Bodó Márta:

Mother, teacher, nurse. The role of women in society and church according to Hungarian-speaking young Catholics in Romania

Introduction

Before beginning to present the research on the role of women, I consider it highly important to show some basic data about Romania, data that are important in shaping the spiritual portret, but also the daily routine and political discourse in the country, data that are not known, not fully understood by many people living in Western Europe.

Romania, according to its Constitution is a national state - the definition includes the vast majority, which is the Romanian population of 86-90% (different sources show a slight difference, as they use different data) but offends the very sensitive and quite numerous Hungarian population, 6-7%, which feels excluded by the term, although it considers itself a main factor in shaping the cultural, spiritual profile of the country. It is also important to note that this Hungarian minority lives mainly in the central and western part of Romania, the traditional-historical province of Transylvania (Siebenbürgen), an autonomous principality during the Middle

Ages, once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, part of Hungary through its history until 1918.

In the respect of religion, Romania is a mainly Orthodox country - according to the 2002 national census 86,7% of the population is Orthodox (18,806,428 of the total 21,698,181 inhabitants). The Catholic population belongs to 2 main branches of Catholicism. The Eastern-rite Catholics, popularly called Greek Catholics, also called Romanian Catholics, who are mainly Romanian-speaking people, were Orthodox before uniting with Rome in the 1690-s. Referring to this unification they are also called the Uniats. Important to mention that this rite of the Catholic Church was forbidden in the communist Romania, its bishops and priests being punished, sent to prison, many of them sentenced to death and even executed, if not literally, then slowly, in the forced labour camps and jails of the system. The Greek Catholics, according to the same data, form a community of 195,481, which means the 0,9 % of the total population. They have their communities mainly in Transylvania, as the unification process was urged by the Austro-Hungarian Empire's spiritual influence, mainly helped and assisted by the Jesuit order. There are 5 eparchies (the name for a diocese in the Eastern tradition) on the territory of Romania. The Greek Catholics of the North-Western part of the country (by the border with the Ukraine and Hungary) from the so-called area of Satmar are Hungarian-speaking, according to a former census (1992) data the Hungarian-speaking community among the Greek Catholics are 10%.

The so-called Roman Catholics, that means the Latin-rite Catholics, mainly Hungarian speaking, devided into 6 dioceses, out of which 4 are Hungarian-speaking form the vast majority within the total Roman Catholic population: 4,7%, that means 1,028,401 people. In all a total of 5,6 % of Catholics in Romania.

To have the whole picture, we must mention the Protestant communities, too. Protestants belonging to the Calvinist denomination: 698,550, 3,2%, 11,203+26,194 Lutherans (belonging to 2 different Church organizations), 66,846 Unitarians - the 3 named Protestant denominations are considered traditional and historical churches in Transylvania with mostly Hungarian members/believers, and Neoprotestants: 129,937 Baptists, 330,486 Penticostals, 97,041 Adventists, 46,029 Evangelical Christians, 18,758 Evangelists. There were found 67,566 Moslims, 6179 Israelits, 87,225 belong to other denominations, 13,834 consider themselves belonging to no kind of religion, 9271 call themselves atheists, 18,492 did not wish to express any kind of opinion in this matter. (All of these data are taken from a publication of Constiinta si Libertate - Conscience and Freedom -, an organization for defending the religious rights, reissued by Viata Cultelor - Denominations' Life -, a monthly e-mail revue on religious events in Romania.) (See also Appendix 5.3.4., 5.3.5., 5.3.6., from the official Census site, where there are slight differences)

Another survey states the number of the Roman Catholics in all 40 counties of Romania. (see Appendix 5.2.) The same source shows the number of Roman Catholics in the 4 Hungarian-speaking Transylvanian dioceses: 434,256 in the Alba Iulia (Gyulafehérvár) Archdiocese, 141,750 in the Timisoara/Temeschwar (Temesvár) Diocese, 97,364 in the Satu Mare/Satmar (Szatmár) Diocese and 61,960 in the Oradea/Grosswardein (Várad) Diocese. To be noted that Bucharest, an Archdiocese and Metropolia, has 23,869 Roman Catholics, with a rough 18,000 in the counties belonging to the archdiocese (these are mainly Romanian-speaking Roman Catholics). Iasi, the 6th Roman Catholic Diocese has roughly 286,000 members/believers, considered Romanian-speaking (although there is an intense argument between Hungarian and Romanian historians that the Catholic population of this part of Romania is Hungarian, forced to change their mothertongue during the communist era, and even though they have kept the most archaic type of the Hungarian speech, also the most valuable archaic Hungarian prayers and religious songs, now they are forbidden to use Hungarian in church, at confession, in their prayers), and so having as official language Romanian. (Source: Keresztény Szó - Christian Word, monthly magazin of the Hungarian-speaking Roman Catholics in Romania, volume XIII., 2002/11., page 2.) (see also Appendix 5.1., where data from the Annuario Pontificio are shown)

