objective.The church as a hinterland also means centuries of experi-Changes in the Role of Churches and Religious Organizations in the Field... ence, which is a great advantage, for example, in enrolling volunteers, addressing people, raising funds, cooperating with other organizations.This is also connected to their lobbying power: they have taken part in political decision-making processes, and even in the Board of the National Cooperation Fund set up to fi nance civil society organizations. 5Moreover, when performing certain social services, it is a key feature that the church-as-hinterland implies an institutional system, as well, which makes the services possible even in cases of extremely expensive tasks that quasi-religious organizations have to carry out.A highly expensive social service is, for example, healthcare.Also, let's not forget about the fact that the founders and organizers of the quasi-religious organizations are characterized by faith and belief, that is to say, a higher-than-average commitment to achieve their goals.What is the overall result of these special characteristics?Their overall result is lesser staff turnover among religious organizations; they are not dissolved within a few years; they can be known on a national scale, thanks to their hinterland, the church and the media; and they are stable partners of the State.
In this regard, in the following segment we are going to examine the question of where religious organizations today typically assume their roles.These are the areas of social welfare, education and healthcare, which correspond to the areas where the Church is traditionally present.If we look back at the typical purposes of religious associations in the Era of Dualism, we only see a minor diff erence.Here, in fact, the earliest and most frequent ones were burial societies, such as the Jewish Chevra Khadisha, which functioned almost like a modern insurance company.In fact, in the event of death, the community bore the responsibility for covering burial costs, for caring for the orphans, but in return, participation in the Chevra Kadisha was compulsory in the form of fi nancial contributions as well as voluntary work.In addition to this, religious societies had general charitable objectives at their core, which was usually revealed by their name.
Here, however, one brief digression should be made, because the category of religious association did not appear consistently in the registers of associations.This produced several problems, for a variety of reasons, to defi ne and fi nd them.
One of the main diffi culties of the research on associations is the fact that recorded statistics are few and rare; 6 moreover, the concept of association itself is under-developed; 7 legislation is missing sometimes; and the political milieu is not always supportive.In addition to that, research on religious associations also has its own additional, specifi c diffi culties, such as the fact that a number of religious societies were established by church authorities, and not by the state administration, and thus they were not registered by the Interior Aff airs Agency and in county records.The highly valuable and informative materials of Jewish associations, belonging to rural Jewish communities in Hungary, were seized and confi scated by the Gestapo.And by the 1970s, religious associations Napsugar Mondovics completely disappeared,8 both from statistics and historiography.And fi nally, there is the diffi culty that religious organizations and groups had centuries-old traditions, so establishing an association was merely one of the possible forms for them to carry out social services, which they used to accomplish using many diff erent methods.This is why one shouldn't overrate the weight or roles played by the religious associations -yet their important work and presence makes it worthwhile to study them.We see that the statisticians of that era recorded the associations according to several typologies; they did not follow the same classifi cations and labels all the time.
First of all, we see the features of associations in Somogy county.The earliest indication to a denomination in the name of an association is 'Israelite' in the 'Israelite Women's Association of Marcali', as early as in 1869, whereas the fi rst association wearing the 'Christian' label was not established until 1898. 9Surely, the Israelites felt more in need to form societies, and were receptive to this form of representation of their interests, because of the ample amount of emergencies they had experienced in their recorded history.Moreover, this era coincides with the age of Jewish assimilation, so the foundation of an association was a means of assimilation for them: this was a way for them to participate in the life of their towns, and to create a range of social contacts, and to counter anti-Semitic prejudices. 10atholic or Protestant associations were only registered after the Jewish associations, sometimes with a delay of several decades.Between 1896 and 1914, however, there was a dynamic growth in the number of Catholic associations: out of 448 associations 61 were Catholic (13,62%).As a matter of fact, the Roman Catholic associations were predominantly reading circles -while the faithful Jews and Protestants still preferred charity associations -which is explained by the fact that in this period, the Catholic Church suff ered a loss of dominance in public education.
In the Nógrád county registry we see that the use of denominational labels like 'Catholic', 'Christian', or 'Jewish' does not primarily indicate the religious purpose or activity of the organization, but the religious affi liation of its members or supporters.And in their charters, they increasingly tended to emphasize that they helped poor children without taking their religious affi liation into account with, for instance, winter clothes or other charitable deeds.We also see examples when there was a political initiative to establish religious associations: among these, we fi nd the Roman Catholic Reading Society, whose establishment in 1912 was fi nancially supported by the Ministry of Cultural Aff airs.The number of religious associations steadily increased in the county: between 1867 and 1874, two religious associations were established, as opposed to the seven associations between 1875 and 1889, and the sixteen associations between 1890 and 1918. 11e can see another feature in Baranya County: here, the bishop of Pécs gave the approval to establish denominational associations, but then he left them under the supervision of the city.Religious associations were mainly established for charity purposes, funeral allowance, and sick-relief.And there was a novelty among Catholic associations: reading circles functioned as farmer associations at the same time, combining cultural goals with the protection of the interests of farmers, and allowing them to exchange their experience.123. When we move on to the post-World War I period, we see that much has changed in the life of associations, partly because of the losses in material wealth and in human lives caused by the war, and, on the other hand, due to the preparations for the new war, and also as a result of the disappearance of civilian ideals.The losses of the war, war invalids, war orphans, and general impoverishment all contributed to the fact that the state felt the need of its social engagement. 13he turn of the century, just like the preceding period, was characterized by an increase in the number of Catholic associations.However, there was a diff erence: in post-World War I-era, semi-ecclesiastical organizations were created among civil society organizations.In the background of this trend there was the ideological support of Kuno Klebelsberg, Culture Minister, who declared that nationalist cultural policy should not renounce the contribution of traditional churches.The churches understood this, and they created top-to-bottom religious associations with no spontaneity or enthusiasm, so for example in Horthy-era Nógrád county a quarter of the associations were religious ones.In this era, the denominational label in the name of the association does not necessarily refer to the religious affi liation of those who created it, but to the church whose initiative was behind the establishment of the association.This also meant that churches had a greater say in the operation of these organizations.
