The Roman Catholic Denominational Education Between the World Wars
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Nóda Mózes The Roman Catholic Denominational Education between the World Wars After the unification process of 1918, in the former Up to 1918, the institutions of the Roman Catholic Church in Transylvania had maintained a dominant po- Hungarian State schools Romanian language was sition, with the overwhelming majority of the Hungar- introduced as a teaching language. Consequently, the ians in the Austro-Hungarian Empire members of this Hungarian as a teaching language was solely pre- church. Moreover, although the separation between served in the vocational schools. The governments State and Church had been operated following the con- showed little understanding toward the minorities frontations of the 1890s, the Church continued to exert vocational schools, aiming rather at the unification of its influence over society and culture, especially at the the scholar system. The Roman Catholic Church educational level. Not surprisingly, considering the sustained and administrated hundreds of elementary overall political atmosphere inside the Monarchy, the and secondary schools, many of them having a multi- church institutions played a tremendous role in the secular history. Based on the documents from the Transylvanian society. The state tried through all means NÓDA MÓZES churches archives, this study presents the efforts of to enlarge and expand the networks of schools under the Roman Catholic Church to preserve and maintain its direct control and sustenance. Nevertheless, the de- Lecturer, Faculty of Roman nominational education in the province succeeded in Catholic Theology, Babes- all these schools. Bolyai University, Cluj, securing an influential and patronising position in most Romania JSRI No.3 /Winter 2002 115 KEY WORDS activities. During the latter part of the dualist period, the its parishioners. The role of catechisation was to inte- state administered as little as 30% of the overall number grate the teaching and moralising strength of the Bible Romania, Transylvania, of the primary and secondary schools in Transylvania. into the life and culture of the people. It was only logi- inter-war period, history, Roman Catholic Church, As for the organisation of the system, no radical cal, then, that the educational role of the church was vocational schools, legis- changes had occurred. The old structures of the Roman performed by schools the place to assimilate culture. lation, Habsburg Empire Catholic Church had been preserved. However, before It is precisely through this activity that the Roman the union of Transylvania with Romania, many parishes Catholic Church played an important social and cultural belonging to the dioceses of Satu-Mare and Oradea role in the historical evolution of Transylvania.2 were included in Hungary in consequence of the new Following the Union of 1918, which among others frontier lines and the subsequent application of the granted the Romanians in Transylvania the right to self- aeque principaliter principle - two dioceses governed determination, both the situation and the status of the by one bishop. The same principle had also introduced Roman Catholic Church changed radically. The parish- the administration of a diocese by a non-resident ioners were mostly Hungarians and partly, Swabians. bishop. A similar situation could be found in the dio- They too had undergone radical demographic changes. cese of Cenad. Here, however, no change in the struc- Prior to 1918, the Hungarian population was the domi- ture of the diocese was operated, unless we count as nant ethnicity and enjoyed the full co-operation of the one the change of name from the Cenad diocese to the state authorities, whereas after the formation of the Ro- Timisoara diocese, prompted by the fact that between manian State, they became the minority. At denomina- the World Wars the name used had been that of the lat- tional level, the Roman Catholic Church held the domi- ter. nant position in the former Hapsburg Empire, with the As mentioned before, the Roman Catholic Church vast majority of the inhabitants being Roman Catholic. was one of the most important historical denomina- Then, it became just another church among a group of tions in Transylvania, with a particular status within the more within the Romanian State, functioning alongside social and economic relations in the region. It main- the dominant Orthodox Church and the privileged tained an important school network, which in the Ciuc Greek Catholic Church of the majority.3 area was exclusive. Moreover, the Roman Catholic The Roman Catholic Church examined the emerg- Church also patronised a wide range of secondary ing situation and soon designed new tasks for the given schools, all of them centuries old. In the beginning, the conditions. Preserving and developing its network of Roman Catholic Church took upon itself to catechise schools and other educational institutions became a pri- and educate the younger generation.1 These were the ority. This is how bishop Márton Áron underlined the fundamental objectives