St. Emeric, a vibrant and financially solvent Hungarian parish in Cleveland is set to close on Sunday

Perhaps Bishop Richard Lennon is in need of a reminder that we live in a post-Vatican II world, where aloof church leaders can no longer expect parishioners, the laity and local priests to quietly toe the line, whenever the upper echelons of the Church hierarchy enact wildly unpopular decisions above their heads, without any meaningful consultation. Perhaps Cleveland’s Bishop Lennon will awaken from his 1950′s reverie, when he arrives on the doorsteps of the 105 year old St. Emeric Church this Sunday in order to ceremoniously pull the rug out from under the Hungarian community. Perhaps he will find himself before parishioners unimpressed by the pomp and circumstance of a deconsecrating mass, and deeply unsympathetic to Mr. Lennon’s seemingly perfunctory display of Christian piety.

Cleveland’s unflinching Catholic bishop is scheduled to shutter St. Emeric Church this Sunday, and as such, will summarily evict elderly Hungarian pensioners nearing the end of their life from the community that they built, he will expel Hungarian boy scouts and girl guides from their classrooms and order the church’s parish priest to pack up and hand over the keys.

Once Mr. Lennon expels the Hungarian community, he will not only have direct control over a valuable piece of real estate, but also the estimated $1.3 million in the parish’s bank account. The diocese has long claimed that it is not closing St. Emeric and other parishes in Cleveland in order to confiscate millions of dollars from ordinary parishioners, but will re-distribute this sum among the remaining churches. Yet reports suggest that these funds may be used for other, less widely advertised purposes as well. Diocesan spokesman Robert Tayek noted that the diocese entered into confidential legal settlements with sexual abuse victims, but quickly added that this sum came from a separate reserve, and not from amounts confiscated from shuttered parishes.

If the passionate protests surrounding the closure of another Hungarian parish in nearby Akron serve as any indication, Mr. Lennon may not receive a warm welcome from St. Emeric’s parishioners. But the consequences of the bishop’s distinct lack of compassion and his willingness to dismiss the sensitivities of thousands of parishioners in 50 shuttered churches will have repercussions that go far beyond the protests and resistance that Mr. Lennon will undoubtedly face when he ejects St. Emeric’s congregation on Sunday.

The diocese misjudges and miscalculates when it assumes that Catholics in the twenty-first century will simply accept the verdict, relocate to another parish and continue writing cheques and sending in their donations. If church-goers forward their donations en masse to lay-run charitable groups that represent the interests of evicted parishioners from all ethnic backgrounds and if the Hungarians of St. Emeric and other suppressed Catholics find creative ways to continue protesting the bishop’s actions and build solidarity across parish lines, Mr. Lennon will soon find that his flock is far less docile than he assumed.

Christopher Adam/Canadian Hungarian Journal

The symposium’s local organizer, Professor Lubomyr Luciuk, said: ” This meeting represents the culmination of many years of effort on the part of many of those attending. We hope the Kingston Symposium will lay the groundwork for helping the Endowment Council ensure that what happened to Ukrainians and other Europeans during this country’s first national internment operations becomes part of the educational curricula of every province and is recalled through film, artwork and historical markers across Canada. Our fellow citizens need to become better aware of what the internees suffered – not because of anything they had done, but only because of who they were, where they came from. This violation of the civil liberties and human rights of thousands of innocents remains an historical episode in Canadian history that is scarce known. We are beginning the process of recovering this historical memory to help ensure that, in future periods of domestic or international crisis, no other ethnic, religious or racial minorities in Canada suffer as needlessly as the “enemy aliens” of the First World War period did.”

The Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund was established in 2008, with a $10 million endowment by the federal government. In addition to the Ukrainian community–which suffered the most during Canada’s first national internment operations–representatives of the Croatian, Hungarian and Serbian communities also form part of the Endowment Council.

Canadian authorities interned 8,579 men, women and children–primarily from the lands of the Austro-Hungarian Empire–and branded them as “enemy aliens” between 1914 and 192o. 

Please click on the following link to see the event’s poster: Kingston_Symposium_Poster .