The Hungarian-speaking Catholic community of Transylvania and their traditional values

Due to the history and tradition of the country, Transylvania is in many ways different from the other 2 traditional regions of Romania. As shown before, the Catholics of this area, though in 4 Roman Catholic dioceses, share a similar historical tradition. They are linked by many factors, among them the common priestly seminar (in Alba Iulia), the Faculty of Roman Catholic Theology (at the University of Cluj), the newspaper (Vasárnap and Keresztény Szó, both in Cluj) - all of these, as the dioceses themselves, working in Hungarian.

As I have shown before, we are speaking about 735,330 - 776,704 Roman Catholic people living in the 4 dioceses of Transylvania, mainly Hungarian. The religiosity of this population is rather strong and traditionalist. Without getting in details about what this means, I only mention that among these Catholics the cult of the Virgin Mary is very important: the famous shrine at Sumuleu/Csíksomlyó, dedicated to the Virgin Mother of God, shows this: its origins go back perhaps to an ancient, pre-Christian tradition and worship, as a Christian shrine it originates in the 14th century. The Virgin Mother is important as a role model for women along the centuries and today. In a research I examined the written homilies of our priests and saw that Mary appears in many of the homilies, and against an adequate theological background there are far more references to the Virgin Mary than to the Holy Spirit. Mary is mostly cited for her obedience, humility, faith and perseverence, and for her motherly features. She is a model for the praying and obeying Christian, but also - in some contexts - she is a model for the Christian who has a well-formed conscience and so knows exactly his/her place and tasks. After examining not only the homilies but the whole context I consider the teaching about and with the help of Mary's figure has the goal of keeping the Christians at a distance, at their place in the pews, not to interfere too much. In this context even the motherly features are not to underline the close involvement of Mary and implicitly of the Christians in the life of the Church, but to state very clearly the limits of interfering, so implicitly the teaching is: good Christian, follow your Mother in obedience, pray a lot, serve by the table, embrace all the sufferings (even more), endure in silence - and otherwise keep out of way. Though this is valid to all lay people in the church, sometimes it is explicitly told that women's responsibility in the actual crisis of the family is even bigger. Though it is admitted that a family today could not survive if the woman stayed at home, yet the woman should be engaged in the housework and with the children: that is what is right, what is the initial law given by God.

Romania in all is a very traditional country, yet it does not live in a void. Its traditionalists can mourn for the lost values, for the lost past, like the image of the woman at the fireplace of the family, but soon they have to find some answers to the problems of the young couples and families. Any answer that wants to be adequate for the challenges must consider the actual situation, and must be firm and consistent.

Yet the situation in different parishes is improving. While it was highly important to stick to the traditional values under the communist regime, after 1989 it was possible to read more about today's theology, to open up and get more involved. In 2000 the synod of the Alba Iulia archdiocese (the biggest of the 4 Transylvanian dioceses) was held and among the participants there were lay Christians, men and women actively involved. Since 1996, when the Faculty of Theology was established for lay people, many women have studied theology and are now teaching religion in schools and parishes. Women can be active and get some role in the life of the parish not only in cleaning and serving at the table but also in the parish council, they can read the readings of the mass, have sometimes even a leading role in some groups (Caritas, praying groups).

The question is: these cases are getting to be accepted as regular or are they still exceptional? And most of all: how do young people think about women's possibilities and roles in the church today? In order to find an answer, I decided to ask the students of the Faculty of Theology, those who prepare to have a role in the role of the church, who actually plan to become religion teachers and thus are going to influence the next generation.

The questionary

The questionary contained seven questions about what roles the students can think of as adequate for women in society and church today. I asked the responding girls whether they were content with their actual possibilities. I asked all the respondents what characteristics they thought were feminine and important for a woman today, who, what kind of woman they considered ideal. I also gave the possibility to all the respondants to give their opinion on anything else they considered important in this matter. Out of the 160 students of the Faculty 51 responded, 17 young men and 34 young women.