In addition, they were organized along the lines of the church hierarchy, that is, Catholic associations were merged into an alliance, and the centralized model of the church was adopted to govern them.This organization was the Actio Catholica, established in many countries around the world. 14It was also special in the sense that it involved lay people in the work of the religious organization too; in fact, this was its express purpose.Moreover, it had more opportunities, and it also formulated more farreaching goals than simple associations. 15fter World War II, by 1950 the majority of the associations were eliminated, including religious associations as well, for mainly ideological reasons.Jewish associations had been systematically eradicated back in 1944: they were simply collected from the registries of the Ministry of Interior Aff airs and from local registries, in the same way as Jewish citizens were listed.Other religious associations were dissolved after Napsugar Mondovics the war because religious ideology was considered to be outdated, no longer needed in the Communist era.Therefore, in 1970, when national statistics were prepared, there was absolutely no such category as associations, 16 and we see diff erent terminology as well: instead of associations, there were social organizations, functioning along some approved objectives.4.After the change of regime, associations whose members considered it to be important to indicate that they were committed to a denomination or a religion, reappeared; and there are also organizations whose representatives and founders explicitly indicate religious purposes, such as the Hungarian Maltese Charity Service -whose founder, priest Imre Kozma, is still in charge of it.The founders, who are members of the clergy, actively participate in the work of quasi-religious associations; they can serve their associations with their network of national and international relations and by means of their scholarly recognition.Moreover, their status in the church makes it more effi cient for them to connect their associations to the church.The church as hinterland off ers a base for recruiting volunteers and collecting donations as well.These civil society organizations are present, predominantly in the social sphere and education -just like most churches.
In order to depict more accurate picture of the strongest and largest quasi-religious organizations, I relied on the empirical study I conducted in 2014 on 10 organizations in Hungary.Among these 10 organizations, there were the fi ve charity organizations thataccording to the law -were entitled to receive and distribute charities in times of natural disasters, and to cooperate closely with the government.These fi ve organisations are also members of the Charity Council, that is to say, they are entitled to make decisions referring to the tasks of the Council, and their implementation. 17The Charity Council itself was established with the aim to distribute confi scated and nationalized assets for social purposes.Apart from these fi ve member organizations, I also chose the charitable organizations of smaller, 'non-traditional' churches; as well as two organizations which serve mainly educational purposes, in addition to the fact that they were also involved in charitable work.The organizations I studied were not homogeneous; the only thing they have in common is that they are involved in charitable work.They diff er in size and organization type, too.As a result of the interviews, I made the following conclusions: -The large charitable organizations are linked to churches; the only fully civilian association is the Hungarian Red Cross, which belongs to the International Red Cross, fi rst established in Hungary as part of an international treaty, not as an association.-The heads of the organizations said that they were mutually reinforcing each other with the churches behind them; they also receive moral and material support from the church; and their charitable work is also a way to promote the Church itself.An example to this is the Hungarian Baptist Aid.
-There is a nationwide network behind them, mainly because their volunteers come from the ranks of church members.Such examples include the Charity Service of Pentecostal Faith Church and the Catholic Caritas.-Their professional leader is a member of the clergy; see the example of the Maltese Charity Service and the Haver Foundation.-The profi le of the church aff ects the profi le of its charitable work, as well; for example, the foundation belonging to Krishna consciousness movement only deals with the distribution of meals.These statements, however, are not uniformly typical of all organizations, so although the churches have the possibility to mobilize their faithful to charitable work, they are only partially successful.
What are the reasons behind this?When answering this question, it is helpful to consider the two diff erent sets of data that reveal the extent churches are actually supported.One is the mandatory census, and the other is the taxpayers' declaration about 1 + 1% of their taxes.It was established in 1997: since then, it has been made possible for the taxpayers to declare which civil society organization and church would receive 1 + 1% of their taxes.In other words, if taxpayers want to support the work of their churches, as well as the charitable activities of their churches, they only have to make a declaration about it when submitting their tax declaration, and the tax authorities forward those taxes directly to the churches.The institution itself may be suitable for strengthening the culture of donation, as well as for measuring the support for churches.Changes in the Role of Churches and Religious Organizations in the Field...