HUNG 1000: Introduction to Hungarian 1 (3 credit hours, one semester)

This course is offered for complete beginners who would like to start learning Hungarian as a foreign language. The aim of the course is to give a thorough introduction to the elementary grammatical structures and vocabulary and help students in everyday communication. The course is based on a coursebook developed at the University of Szeged in Hungary, and covers speaking, listening, reading and writing Hungarian. Students are required to attend the classes regularly, prepare for the classes and take part in the classes actively. In the language lab, students will make use of audio and visual course materials to advance their progress.

Class time: Fall 2010, Tuesdays and Thursdays 6:00-7:15 p.m., lab Tuesday
7:30-8:20 p.m.
Location: 402 Tier Building

Canadian Hungarian Journal

Wife of the late Ferenc Oszlanszky, our beloved mother, grandmother, sister and friend passed away at Montreal’s Sacré Coeur Hospital with her family by her side. Her great courage, generosity, amazing humour, even in the face of adversity, and her many talents will never be forgotten. In accordance with her wishes, cremation took place and a private burial will be held at a later date. We are most grateful for the care and compassion shown to her during her final weeks in the hospital. She will be deeply missed by her family and friends in Canada and in Hungary.

“No longer will the sun be your light by day,                                                                                                                                                     Or the moon be your light by night.                                                                                                                                                                        I, the Lord, will be your eternal light:                                                                                                                                                                   The light of my glory will shine on you.”

Isaiah 60:19

Friends of Barbara would also like to extend their heartfelt gratitude to the wonderful nurses and doctors of St. Mary’s Hospital, where Barbara not only spent her last days on this earth, but as an employee with thirty years of loyal service. A prayer celebration will take place at Blythe Bernier Funeral Home (940 Ogilvy) on March 12, 2010 from 7 to 9 p.m. Funeral mass will be held on March 13, 2010 at 10 a.m. at Our Lady of Hungary Church (90 Guizot). Following laying to rest at the cemetery, a reception will be held at the Parish Hall on Guizot. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Hungarian School of Montreal (90 Guizot) would be greatly appreciated.

Russia’s Vnyesekonombank has reportedly also agreed to give Malév’s new state owners the 8.6 billion forint (32 million euros) bank guarantee, which had formed part of an earlier privatization agreement. According to information obtained by the Hungarian electronic journal Index.hu, the government’s plan is to make Malév profitable by 2012 and to engage in a radical restructuring of the airline in order to achieve this goal. This implies major changes in the carrier’s management, with only Martin Gauss–the carrier’s chief executive officer–likely to keep his job.

This represents the second time that the Hungarian government decides to re-nationalize Malév following a failed privatization effort. Hungary’s first freely elected government privatized Malév in 1992 , selling it to Alitalia, but ended up buying back a 99% stake in 1997.  All Hungarian political parties seem to agree that Malév has to survive, as the carrier’s bankruptcy would serve as a massive blow to Budapest Airport and could endanger 13,000 jobs.  Mihály Hardy, Budapest Airport Zrt.’s communications director noted that Malév’s demise would be tantamount to a “catastrophe” for the airport and its workers.

Christopher Adam

Sgt Miok was born in Canada to Hungarian parents and he participated in many events of the Hungarian community in Edmonton, including a Hungarian dance group.  Susanna Biro, long-time arts and cultural organizer and Artistic Director of the Csardas Hungarian Dance Ensemble of Edmonton, of which George Miok was a member, was saddened by this sudden loss and says the Hungarian community of Edmonton was devastated by the news of George’s death . Susanna is a regional correspondent on the editorial board of this website and has sent us the following message:

Susanna Biro’s message

“Sgt. George Miók, youngest son of Anna and Illés Miók of Sherwood Park, Alberta, is remembered with love by the Hungarian community in Edmonton. The whole family is active in our community, volunteering for numerous Hungarian organizations here, and participating in the events at the Canadian Hungarian Cultural Society, the hunters’ club, and our churches. George/Gyuri was a member of the Csárdás Hungarian Dance Ensemble from childhood to his early twenties; I taught him at the dance group for all of these years, and I will always remember his love of life, his abiding interest in Hungarian folk culture, his kindness and generosity, and his enormous heart. Nyugodj békében, Gyuri.”

