Miracles come from the cooperation of the church, the state and the communities - declared the State Secretary of the Prime Minister's Office responsible for church and ethnic relations on Tuesday in Aszófő at the handover of the 140 million HUF St. Benedict's Pilgrimage House of Tihany Benedictine Abbey.
Miklós Soltész emphasized: in the past ten years, among others, renovations were carried out at pilgrimage sites in Mátraverebély-Szentkút, Bakonybél, Bodajko, Makkosmária belonging to Budakeszi, Győr, Vértessomló, Márianosztra, Máriakálnok, Máriapócs, Magyarszék, Tihany, Máriagyőd, Petőfiszállás-Szentkút and Csatka. They all serve the community, he indicated.
He also spoke about: the answer to the government's attack on Christianity, to ideologies that destroy values, and to "the behavior of the dwarf minority, which affects our children and destroys the foundations of the created world", is to strengthen the church. Part of this is the pilgrimage routes, which are also one of the pillars of the development of Hungarian tourism.
Source: Pilgrims are waiting at Aszófő/magyarepitok.hu/Erdei Mihály
Máriusz Révész, the government commissioner responsible for active Hungary in the Prime Minister's Cabinet Office, announced that the government has already supported the renovation of a hundred tourist houses - pilgrim accommodation, water tour stops, key houses - in order to improve the conditions for an active, healthy lifestyle. This puts Hungary in the lead at the EU level as well.
He noted: the pilgrim camps started on the model of the wanderer camp started on the Tihany-Pannonhalma route, where other accommodations were developed in addition to the one in Aszófő, for example in Városlőd, Vöröstó or Pannonhalma. Over the past two years, more than a thousand pilgrim camp students have been on the route, and this year, too, applications for the camps are full.
Károly Kontrát, the region's Fidesz parliamentary representative, emphasized: Hungary is a strong, proud Christian country and considers its past, traditions, and values important, which have kept us Hungarian throughout the thousand-year past. He added: the accommodation for pilgrims will also help Hungary remain a "Hungarian country".
The Archbishop of Veszprém, György Udvardy, who blessed the building, said: the Benedictine community renovated a dilapidated property owned by the diocese, and the joint work also shows "the community of the church's treasures".
Norbert Jeromos Mihályi, the priest of Tihany Bencés Abátság, explained the investment: the 241-square-meter pilgrimage house for fifty people consists of rooms with bunk beds, water blocks, a tea kitchen and a community space.
According to the abbey's information, 98 million forints were financed by the Active and Ecotourism Development Center from the Téry Ödön National Tourist House Development Program for the pilgrimage house built with 140 million forints, and the state secretariat responsible for church and ethnic relations supported the investment with another 25 million forints.
Source: vasarnap.hu/MTI
Featured image: MTI/Attila Balázs