Women and their roles in contemporary Romanian/Transylvanian society and church

After reading all the answers I considered there were 3 categories: those who were totally happy with the possibilities that exist, those who had some small problems with some of the existant roles and those who were unhappy. Among the first category there were there were men and women aswell. In the second category there were only women, although 2 of the responding young men considered women did not have enough possibilities nowadays. One of these two men stated: "They could help a lot if someone organized that."

Among the respondants belonging to the third category (those who were not happy with their possibilities) I found only women: 11 young students said they were not satisfied with their possibilities as women and the roles offered/open to them. Yet 6 respondants added that they were not willing to give up their inner peace in order to fight for better possibilities, so they better try to put up with what society and church offers for them. The problems they named were: despise, disregard, exploitation. Even among those who said they were content, 11 women considered the tasks ahead them were way too much and heavy - there were 4 men who shared the same opinion.

Some use the conditional tense to express that in their opinion there was a choice: women can choose how much of the burdens and tasks they take upon their shoulders. It is interesting to see that some respondants consider 'role, possibility' as a synonim for 'burden'. Others (11 women and 5 men) only think of possibilities as positive challenges, they consider women have lots of fields where they can try themselves, where they can take up responsabilities and have a chance to prove their ability.

Lets see what young men think about an ideal women today. "She is patient, full of energy, completing the man." (The respondant thinks there is no such person...) "She is natural, not provocative, good in communication, clever, understanding, friendly, nice, diligent, good in the kitchen", "beautiful, intelligent, nice", "beautiful, talented and suitable to start a family." In a scale, the first place is taken by a woman who is nice, then the one who is beautiful, talented and clever, while being a good Christian comes only after such features as ability and skilfullness, diligency. Other features named as important for young Catholic men today are: resolution, silence, patience, friendlyness, openness, humour.

It is interesting to see what women think about the ideal woman. They say she should be educated, cultured (although it can be dangerous for men, as one of the women remarks), good looking, neat, nice, attentive, friendly, well-mannered, decent (the woman aswell as her outfit), experienced, beautiful, clever, resolute, understanding, with a high sense of duty, high morality - the list is long, much longer than the men's list, showing that women are very aware of the many expectations and they try hard to correspond. Among the characteristics an important place is taken by the expectation to be a good mother, to be feminine, always interesting for the man. One woman states: "You have to know the art of being a woman, which I think only few know nowadays, that is why there are few feminine young women today. The (ideal) Woman is temperate, measured, mysterious and graceful. A woman's beauty does not come from her figure, her body, but from her whole soul, her charm" - also expressing a kind of magic spell expected from women in the Transylvanian society. Women also express an ideal women today should be able to combine her family life with a carreer, yet she is not supposed to give up family for carreer, more than that: she should be able to find a balance without getting frustrated. She should know men without overestimating or despising them. Some also express an ideal woman is calm, much like the Virgin Mary, being present in the church's life aswell. "I do not know the ideal woman, but I know women who live an exemplary life, they are the ones that are in harmony with God, they have found the basis of their life in God."

What roles are given and what roles are adequate for women? A young woman begins her answer saying: 'I live among very simple people. In their opinion the main role of a woman is near the fireplace, bringing up her children and serving her husband. This is what I see." Then she adds: "But then I think one can not have these categories nowadays. In all I do not think women get too much role, yert this can vary from place to place: in a city women can have more roles than in a small community - all this depends on culture, understanding and way of life."

"In the society the traditional roles are more and more vague. The role of a mother should be reabilitated." (woman)

"In the church a woman is expected to clean the church, ornate it and then attend the mass." (woman)

"As women have less physical power I see her as a teacher. The most adequate for a woman is to be preoccupied with the education of children." (man)

"They should get more in the church." (man) "Girls and women should be more active in the mass. But many priests do not allow that, though it is not forbidden." (man)

