Faith is a real shield. Protection, but not only against attacks from the outside, but also against our own running away from our fears. And the stronger our faith, the firmer its protection. Sándor Sebők, parish priest from Fót, received the Shield of Faith award this year.
The Shield of Faith - this is the name given to the recognition that is awarded every year to those living church members who remained loyal to their faith and their Hungarianness even under the communist dictatorship. On Memorial Day for the Victims of Communism, Dr. The award, founded by member of parliament Béla Horváth and writer Tibor Gyurkovics, was received by Sándor Sebők, parish priest of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Fót, Father Regnum, master canon, on Sunday at the University Church of Our Lady in Budapest.
Before the handover ceremony, they remembered the millions who became victims of the bloodiest idea, communism, who were deprived of their lives by the communist oppressors or who broke their future in two.
The eulogy of the now-awarded Regnum Father was presented by Balázs Bábel, Archbishop of Kalocsa-Kecskemét, praising Sándor Sebők's life and the priest's commitment, highlighting his achievements in the education of young people.
He organized summer camps for them, when the communist system tried with all its might to prevent the organization of programs with a Christian spirit for young people. The fact that he had to suffer physical abuse as a parish priest in Újpest did not deter him from fulfilling his God-given task.
Photo: György Tóth Jr
Csaba Latorcai, the parliamentary state secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration and Territorial Development, praised the awardee and said that Sándor Sebők, who became a regnum father in 1977, radiates God's love to those entrusted to him, wherever his vocation calls him.
He put it like this: apostolic love guided the Regnums even during the Bolshevik dictatorship, when they had to experience the closure of the Regnum House and the blowing up of the Regnum Marianum church.
Love kept and guided those regnum fathers and their companions, whom the vengeful communist government brought to court three times with false charges, in order to punish their brave confession with hard years in prison, setting an example for those who follow them and those who persevere by their side, emphasized the state secretary.
We gathered today to remember, celebrate and experience God's love together in the church where, after the revolution of 1956, the students who fought in the neighboring university building and were then forced to hide from the bloody revenge of the communists found refuge thanks to the seminarians studying here, he added.
The Secretary of State reminded me that in June 2000, the Parliament decided to dedicate a memorial day to honor the victims of the communist dictatorship in Hungary, so that all the crime and suffering caused by the Bolshevik dictatorship, which even according to the most conservative estimates had a hundred million victims worldwide, could never be repeated again. .
According to Csaba Latorcai, "communist ideology is under attack again in the form of the culture of abolition, forced population exchange and gender ideology".
Therefore, it is good to keep in mind that "the imposition of this progressive, i.e. progressive, lied ideology is almost in no way different from the Bolshevik ideology that came from the East, in the name of which Christians, Jews, dissidents, small and large farmers, scientists, engineers were exterminated with fire and iron , priests and bishops, millions of innocents," he added.
"There is a war going on today against the values of normality. This spiritual well poisoning in Western Europe has already led to the need to defend the truth in court of those who regard the words of the scriptures as a standard," he said.
Christianity encourages action in all circumstances, even today, when we have to face war and economic difficulties, while our Christian brothers and sisters in many parts of the world face increasingly angry persecution, he added.
"We, the Hungarians, were not allowed to be lost for good by our compatriots who, with the example of their lives, as a shield of faith, steadfastly defended and still defend our nation to this day, and resisted the attacks that (...) threatened us so many times during our existence. (…) Not even those famous and anonymous heroes who, during the communist dictatorship, accepted death in the worst case, emigration or displacement in the best case, persecution, constant surveillance, intimidation," he declared.
In his eulogy, Balázs Bábel, Archbishop of Kalocsa-Kecskemét, praised Sándor Sebők's life and his dedication during his priestly vocation, highlighting the achievements in the education of young people.
He took the young people to summer camps, at a time when the communist system did not take kindly to the organization of Christian-spirited programs for the youth, said the archbishop, also recalling that Sándor Sebők had to suffer physical abuse as a parish priest in Újpest.
Sándor Sebők thanked the founders of the prize and the members of the board of trustees who awarded it, as well as Csaba Latorcai for the words of praise, Balázs Bábel for his eulogy and all the regnums, his fellow priests and the faithful who accompanied his church activities.
The Parma fidei – Shield of Faith award was founded in 2002 by Béla Horváth, former MDF politician and smallholder politician, former member of parliament, and writer Tibor Gyurkovics, who died in 2008. It is awarded every year to priests and monks who remained faithful to their faith even under the communist dictatorship. This year, the recognition award was created by medal artist Katalin Janka Miletics, a Benedictine oblate.
The celebrated parish priest also received a new mass vestment made by the Pauline nuns living in Erdőkürt in Nógrád county from the Parma fidei - Shield of Faith award foundation.
Author: György Tóth Jr
Cover photo: Sándor Sebők, parish priest of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Fót, Father Regnum, master canons (k) receives the Parma fidei - Shield of Faith award from the Archbishop of Kalocsa-Kecskemét (b) Balázs Bábel and the Jesuit monk Sajgó Szabolcs, the goodwill ambassador of Hungary Helps, at the University of Budapest In the Church of Our Lady on Memorial Day for the Victims of Communism, February 25, 2024
Source: MTI/Márton Mónus