of the activities carried out by responsibilities of his generation: We have a special JSRI No.3 /Winter 2002 116 duty bestowing upon us a heavy responsibility. Yet, fu- that the policy generated dissatisfactions among the mi- ture will give the measure of our actions and judge us norities, even in such matters as the choice of terminol- by the values we have created and developed in the ogy, as was the case of the term foreigners, deemed process of fulfilling our present mission. We are the ar- derogative.5 tisans of our own destiny, and we can expect nothing From the start, the liberals had declared Romania from life but what we achieve through consistent, hard an indivisible national state, definitely not multilingual, work. We have to discard our indolence ( ) we have which, in accordance with the universal liberal doctrine, to exist in order to shape a generation that should meet provided the equality of freedom and rights for all citi- the requirements of our times 4 zens. Therefore, the liberals considered that at the very The activity in the educational field of the Roman foundation of democracy and of a full-fledged state lay Catholic Church and of other denominations was di- the individual rather than collective rights.6 The NPPs rectly determined by the changes occurring in the social tenet endorsed a distinct approach to the issue of mi- and political life of the Romanian society. Throughout norities, but deemed it unnecessary to promote specific the period between the World Wars, especially in the minority policies in Romania. Thus, the idea that there first decade, the efforts of the Romanian State were di- was no minority issue in Romania became a generalised rected towards the unification of the economic, legisla- viewpoint. Naturally, the apolitical Romanian society tive and cultural spheres. The Romanian political par- had readily embraced the idea.7 ties envisioned different manners of accomplishing and After the Union, Romania underwent a process of promoting these goals. The phenomenon translated building the nation, that is, the genuine process of into a climate of instability in the political life of the unifying the state.8 Referring to the diverging opinions country, the arena of confrontation for two important surrounding the national processes, István Bibó said: parties: the National Liberal Party (NLP) and the Na- The national frame in Eastern Europe was something tional Peasant Party (NPP). The impact was notable in to work on and rehabilitate, something to achieve and the activity of the Roman Catholic Church, too. It was permanently defend not just against the existing dynas- best illustrated in the approach to the minority prob- tic state, but also against the partial popular indifference lem: the NLP adopted a unifying centralising politics, colluding with a wavering national consciousness. This whereas the NPP advocated a regional-oriented poli- situation generates the dominant feature of the unbal- tics. anced political spirituality of Central and Eastern Eu- The Romanian public opinion also reflected the two rope: apprehensions about the existence of the commu- parties conflicting ideologies on the minority issue. An nity.9 Thus, the building of a nation occurs within the expert in the epochs history and ideologies asserted frame of an existing state10 , and according to Bibós JSRI No.3 /Winter 2002 117 thesis the setting up of democracy is hesitant in the Church. However, as pointed out by an important ex- East European states because of these apprehensions. pert in inter-ethnic relations, nationalism has never As a result, nationalism is embraced by the entire soci- been a major issue with the varied ethnic communities ety. After the unification process, the Romanian gov- in Transylvania, contrary to what the politicians have erning political forces considered that the new frame purported.13 The legislation concerning education and should undergo a radical, rapid and sustainable cohe- the school system issued during the World Wars estab- sion. The need for a national elite was dramatically felt, lished the course of development for the Roman- leading to an intercession by the state. Moreover, some Catholic denominational education under the auspices social categories immediately enjoyed advantages that of the Roman Catholic Church. As the schools were theretofore had counted as privileges for some ethnic the most effective tools for preserving national identity, groups. Such changes affected especially the Hungar- the topic ignited hot debates and led to conflicts of in- ians in Transylvania. The necessary adjustments made terest. Mikó Imre, one of the few specialists in minority within the government, the state administration and the law stated: Most important among the minority rights social and economic life were, eventually, reflected by is that regarding the schools for the citizens of ethnicity the relations between the several minorities and the ma- other than Romanian. In the case of the minorities, jority. Yet, the official politics of the state was met with school is the agent that ensures the survival of the sharp criticism.