August 2022 has seen the 12th Scientology ordained minister in Hungary and the 8th woman this year.
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY, August 17, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ An article by the Catholic Herald says that “Catholicism is a driving force in (…) countries of central and eastern Europe, such as Hungary and Poland, where Catholicism is heavily associated with (…) freedom and democracy…”.
Other sources say that religious vocations and seminars in historical religions are decreasing. Still, the Church of Scientology of Hungary seems to be the complete contrary, having ordained just up to August 2022, 12 ordained ministers, of which 8 are women.
This would correspond more to the trend announced by Catholic Herald for a country like Hungary, even if the religious freedom practices of some officials have room for quite some improvement. There are reports at the UN Human Rights Council, the OSCE and other supranational organizations that show the discrimination that some minority religions still suffer in Hungary.
Ivan Arjona, President of the European Office of the Church of Scientology for Public Affairs and Human Rights, said that
“Despite any barriers, Hungarians, and especially the Scientologists, are not the type of people who give up their freedoms and this is proven by the growing community of Scientologists, and in the growing number of charitable actions of our parishioners helping Catholics, Buddhists, Muslims, and Christians in general”.
While there are different types of vocations in Scientology churches who dedicate their time and skills to support their Church, ordained ministers hold a special place in the congregation. In fact, Arjona says, in a ever-increasing trend, more and more Scientologists in Hungary are choosing to learn more about the religious and practical teachings of Scientology “as well as those of other main religions, and with that make an even greater impact in their communities, by becom¡ng ordained ministers”.
This August, it was Rev. Aniko Mártonyi, in a ceremony conducted by Reverend Attila Miklovicz, who took her perpetual religious vows. The symbol of the oath for the Scientologists is seen in the eight-pointed cross of Scientology, which Miklovicz placed around Anikó’s neck. And with this, she became an ordained minister, “with all the beauty and responsibility that entails in making this one a better society for all everywhere,” sentenced Miklovicz.
Aniko started studying Scientology 5 years after she had heard of it for the first time. She had worked alongside Scientologists and admired them enormously, but it was only in 2011 that she decided to set out on this journey after a stranger’s advice. She has never stopped ever since.
As a result, her life has taken, as per her statement, “a radical turn for the better”. This evolution had further sped up when she recently decided to start her formation to become an Ordained Scientology Minister. She aims to help those around her and inspire positive change in anyone crossing her path, and she “will be doing just that with the different rites and ceremonies of our religion”, said the most recent ordained minister of the Hungarian Scientologists.
In her message to the community during the ceremony, Rev. Mártonyi asked them to:
“Dare to look, dare to find out what it’s all about, even through the fog of judgement and prejudice. See for yourselves what this is all about. And then decide whether it needs to be listened to, studied, or thrown in the bin.”
After hearing her choice to follow the vocation, it becomes evident that she decided to study Scientology with an approach of service and study the other religions (a mandatory part of the course to be ordained). “Knowledge about all religions is key and enriching,” says Arjona, confirming what Dr. Urbano Alonso Galan said in a scientific report of 1996:
“As Max Muller affirmed, ‘he who knows only one religion knows none,’ which would express the idea with complete precision.”
Alonso Galán, a Doctor in Philosophy and Licentiate in Theology by the Gregorian University and Saint Bonaventure Pontifical Faculty in Rome, further stated in the article that:
“Even though the founder himself [L. Ron Hubbard] places Scientology in the tradition of the oriental religions, inheritors of Buddhism and the Vedas, it nevertheless has ceremonies which to a large degree remind one of the western religions”.
“But due to its tradition, it possesses various and very personal rites which, although reminiscent of the Judeo-Christian tradition, turn out to be completely coherent with the body of beliefs of Scientology” confirms this expert on religion, who had been a moderator in Ecumenical Congresses directed by the Vatican and who, in this capacity, worked with Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI on religious matters.