She has also forwarded to us the family’s statement to the media about George:

Statement by the Miok family

George was the youngest of four brothers raised in a loving home by Anna and Illés (Eli). Before George had even graduated from Archbishop Jordan High School in Sherwood Park, he was already looking ahead. In high school, he had a part-time job at a local restaurant but he felt that it wasn’t for him. He saw an Army advertisement and he decided to join the Engineers in 1998 because his father served his country when he was in the military.

An excerpt from his Grade 12 Scrapbook titled ‘The Event That Has Changed My Life’ – This last summer, the summer of ’98, I did Basic Military Training at the Wainwright Training Base. The experience was long but it made me look at things differently. I went through many tough times, long nights, and early mornings. I got through the days with the help of friends and my own inner strength. Once, when I was in the field late at night, I looked at the sky and saw stars like I’ve never seen before and I knew that there was more to life. The whole experience made me appreciate my life more and made me think about everything I was fortunate for.

George, then 17, was happy to spend his Saturday’s and Wednesday evenings with his new friends at the Debney Armoury. He enjoyed the weekend field adventures, comradeship, and opportunity to travel; he also appreciated having money to buy gas for the car and hang out with his friends. After high school, George entered the University of Alberta where he earned a degree in Education and became a junior high school teacher in Edmonton.

A gifted athlete, George loved playing sports – especially soccer, baseball, hockey, football, and rugby. He was also a natural on the dance floor, and had many admirers when he danced the two-step with a lucky partner. Perhaps he learned those skills as a long-time member of the Csárdás Hungarian Folk Dance Ensemble in Edmonton.

With his family and friends, George loved watching movies and liked to laugh at funny TV shows. He loved to socialize, and was known to go for a long run after a night of merriment – just another example of his strength.

His appreciation of humanity is what compelled him to serve with the Canadian Forces in Bosnia in 2002, and again in Afghanistan in 2006. Before he left on his first overseas deployment to Bosnia, he tried to explain his decision to his mother in the following way – Canada has been good to us and I want to pay it back. He then read a passage from the Bible (The Beatitudes) that contains the following phrase: . . . Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

George was so proud of the good changes that he saw in Afghanistan. He firmly believed in the importance of helping people, and was determined to do more.

“I’m just off to save the world – somebody has to,” is how he described his efforts.

George will be loved and remembered forever by his many friends, his large extended family (aunts, uncles, and so many cousins) and his dad Illés (Eli), his mom Anna, his three older brothers Michael, John, László (Les) and his sister-in-law Melissa. The family appreciates the efforts of the news media and wishes that everyone respect their privacy during this difficult time.

-HungarianPresence.ca

The film’s characters are nearly all stereotypical ‘yuppies’ who come of age following the transition to democracy and capitalism in 1989/90, speak multiple foreign languages, dine at trendy restaurants, rely heavily on the newest forms of technology and are well-travelled.
But the world of brokers and bankers as portrayed in this film is ultimately drab, unnerving and unsatisfying all at the same time.

Török’s use of washed-out colours throughout the film makes this especially apparent. Budapest is portrayed as a cool, sterile and corporate city of glass office towers, commercial garages, ultramodern flats and–rather fittingly–of traffic gridlock. The main characters comfortably switch between Hungarian and German dialogue, read the Financial Times with their morning cereal, mix English words in nearly all of their sentences when speaking Hungarian, casually call their corporate friends based in India and enjoy casual sex with multiple partners–including their co-workers–during their free time. Their world is ultimately an artificial one and it is difficult to empathize with any of these characters. Perhaps the most down-to-earth, sympathetic young man in the film is the one who gets absolutely no lines. He is the grungy anti-globalization activist who straps himself to an antenna outside the town of Veszprém, threatening to bring down Hungary’s mobile communications network and hence shutting down Budapest’s yuppies for the day. Sadly, he is arrested and we see nothing more of the film’s only loveable character.

Overnight aims to portray contemporary Hungary and unlike most movies, makes no reference to the country’s past. But with scenes switching between the gritty streets of Bombay and corporate Budapest, the film is less about Hungary and much more about a world and social class where precious little is of any value, if it’s not listed on the stock exchange.

