Compared to the mainland population, the population of the Highlands is decidedly religious and very conservative; respect for church authorities is also very strong. In order for an entire community of believers to complain to their superiors about a head of a Franciscan monastery, extraordinary things must happen, reports the Mandiner.
Unfortunately, this is the situation in Érsekújvár, where the cup was full for the Hungarian believers: the last straw was when the head of the monastery, Masseo Patrik Golha, who had been reigning for a few years
dismissed Father Cirill Zoltán Kovalcsik, the only Franciscan priest who spoke Hungarian
– but this was really the last straw, the head of the Slovak monastery was diligently filling the glass until then.
In their letter of complaint to Masseo's superiors, the followers highlighted hair-raising practices. Indicates:
- the Heart of Jesus procession was always held jointly, Slovak and Hungarian believers marched together, singing Slovak and Hungarian songs in turn - this was abolished by Father Masseo after 2021;
- there is also a chapel in the church, in the convent, where it is customary to say and sing psalms at Easter, until now it was also possible in Hungarian, but this year it was forbidden; the Hungarian faithful and Father Cirill asked in vain - now you can only sing in Slovak;
- There is a tradition in Érsekújvár because of the two Catholic churches: every weekday there was a Hungarian mass in one of them; Masseo abolished weekdays for the Franciscans, they could only be kept on the first Friday of each month;
- Father Masseo did not come to any event to which he was invited.
Although the Hungarian religious community is significant, the church is full on weekends and holidays,
he also tried to eradicate the traces of the Hungarian presence in the building;
- the Hungarian inscriptions disappeared from the Franciscan church, everything could only remain in Slovak, even though the Hungarian faithful enriched the church with their donations (not to mention the previous centuries when it was built and maintained);
- they had a separate hall where the catechism of the Hungarian believers and other activities took place - this hall has ceased to exist, there is no room where the faithful can meet or hold activities outside of mass, they were confined to the communal hall reserved in advance for most of the year;
- until now you could get the only Hungarian-language Catholic weekly newspaper, Remény, but now you can't either.
However, as Dávid Nagy drew our attention to, Father Masseo's actions, which can hardly be called blessed, did not remain within the four walls of the church, but caught up with the faithful elsewhere.
- Father Cirill used to go to celebrate mass at the Újvár old people's home, where he was also very well-liked;
Masseo declared that there were no Hungarians there - which is obviously not true - and blocked his activity as well.
However, what really went beyond all limits is related to the large state central hospital in Érsekújvár.
It seemed completely natural that, within the framework of the Franciscan order, Father Cirill would come to the Hungarian patients to say mass, make confession, and, being a hospital, unfortunately often give the last anointing. Father Masseo, however, allegedly stated that the Franciscans in Újvár are responsible for the care of the patients in Újvár, and Father Cirill, who lives in Margit körút and Szentendre, has nothing to do there - except that there are no other Hungarian-speaking Franciscans near or far, that is
due to the action of the head of the monastery, even Hungarian-speaking dying people can only receive the last anointing from the Franciscans in Slovak.
After being hunted down everywhere, Masseo delivered the final blow: he revoked Father Cirill's operating license from June 1st.
The full article can be read on Mandiner HERE
Source of opening image: https://ujvariferencesek.webnode.hu/