Napsugar Mondovics
This diagram shows the latest data, that is, the data of the two most recent censuses from 2001 and 2011, as well as the 1% tax declarations for churches in 2014.The census shows it clearly that adherence to the three great historic churches has been dwindling, while the Israelites have maintained the same level of adherence.It is very interesting when there are far fewer people who actually take the trouble to submit a declaration to dedicate 1% of their taxes to a church -even if we take into account that the census data include children who cannot be taxed, and retired people over the age of 65.This can actually be seen in the case of all three major Christian churches.The Israelite community is, again, an exception: not counting young people under the age of 25, we see that they support their community in a disciplined way, and dedicate the 1% of their taxes to the Israelite community.
Let us move on now to the non-historic denominations, which include Faith Church, Krishna Consciousness, and the Baptist Church, whose charitable organizations I have already mentioned.In their case, we see quite the opposite of what we have seen so far; that is, according to census data, they have been increasing the number of their followers, and even more intriguing is the fact that these churches have been capable of collecting more tax dedications and thereby raising much more money, year by year, while traditional denominations have failed to do so.This has clearly demonstrated their ability to solicit from donors for helping others: in fact, they seem to understand how to communicate with society, and they represent their messages more courageously.In light of the aforementioned data, the new church regulations of 2011 are all the more interesting. 18In a nutshell, these regulations replaced liberal church regulations that had been in eff ect since 1990.While under the previous regulations over 300 churches were registered, new law recognized only a total of 31 churches; the rest were downgraded by the Hungarian parliament as associations engaged in religious activities.There were heated debates, and in the end, it was decided that rendering social services by the organization is indispensable when the latter applies for being awarded the status of a church.In other words, the legislator expressed that it expected these churches to be its partners in the performance of social services; it is not suffi cient for them to be engaged in religious activities. 19This way, they were 'obliged' to take part in rendering social services.And the circle is closed here, since the more social services this small circle of churches will carry out, the more they can stress that their activities are needed in Hungarian society.This, in turn, will strengthen them further in their position as churches, which, of course, involves budgetary fi nancing of their social services.The empirical study also found that the performance of charities by churches was entirely a matter of state budget, so it was predictable from year to year; private donations or their lack thereof play no particular role, given that they were dwarfed in comparison to state funding.Moreover, the biggest charities, such as the Maltese Charity Service, or the Catholic Caritas, can work without volunteers.One might say that the state outsources tasks, and is looking for partners who are present on the long run -and the churches are ideal partners for this.
There remains the really intriguing question of whether society is at ease with this presence.That is to say, are there a social expectations and acceptance for the presence of churches and quasi-church organizations, for example, in the fi eld of social care -or is this still under discussion?
Let us look fi rst at the issue of social care.Since the regime change, several studies have pointed out that Hungarian society regards it as a primary task of the churches to participate in social assistance, namely to care of the elderly, the homeless, those who are unable to work, the sick, and to be committed to acts of charity. 20The research carried out mainly in sub-regions reveals that the churches' social services have been effi ciently expanded, so in those small communities where the local government could not easily take up the business of rendering social services due to its lack of resources, the nonobligatory social work activities have been taken over by the locally active churches.These religious organizations and individuals were willing to create their organizations to support the poor.They also were willing to be present as employers, that is, to provide jobs for those who were on the edge of poverty. 21By doing so, they manage to success-tary per capita funding, so their position became untenable years ago.They found a solution, though: joining a church which functioned as a maintaining body, which they could work together with, and this way they could get their supplementary per capita funding.'Fészek' Child Protection Association could preserve its professional and organizational autonomy at the price of joining the church as an umbrella organization.Obviously, this is visible in the statistics too, namely, although foundations were the managing bodies in 2009, those managements were taken over by churches in 2010.By the way, supplementary per capita funding varies each year, but it is still absolutely necessary.For example, in 2015, the supplementary funding that churches received amounted to 75% of basic per capita funding.
Civil and ecclesiastical managing bodies are not equal competitors, as the latter, by means of the supplementary per capita funding, can provide better services.Moreover, their standard of service is higher: they are more caring, they carry out inspections more frequently, but are also more helpful than others.The number of the church-related managing bodies may still increase by merger or take-over when foster parents cross over to a church-related managing body; and building a new network is also a possible.For example, the Reformed Church chose this latter option in the poorest regions.This solution has the advantage that it does not generate confl ict of interests, reaches new players, and is capable of professional innovations.
Churches generally expect foster parents to participate in the church events along with their foster children, and to raise them in a religious fashion.This is in line with the politicians' statements, who often express that churches and the state must work together.
Before I close, I would like to review the main points of my presentation.There is an exemplary tradition of civic cohesion in Hungary, including initiatives on religious grounds, but its effi cacy depends on the ability of organizations to solicit from donors in order to help others.Without this ability, churches and their civil society organizations merely depend on the state budget.Charity and social objectives are the best calls to activate society, which has been recognized by churches and quasi-religious organizations.