C.A.

Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai

Bajnai observed that the worst risks of the current crisis are almost certainly over, noting that Hungary has “turned away from the edge of the cliff.” At the same time, Bajnai cautioned that the crisis itself will not end until unemployment begins to decline. Bajnai, a strong supporter of private investment and the free market, noted that the country’s most recent austerity measures and its frugal economic policy have helped revive investor confidence.

The Hungarian prime minister expects the Visegrad countries’ economy to grow by the second half of 2010. Much of this growth will come from stronger exports, which already account for 80% of Hungary’s GDP. If the country’s key markets–especially Germany and France–start to perform better, this will have a trickle down effect for Hungary as well. Bajnai believes that Hungary will be among the most fiscally prudent countries in all of Europe, noting that the government’s budget deficit will be well below the European average. The prime minister also observed that another positive sign is the fact that the value of the Hungarian forint has improved by 10% over the last six months.

Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai has indicated that he will not run in parliamentary elections to be held in April 2010 and the governing Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) has yet to choose a candidate.

Christopher Adam

Visegrad-4 News hopes to help increase awareness about the political, social, economic and cultural trends occurring in the four member states and assist in developing greater dialogue in the region.

The Visegrad Group–often referred to as the Visegrad Four– was formed in 1991 in order to foster cooperation among Central Europe’s transitioning countries. The group eventually came to include Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and the then newly formed Slovak Republic. The alliance is led by a rotating presidency, with a change in leadership occurring each June.

Hardy noted that passenger traffic on Saturday nights tends to be very modest and as such, T-2B should have no problem accommodating all passengers from the terminal that is normally reserved for flights to and from Schengen Zone countries. Terminal 1–which serves discount carriers–is not affected by the outage.

Canadian Hungarian Journal

According to a press release circulated minutes before midnight (Central European Time) on 31 August 2009, SkyEurope has formally declared itself bankrupt and has canceled all of its flights. Bratislava’s Letisko M.R. Stefánik’s airport’s website now lists all of the Slovak discount carriers flights as canceled and SkyEurope’s own website carries a message informing passengers that the company has suspended all operations. Further, the vast majority of passengers will not be eligible for a refund, if they have already purchased a ticket for a SkyEurope flight.

What can you do if you bought a ticket with SkyEurope for a future flight? If you are like the author of this article and are stuck with a future SkyEurope ticket, your only hope is with your credit card company. If you paid for your flight with a credit card, you might be able to ask your bank or credit card issuer for a refund, since no service was rendered to you. If, however, you purchased your SkyEurope ticket through other means–such as a bank transfer or by cash–you are sadly out of luck.

The message posted on SkyEurope’s website makes it abundantly clear that passengers can expect no assistance from the now defunct Slovak carrier. In fact, if you are a passenger already at your current destination, but hoping to return home at the end of your vacation, you must “order a return flight from some other airline at your own expense,” according to the words of an unapologetic bankrupt carrier.

SkyEurope’s bankruptcy–and that of Zoom Airlines, another low-cost carrier precisely one year ago–makes that old adage ring truer than ever: you get what you pay for. Many of Europe’s low cost carriers are deeply dubious businesses. They only seem to offer bargain deals before you scratch below the surface to realize that you will pay the difference in price between this and full service airlines, once you check bags, order ground transportation from the godforsaken airport that the carrier uses as its base, or purchase a meal on board.

SkyEurope has stranded more than 1,200 passengers at Bratislava’s Letisko-M.R. Stefánik Airport earlier today, when it decided to cancel all of its afternoon and evening flights without any warning. As we reported earlier today, as well as last week, SkyEurope teeters on collapse, as airports in Vienna and Prague have decided to ban the carrier due to outstanding debts. Bratislava Airport’s spokesperson, Zuzana Hornanova, told journalists that SkyEurope canceled all of its flights due to “operational reasons.” Hornanova described the situation as “complicated.” The airline has yet to issue a statement, even though SkyEurope is now effectively grounded. Somewhat curiously, the carrier is still advertising an autumn fare discount in its site and accepting new bookings.