Most of the respondants consider a woman can be a good mother, shopkeeper, religion teacher (a man's answer), mother, social person, the educator of the descendents, housewife, servant (a woman's answer). A woman should lead the rosary group and should help the priest (man), she can be a good mother and a good nun (woman), a good mother, religion teacher, cantor (woman), religion teacher, spiritual director, sacriston, nurse (man), lawyer, doctor, engineer, researcher (more women), mother, nurse, shopkeeper, secretary, servant, doctor, and in the church: cantor, caretaker, religion teacher, nun, group leader (woman). Male respondants say they see women being in any job except the ones that need physical force, and even in church they see woman in any role. Most of the women respondants see themselves in quite a lot of jobs even within the church except the role of a priest. It is intersting to see that many men say they would like women more involved in chuch activities though the local priest is not always in favour ot that. Some state all this depends a lot on the edcation and cultural level of each person and community and that much of the traditional expectations should be changed. Yet these voices are not very strong, and even among the women respondants are content or except the roles that are given to them now. Quite a lot of the women themselves expect the traditional roles to be given to them when they say being in a serving position is adequate for women. Many of them also state that they are comfortable in all these traditional roles where they at least know exactly what they are expected to do. One woman is very much against all those who would like to enlargen women's emancipation: she considers such persons have too much time... Others, and this seems to be the majority, somehow signal that women have the weapon in their hands, as they are graceful and if they use that cleverly they can get whatever they want. But not through fights - which could only ruin the peace of the mind -, then better except the traditional roles which are given. "Serving" is the role of a woman, although she is adequate even for "leading roles". Yet according to this survey it seems that young women chose to fit is rather than get into an open fight or question the traditional roles in the open. They chose to use the subtle and somehow mystic femininity in order to obtain what they want.

As a conclusion I need to express my concern that this choice is not a fair and adequate one, but thes young people who study to get a job in the church try hard to be excepted, to fit is, perhaps this longing ot theirs is more important by this time. Yet a democratic, open society, a community based on Christian values can not avoid naming the problems in the open. So I think Romanian society, the Hungarian-speaking Catholic community aswell, has to find its way from tradition to finding the right answers to the challenges of the presnt in an open and fair way. It is still a long way, a lot of work to be done - and not too much time left. We also need a lot of help and support from those societies and communities which have fought their fights and have gathered more experience.

Appendix

5.1. Statistica Ecclesiae Catholicae in Romania secundum ANNUARIO PONTIFICIO 2002

(Source: www.catholic.ro)

5.2. Roman (Latin-rite) Catholics in the counties of Romania (2002 Census)

Alba 5010
Arad 46655
Arges 1011
Bacău 120579
Bihor 55555
Bistrita-Năsăud 3744
Botosani 929
Brasov 23350
Brăila 1410
Buzău 549
Caras-Severin 23632
Călărasi 324
Cluj 26014
Constanta 5899
Covasna 80272
Dâmbovita 925
Dolj 1358
Galati 2170
Giurgiu 648
Gorj 832
Harghita 212734
Hunedoara 21431
Ialomita 271
Iasi 38165
Ilfov 6249
Maramures 30517
Mehedinti 1899
Mures 55174
Neamt 61453
Olt 311
Prahova 2328
Satu Mare 66847
Sălaj 6405
Sibiu 6527
Suceava 8488
Teleorman 178
Timis 71463
Tulcea 746
Vaslui 6602
Vâlcea 929
Vrancea 4959
Bucuresti 23869
___________________________
Alba Iulia Archdiocese 434256
Timisoara Diocese 141750
Satu Mare Diocese 97364
Oradea Diocese 61960
Total 735330

(source: Keresztény Szó/Christian Word 2002/11, also: www.topnet.ro/kerszo)

5.3. Data of the 2002 Census

5.3.1. A comparative situation

*) Residential buildings, non-residential buildings where there are dwellings and collective living quarters
**) Calculation made under comparable conditions

5.3.2. Population number and structure by sex - at the 2002 and 1992 Censuses

*) Calculation made under conditions of comparability

5.3.3. Population by area - at the 2002 and 1992 Census

*) Calculation made under conditions of comparability

5.3.4. Population by ethnic group- at the 2002 and 1992 Censuses

*) less than 0,1%
**) calculated under conditions of comparability

5.3.5. Population by mother tongue - at the 2002 and 1992 Censuses

*) less than 0,1%
**) In 1992, the Serbian-Croatian was recorded as a single mother tongue
***) Calculated under conditions of comparability

5.3.6. Population by religion - at the 2002 and 1992 Censuses

*) less than 0,1%
**) calculated under conditions of comparability
***) the persons who declared themselves of Armenian church (775 persons) and of Evangelical religion (18758 persons) were also included in "another religion".

5.3.7. Inflation rate - GDP - Unemployment

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Kapcsolat: Szabó Andrea elnökségi tag a titkárság címén:
titkarsag@magyarpaxromana.hu