There is no official information as to why SkyEurope canceled all of its flights, and Bratislava Airport confirmed that the carrier had, in fact, made all payments on time. Unconfirmed reports, however, have suggested that SkyEurope employees may have refused to report to work, after the carrier deferred their monthly salaries due to on-going financial problems. Other media reports have claimed that SkyEurope was unable to reach an agreement with its fuel suppliers to continue servicing its planes.

There is no word as to when or if SkyEurope will once again take to the skies.

SkyEurope’s financial situation went from bad to worse today, after Prague Airport decided that it would no longer serve the Slovak low-cost carrier’s flights until it paid its outstanding debt. Prague’s move follows the Vienna Airport’s decision to cancel all SkyEurope flights due to unpaid bills, which forced the carrier to transport ticket-holders to Bratislava Airport, located 59km from the Austrian capital.

But the question now becomes whether or not SkyEurope will be able to survive the suspension of both its Prague and Vienna bases, and the likely collapse in passenger bookings. The first signs seem to cast doubt on SkyEurope’s future. Bratislava Airport’s website indicates that the vast majority of SkyEurope flights due to depart today have been canceled. Additionally, the airport’s website suggests that all SkyEurope flights scheduled for this evening and early Tuesday morning have been cancelled as well, including London-Luton, Brussels, Amsterdam, Bucharest-Baneasa, Istanbul, Lisbon and Larnaca. Almost all arrivals into Bratislava have been canceled as well for later this evening and early Tuesday morning, including flights headed to the Slovak capital from Nice, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Paris-Orly and Rome-Fiumicino.

SkyEurope offered 20 destinations from Prague, but all of these flights will be suspended effective Tuesday, September 1, 2009. While the Slovak carrier issued no comments following the suspension of its Prague operations and the cancellation of nearly all flights from Bratislava, airport officials in Prague did suggest that they would be willing to resume flights, as long as the airline paid its outstanding balance. “If cash is delivered during the course of the day tomorrow, our company is prepared to immediately [resume] provision of services up to the amount of the deposit paid,” Prague officials noted.

SkyEurope’s has faced difficult odds for the past year, as Hungarian low-cost carrier surpassed its Slovak rival by becoming the region’s largest discount airline and as SkyEurope bookings dropped by 37 percent over the past 12 months.

Simmering tensions threatened to boil over between Hungary and Slovakia, as Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico decided to ban Hungarian President László Sólyom from visiting Slovakia, in order to unveil a statue of Saint Stephen, Hungary’s founding king, in the southern Slovak town of Komarno (Komárom). According to the most recent census, more than 60 percent of Komárom’s 37,000 residents are ethnic Hungarians and the town is located along the Danube, on the border between Hungary and Slovakia. Mayor Tibor Bastrnák had decided to erect the bronze statue in Komárom’s Lúdpiac Square, which depicts St. Stephen mounted on his horse.

Sólyom was about to cross over the bridge between Hungary and Slovakia, but held a news conference instead, in which he indicated that the Slovak government had effectively barred him from entering the country. “This is a situation unheard of, inexcusable and unexplainable in the relationship of two allied countries. It is especially so because of the reasoning behind the ban: that my presence would mean a security threat.” Sólyom said.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico claimed that Sólyom’s visit was an overt provocation, since it would have taken place on the anniversary of the Warsaw Pact invasion of the former Czechoslovakia, in August 1968, in which Hungarian troops had participated. Despite the region’s sensitive history, the Slovak government’s decision to ban Solyóm from entering contravenes the Schengen Agreement, which allows for free passage of people between the two countries and the suspension of all border controls.

But Fico, a left-wing nationalist, maintains that the visit threatened Slovak sovereignty. “Komarno lies in Slovakia’s territory, it’s not a Hungarian town. The president, the chairman of parliament and the prime minister of Slovakia have condemned the circumstances in which the Hungarian president chose to stress Hungarian statehood on sovereign Slovak soil,” Fico noted. Péter Balázs, Hungary’s foreign minister, has already lodged a complaint with European Union officials. “The president’s visit had been carefully planned, together with the Slovakian foreign ministry. We visited all the venues and locations, and we have obtained all the necessary permissions.” Balázs noted that the ban was “unprecedented and unacceptable.”